The arrival of fall means it’s time to think cozy, colorful, harvest activities. Bring on the pumpkins, apples, and acorns. Fall is a perfect time to paint with orange, red, and yellow; build pumpkin catapults; and go stargazing in the backyard. Here are ideas for activities for every kind of fall day.
Outdoor Fall Activities
The weather is crisp and cool, the perfect time to spend days, evenings, and even nights outdoors.
- Rake leaves into a maze to walk or bike through.
- Visit an apple orchard.
- Take a hay ride.
- Play flag football.
- S’mores time! Set up a fire pit and roast some s’mores.
- Play the hide-and-seek game Ghost in the Graveyard.
- Go leaf peeping. Here’s a video about fall foliage predictions.
- Head out on a fall scavenger hunt (free printable).
- Go on a bat hunt at dusk in early fall.
- Go on a spiderweb hunt.
- Plant spring bulbs.
- Go stargazing. Here’s a guide on how to stargaze with kids.
Indoor Fall Activities
Activities for days that are chilly, rainy, or lazy.
- Have a “tea party” with apple cider or apple tea.
- Read fall-themed books.
- Make kid-friendly pumpkin spice lattes.
- Make caramel apples and roll them in sprinkles, chocolate chips, or nuts.
- Make homemade dipped candles.
- Use plastic pumpkins, cotton spiderwebs, and witch hats to create an indoor obstacle course.
- Make a fall terrarium.
- Make hot cocoa (add marshmallows!).
- Have a movie marathon (here’s a list of family-friendly fall movies).
Fall Activities for Preschoolers
Preschoolers are experiencing the wonder of fall for the first time. Here are activities that will make the season memorable.
- Make a pinecone bird feeder.
- Create a corn-themed sensory bin.
- Paint turkey tracks with pipe cleaners.
- Use apples to paint and stamp.
- Combine cloves and apples for spicy apple art.
- Play a fall leaf color stomp game.
- Make pumpkin cloud dough.
- Turn a pumpkin into a geoboard.
- Make a paper wreath in fall colors or using fall materials.
- Read a book about leaves and go on a leaf hunt. Here’s a list of books about leaves.
- Make apple-scented play dough.
Fall Activities for Families
School is back in session, and weekends are for sports, pumpkin patches, and family time. Here are ways your family can spend time together making autumn memories.
- Buy or make some of your own pumpkin donuts.
- Make fresh apple crisp.
- Make apple chips.
- Pop popcorn and make popcorn balls.
- Visit a pumpkin patch and collect pumpkins and gourds.
- Decorate your front door and see how festive you can get!
- Make applesauce in your slow cooker or Instant Pot.
- Go to a local farmers market and buy in-season fruits and veggies.
- Play a game of fall bingo either in one sighting or see how many fall activities and sights you can mark off across the season.
- Toast pumpkin seeds.
- Make and eat mooncakes for a mid-autumn festival.
Fall Math Activities
Math is everywhere in fall—symmetrical pumpkins, counting apples, and color patterns.
- Buy and measure pumpkins that are large, medium, and small.
- Use acorns and sidewalk chalk to add and subtract.
- Put together pumpkin multiplication puzzles.
- Cut apples into different fractions.
- Use fingerprint painting to count apples.
- Play a pumpkin dice game.
- Play a pumpkin subtraction board game using candy pumpkins as pieces.
- Use these cute fall measuring cards.
- Cut open a pumpkin and estimate the number of seeds (then cook them, count them, and eat them).
- Use fallen sticks to create shapes or a clock with roman numerals.
- Play a fall leaf grid game.
Fall Science Activities
Fall is the perfect season to learn about physics, chemistry, and biology as you send pumpkins flying, make fall slime, and dissect apples to look at the seeds.
- Make fall slime.
- Turn decomposing pumpkins into a science experiment.
- Make fall-themed play dough.
- Try a dancing-corn experiment.
- Compare the number of seeds in different fruits and vegetables.
- Make sun prints.
- Try a pumpkin-rolling physics experiment.
- Make an apple volcano.
- Create leaf rubbings.
- Build your own catapult and have your own miniature Punkin Chunkin.
- Do a leaf chromatography experiment to learn why leaves change colors.
Fall Art Activities
With all the colors that naturally occur in fall, it’s a perfect time to do all the art projects.
- Paint with cobs of corn.
- Use toilet paper rolls to create pumpkin stamps.
- Draw half the missing leaf.
- Make an autumn gloop painting.
- Make a fall leaf window painting.
- Craft a leaf hedgehog.
- Do a scarecrow silhouette project.
- Create fall-colored blotto paintings.
- Make tree splatter paintings.
- Make a marbled fall painting.
- Use no-mess pumpkin paint.
- Do textured pumpkin crayon rubbings.
- Create tape-resist fall art.
- Create a fall suncatcher.
- Make a colored lantern to hang outside.
- Make a sponge-painted owl.
- Create fall sunflowers with oil pastels.
Fall Craft Activities
Fall is a perfect time to collect leaves, acorns, and other materials—straight from Mother Nature to your crafting room.
- Make handprint leaves.
- Make apples and pumpkins with pipe cleaners.
- Collect leaves and add expressions and googly eyes to make leaf creatures.
- Collect items on a nature walk and make a picture frame.
- Make pumpkins out of cardboard tubes.
- Create Dia de los Muertos lanterns.
- Make Papel Picado, the famous cut paper flags for Dia de los Muertos.
- Make marbled clay leaves for fall decorations.
- Make a spiderweb with Popsicle sticks and tape.
- Stuff paper bags with newspaper, paint them orange, and add faces and stems to create jack-o’-lanterns.
- Use tissue paper to make apple decorations.
- Make a fall luminary.
Fall STEM Activities
Full STEM ahead—these activities encourage kids to tackle science, technology, engineering, and math challenges all fall long.
- Create leaf rubbings and examine the veins in each leaf.
- Dye corn kernels to create a rainbow of kernels.
- Make a pumpkin-powered clock to study how energy is conducted.
- Make salt crystal leaves.
- Compete in an apple-stacking challenge.
- Make pumpkin potion.
- Play a camouflage game in the backyard.
- Write secret messages with cranberry juice.
- Preserve fall leaves at their brightest.
- Build a pumpkin tunnel.
If you like these fall-inspired activities, check out these activities to celebrate your senses.
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