10 Fun Fall Activities for Kids in Your Backyard
One day the air changes – something shifts and you can feel it. Autumn is arriving. The gorgeous colors and spicy aromas of fall mean this is a time full of opportunities for making family memories.
10 Fun Fall Activities for Kids
This list of fall activities for kids includes some affiliate links.
1. Jar Pets – Study nature from your backyard up close. In the fall grasshoppers are making the rounds or you can temporarily observe a roly-poly or maybe a spider. My kids enjoy making drawings of the bugs we keep.
2. Leaf Play – Enjoy the colors of fall while you search for color-canyou findenough differentcolors to make a whole leaf raindbow? Or make a leaf labyrinth Your fallen leaves offer the perfect easy to use medium for making your own yard labyrinth to walk with the kids.
3. Backyard Science – This Playful Learning activity pack is full of family play ideas like making a “sound map” in your back yard, and includes printables and short online videos to explain each activity to the kids.
4. Applesauce and the 5 Senses – Apple sauce is a simple and satisfying fall treat to make. My kids especially love using a hand crank apple peeler and of course, eating the treat they've prepared.
5. Fairy Houses – My kids love the Fairy Houses book I've linked to here. It tells a story about a child visiting a beautiful forest and making a fairy house. It gives ideas for making one each season. Fallen leaves and seeds are perfect for backyard fairy house building!
6. Make an acorn candle holder – Supplies: acorns, a tea candle, school glue, piece of cardboard and scissors
- Trace the candle on a piece of cardboard.
- Cut around candle shape leaving about 3/4 inches – you want space to glue on the acorns.
- Glue your acorns caps onto your acorns.
- Put a ring of glue on your cardboard.
- Set your candle in the middle to keep spacing correct, then glue your acorns down. We used a pretty thick line of glue and let it dry a long time so the acorns would stay put.
7. Birdseed Cookies – One fun fall activity my kids love each year is to make these simple birdseed cookies and feed your feathered friends!
8. Nature Display (Playful Learning) – Go on a walk or backyard explore, and then show off the beautiful fall nature items you've found. I like the suggestions to use various containers for display and take a photo of items you need to leave in nature.
9. Great Backyard Bird Count – Birdwatching is an activity the whole family can enjoy, and in the fall many birds are migrating. We grab our notebooks and colored pencils to try and draw the birds we see. A regional bird identification book will help you identify the birds in your yard.
What are you looking forward to doing with your family this fall?
Alissa Zorn is an author, and founder of the website Overthought This. She's a coach and cartoonist passionate about helping people overcome perfectionism and shame to build authentic, joyful lives. Alissa is certified through the International Coach Federation and got her Trauma-Informed Coaching certification from Moving the Human Spirit. She wrote Bounceback Parenting: A Field Guide for Creating Connection, Not Perfection, and is always following curiosity to find her next creative endeavor.