Fun Fall Family Activities

With chilly temperatures starting to settle over much of the United States, you may find yourself looking for ways to spend the cozy weekends in the months ahead. Here are some fun things to do on your kids’ days off during the months of October and November:

• Go apple-picking. You can spend a cool morning in early October picking apples, then spend the afternoon whipping up all sorts of apple delicacies: apple pies, applesauce, apple crisp. Of course, this applies to pears, as well. Make a plan and check the farms you want to visit before you go.
• Visit a pumpkin patch. Choosing the most perfect pumpkin to carve into a jack-o-lantern is one of the things that all children should do in the fall! Aside from making a spooky or silly face out of your pumpkin, you can roast the pumpkin seeds or make homemade pumpkin pie. Make a plan and check the farms you want to visit before you go because many want you to buy tickets in advance.
• Go on one last picnic. Sure, it’s getting cold outside, but before winter comes in full force, spend a sunny Saturday at the park. Pack a picnic lunch (soup in thermoses can warm you up!) and don’t forget to bring along bread to feed any ducks that you encounter.
• Go to the beach. Not for swimming (well, unless you live in the South or in parts of California!), but for kite-flying! You won’t have this pleasure again until the spring. If it’s windy in the fall where you live, this is a great time to go fly a kite. How about dinner at the beach? Nothing like taking a large pizza to the beach for a change of scenery.
• Mix up some hot cocoa and have a family movie afternoon. Rent some old favorites or some new ones you haven’t seen yet, and spend several hours just zoning out in front of the boob tube.
• Start working on holiday gifts and decorations. Particularly if you’re crafty, you can spend some time crocheting (show your kids how!), sewing, painting, gluing and doing whatever other handiwork you’d like to do to create for the winter holidays.
• Make a scrapbook. Remember all of those photos you took this past summer, while on vacation or having fun as a family? Now’s the time to pull them out, along with gluesticks and scrapbooking paper, and turn them into works of art.
• Have a family read-aloud. This is a wonderful way to pass the long evenings of the fall and winter: Choose a series of chapter books and start working your way through! Some examples might include the Little House books, the Harry Potter series, or the Ramona books. Ask your librarian for a suggestion, or think back to the chapter books you enjoyed as a child.
• Host a dinner or lunch for friends. Have it out on your deck if it’s warm enough; otherwise, make room in the kitchen or dining room. If you’re short on space or time, consider serving something that you can make in the slow cooker, like soup, chili, or a large pot roast with carrots. Ask the family that you’re inviting to bring a salad, bake cookies (or buy them from the local bakery) for dessert, and you can welcome the fall weather together!

It can be tempting to start hibernating once the clocks change and it’s darker in the evenings and chilly and raw even during the daytime, but with just a bit of imagination, you can keep the fun times going on all through the autumn!

What are some of your favorite fall activities?