Cheap Fun: Autumn

Fall is in the air- can you feel it? The leaves crunching under your feet, the brisk autumn air, the harvest colors. Okay, I can’t feel it in Dallas yet but I can dream, right? Fall offers so many opportunities for fun activities- make this one to remember!

• Leaf rubbings – Find a variety of leaves from the yard. Place a sheet of paper over each one and rub with the long side of a crayon. Your little archaeologist will love seeing the shape and details of each leaf come alive!

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• Collect acorns – This one is easy. Dedicate a shoebox for autumn acorn collecting and keep it by the door for easy access. Acorn activities are endless- sort them by size and color, glue them to a fall scene drawn/painted/colored by your child, or just see how many you can collect over the course of the season!

• Make a cornucopia of thanks – For many families, autumn and particularly Thanksgiving is a time for thanks and reflection. Help your children participate by making a cornucopia out of posterboard (here’s a template). Hang it on the wall and let the kiddos draw and cut out things they are thankful for. Tape them to the cornucopia and watch it (and your children’s thankful hearts) grow!

• Break out the sidewalk chalk – The weather is perfect, so grab your bucket of sidewalk chalk and decorate the driveway and sidewalks! Think of and draw an autumn item for each letter of the alphabet (A-apples, B-broomsticks, C-cornucopias). Or, decorate ‘pumpkins’ by drawing giant ones on the pavement.

• Visit a pumpkin patch – Most pumpkin patches offer at least a day’s worth of fun activities- hay rides, apple picking, petting zoos, and, of course, pumpkin decorating! Bonus: They are great spots for beautiful fall photos of your kiddos!

• Toast pumpkin seeds – Though cleaning out the ‘gunk guts’ of pumpkins can be a chore and sometimes, an arm workout, the seeds are useful! Separate the seed from the gunk and rinse. Spread olive oil onto a baking sheet, then seeds. Stir the seed to coat, sprinkle on salt, and bake at 325 for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Autumn is a special time of year and one that offers lots of things to see and do for kids and families. Use these ideas to make autumn special for your family!