Hello, Fall: Little Things to Do Together This Season

Fall is finally here, and we're ready for cooler days, cosy sweaters, crunchy leaves, and a little more time outside.

There is something about fall that makes even the simplest things feel a bit more exciting. A walk around the neighbourhood becomes a treasure hunt, a pile of leaves becomes a playground, and a rainy afternoon at home can turn into a whole afternoon of making and playing.

You don't need to plan a big day out or come up with a complicated craft. Sometimes all you need is a little imagination and a few things you can find outside.

Here are a few of our favourite ways to play this fall.

Make a Fall Potion

The next time you're outside, bring along a little jar, bowl, or bucket and let the kids collect things they find along the way. Leaves, sticks, acorns, little flowers, stones, and anything else they think belongs in their potion can all go in.

Once you've collected enough, add some water and let them mix everything together. They can decide what their potion does, who it's for, and what magical name it should have. Maybe it's a potion that makes you fly, turns you into a squirrel, or gives you the ability to talk to trees.

The best part is that there really are no rules.

Go Looking for the Perfect Leaf

Instead of simply picking up leaves as you walk, turn it into a little challenge. Look for the biggest leaf, the tiniest leaf, the brightest red leaf, or the one with the funniest shape.

You might be surprised how long children will happily search when they're looking for something specific.

Bring your favourites home and see what you can do with them. You could press them in a book, make a little collage, or simply put them in a basket and keep adding to your collection throughout the season.

Build a Tiny Home

Fall walks are perfect for collecting little building materials. Bring home a few sticks, leaves, pinecones, and stones and see what your child can make.

Maybe it's a tiny house for a fairy, a home for a woodland animal, or a little shelter for an imaginary creature who might visit during the night.

We love activities like this because there isn't really a finished version. Children can keep changing it, adding to it, and creating a whole little world around it.

Have a Mud Cafe

If you've got a backyard, garden, or even a little patch of dirt nearby, let the kids open their very own cafe.

They can use old bowls, cups, spoons, and whatever they find outside to make their menu. Mud becomes chocolate cake, leaves become salad, sticks become breadsticks, and acorns become very fancy little desserts.

Let them decide what the café is called and who gets to be the chef. Just be prepared to order something! :)

Go on a Squirrel Hunt

Give the kids an important mission: find a squirrel.

Take a walk through the neighbourhood or your local park and see how many you can spot. Once you find one, stop and watch what it's doing. Is it looking for food? Is it carrying something? Where do you think it's going?

You can even pretend you're squirrel detectives and make up a story about where the squirrel might be taking its acorn.

It's a very simple activity, but suddenly your everyday walk feels like an adventure.

Make a Nature Face

Collect some leaves, sticks, stones, flowers, and other little treasures and make a funny face on the ground.

You can use a big leaf for hair, stones for eyes, sticks for eyebrows, and whatever else you can find for the rest of the face.

Make it happy, grumpy, sleepy, surprised, or completely ridiculous. Then leave it behind for someone else to discover.

Have a Teddy Bear Picnic

Fall doesn't mean the picnics have to end.

Pack a few snacks, bring a blanket, and let your child's favourite stuffed animal come along too. Find a nice spot in the park and have a little picnic together!

Of course, their little stuffy needs a snack as well! 

After lunch, let the kids run around, collect leaves, or simply enjoy being outside before heading home.

Make Your Own Fall Obstacle Course

You don't need any special equipment to make an obstacle course. A few sticks, rocks, leaves, trees, and benches can become part of the course.

Jump over the sticks, run around the tree, balance along a line, crawl underneath something, and finish by jumping into a giant pile of leaves.

Even better, let the kids create the course themselves. They will probably come up with rules that are much more fun than anything we could plan.

Go on a Tiny Treasure Hunt

Instead of looking for big things, try looking for the smallest things you can find.

A tiny mushroom, a little feather, a very small leaf, a tiny bug, a little acorn, or a flower hiding underneath the leaves.

It changes the way you walk. Suddenly everyone is looking closely at the ground and noticing little things they might normally walk straight past.

Go for a Night-Time Walk

Once the days start getting shorter, take advantage of the darkness and go for a little walk after dinner.

Bring a flashlight and see what feels different outside at night. Listen for sounds, look at the moon, find interesting shadows, and see what you can spot with your flashlight.

Even a walk around the block can feel completely different when it's dark outside.

And Sometimes, Just Go Outside

Of course, you don't always need an activity.

Sometimes you can just put on your shoes, head outside, and see what happens.

Let them collect sticks. Let them jump in the leaves. Let them stop every five minutes because they've found something interesting. Let the walk take twice as long as it normally would.

We think that's one of the nicest things about fall. There is so much to notice when you slow down and let children explore things in their own way, because childhood doesn't always need another planned activity.

Sometimes it just needs a little time outside, a little imagination, and the freedom to see where the afternoon takes you.

Happy fall from Lightbulb Lighthouse. 🍂