Fall Activities!

Joseph and I have made a pact that we are going to do things with our children, spend time with them, and make our time with them and our holidays together special and memorable. We want to build traditions with them that they want to pass on to their little ones. When they grow up, we want them to say, "Our parents made our childhood special and our time together with them is something we will never forget."

Here's a good list of fall activities to do with your little ones to make this autumn and every autumn truly memorable:

1. Go apple picking at a local orchard.
2. Bake an apple pie, apple sauce, apple crisp, or any other yummy recipe with the apples you just picked (Recipes for great fall recipes coming later this fall, but for now, get some inspiration).
3. Visit an outdoor flea market for boiled peanuts and fall knick-knacks. 
4. Rake leaves, make a huge pile, and jump right in!
5. Have a photo shoot in the leaf pile. 
6. Take annual fall family photos.
7. Host a clambake. Make a fresh Low-Country Boil.
8. Watch a fall night sky. Go out and see the harvest moon. 
9. Go on a fall picnic. 
10. Go on a hay ride.
11. Roast marshmallows and make yummy s'mores over a bonfire. Tell spooky campfire tales.
12. Play a game of touch football with family and/or friends (perfect for after Thanksgiving lunch/dinner).
13. Attend a local football game. 
14. Enjoy a mini tailgating party before the football game. 
15. Plant fall flower bulbs that will bloom next spring: tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, etc.
16. Attend a fall festival.
17. Make donuts with the family.
18. Organize a chili cook-off with friends and family. 
19. Make lots of chili as a family. Check out my delicious chili recipe!
20. Host a weenie roast over an open fire.
21. Go through a corn maze - and get lost!
22. Eat candy corn. Make trail mix with candy corn.
23. Iron colorful leaves between two sheets of waxed paper. Display on fridge.
24. Make a fall wreath. 
25. Start your holiday shopping. 
26. Donate to a local food bank. 
27. Volunteer at a local soup kitchen as a family. 
28. Clean out your closet. Donate the old clothes that you cleaned out from your closet. 
29. Create paper masks. Paper plates work great for this craft!
30. Take a brisk walk in the woods, fields, and/or City Park.
31. Stuff a scarecrow, give him a name, and set him on a lawn chair out front for Halloween (Get dad's old clothes, stuff them hay, then draw/paint a face on a pumpkin or burlap-covered ball for a head).
32. Discuss Halloween Trick-or-Treating safety tips with your children.
33. Go Trick-or-Treating!
34. Enjoy a cup of hot cocoa. 
35. Play a game of Frisbee. 
36. Make a list together of all the things you're thankful for just in time for Thanksgiving. 
37. Pick something you are thankful for each day during the month of November and celebrate it. Do an activity with your children involving it.
38. Create a "Thankful" journal. 
39. Hang a clothes line across a room in the house where you can pin "Thankful leaves" expressing what you are thankful for.
40. Take a nature walk with a bucket to collect leaves, seeds, and pine cones. Then, sort, make a leaf rainbow, scenes, leaf men, etc. 
41. Tour a scary local haunted house.
42. Visit a pumpkin patch. 
43. Carve the biggest pumpkin you bought at the patch (Paint pumpkins with the little kids.).
44. Bake a treat with the smallest pumpkin you bought at the patch [pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, etc.].
45. Sew/make and/or buy your own Halloween costumes. 
46. Paint your faces.
47. Paint - anything!
48. Clear out the shed/garage and get rid of any summer supplies that went unused this year.
49. Drink hot apple cider. 
50. Harvest your garden.
51. Make leaf rubbings. And bark rubbings. 
52. Buy fall vegetables at a farm stand.
53. Make something delicious with the vegetables you bought, such as a carrot smoothie, squash ravioli, spinach ravioli, spinach salad, etc.
54. Write a fall-themed poem together. 
55. Make a scrapbook about all the fun things you did together over the summer. I love using Mixbook!
56. Make a pine cone bird feeder covered with peanut butter and birdseed. 
57. Read a fall-themed book.
58. Go to the library. See if there are any fall programs.
59. Go to the county fair. 
60. Head to a local museum. 
61. Enjoy an outing to your local petting zoo.
62. Enjoy a day trip to your local zoo.
63. Make a hearty soup. 
64. Skim rocks/sticks across a pond or stream. Feed the ducks while you are there, too!
65. Participate in a local charity walk.
66. Find a local mini-golf course.
67. Find a local hiking trail - and hike!
68. Visit a local candle shop and buy a fragrant, fall-scented one.
69. Take a nice scenic family drive to enjoy the fall foliage -and take pictures!
70. Go to the mountains to see the leaves change.
71. Have a game of catch in the backyard.
72. Visit a local arcade on a rainy day. 
73. Learn about the Pilgrims and Indians.
74. Bake a loaf of bread.
75. Turn your living room into a family fort with pillows, seat cushions, and sheets.
76. Organize and host a Halloween party for your friends/family/your children's friends.
77. Organize a yard sale to get rid of some old, out-of-season goodies.
78. Put together a puzzle as a family.
79. Make leaf art with finger paint. 
80. Make and eat caramel apples.
81. Make fall cookies. 
82. Go pumpkin bowling.
83. Do a mummy craft. 
84. Take horses for a trail ride.
85. Do a bat craft. 
86. Put up fall/Halloween decorations (go all out!).
87. Do a ghost craft. 
88. Watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Watch Halloween movies.
89. Get comfy socks for the family. 
90. Get rain boots!
91. Go bird-watching.
92. Go on a historic or scary walking tour.
93. Attend a nature program at your local nature park. 
94. Go camping in the backyard. 
95. Go Geocaching.
96. Go to the playground. 
97. Do a pumpkin craft.
98. Go outside and draw, color, and/or paint pictures of the trees.
99. Play "Thankful Ball:" Throw a ball back and forth and say what you're thankful for.
100. Build and navigate an outside obstacle course.
101. Complete a scavenger hunt. 
102. Tell scary ghost stories in the dark with a flashlight. Make shadow puppets.
103. Go fishing, canoeing, or zip-lining.
104. Go hunting with Daddy. 
105. Get a hammock and lay in it together. 
106. Visit a local working farm.
107. Do a turkey craft.
108. Have family and friends over for a huge Thanksgiving dinner. Go all out!