Fall Fun with Children

As the season changes into Fall, parents can find many fun ways to play with their children and enjoy some quality family time.

Fall is a great time to teach children about colors, nature, and even science through bright leaves, textures, shorter days and cooler weather.

Fun Fall Activities for Children

Nature Scavenger Hunt: Have children look for pinecones, acorns, leaves, feathers, mushrooms and other things in nature. Give children pictures of these items to look for and check off as they walk outside. For a free printable page see this one from Highlights.

Leaf Color Wheel: Take a walk outside and collect red, orange, yellow, and brown leaves. Have children sort and glue their collected leaves onto a paper circle to see how the colors connect.

Leaf Rubbing: Place real leaves under a piece of paper and rub the side of a crayon over them to reveal shapes and veins.

Touch and Textures: Fill a box with pinecones, leaves, moss, small pumpkins or other items from nature and let the little hands touch and sort them.

Learn about the seasons: Children may ask important questions such as, “Why do the leaves change color?” (If you want to find some answers, Kids Gardening can help.) Before getting too specific, parents can ask children why they think it happens and have fun thinking about this with them through a child’s perspective.

Creative Art: If children have paints, they can mix colors to match the leaves they collect. They can also draw or trace nature items with pencils, markers, or crayons.

Jumping Fun: Many children enjoy gathering leaves into a pile and jumping right in!

Apples and Pumpkins: Children may enjoy eating apples and selecting a pumpkin. Eugene Cascades and Coast have a list of farms and pumpkin patches for families to visit!

Fall Book Reading: Children love to read books with their parents. For some great Fall book ideas, check out Children’s Lit Love from a parent and former elementary teacher. Local libraries can help families find and sign out many of these children’s books.

Whatever your family decides to do this Fall, I hope you have lots of fun together!