My Family's Top 10 Fall Activities

Fall has always been my favorite time of year. As a kid it was mostly due to the fact that I have an October birthday. That is still a reason that I love fall, but now I love it for more than that. As I watch my kids explore this glorious season, I am taken back to days of my youth. Here are the top 10 things that I make sure we do, as a family, every fall.

1. Nature Walks



Our kids on the suspension bridge at Zo-El Annett Woods.

         

          We love nature walks all times of the year, but the changes that occur in the fall are the most amazing to observe. Changing leaves. Decaying foliage. Walnuts. Acorns. Hedge apples. Animals preparing for the upcoming winter. Cooler weather. All of this combined makes for a great educational experience...bonus the kids don't even realize they are learning. They just think they are getting out of the house to run & explore. Sometimes we do scavenger hunts for different elements, but mostly we just explore in a completely unstructured manner. Nothing compares to watching your kids rejoice in the Lord's creation that is this wonderful world in which we are blessed to be part of.

2. Leaves
         This one has two parts. The first part is raking the leaves in your yard and is not as much fun as the second part will be. This is hard work, but make sure that your kids help with this chore, so that they can take more joy in the second part of this fall activity. The second part is jumping into the piles of leaves. Please, please, please take part in this with your kids. Just as it is important for you kids to appreciate the hard work that goes into raking up all of the leaves, it is even more important that you relish in the joy of play after hard work. Trust me, you will not be sorry that you joined in on the fun....and your kids will think that they have the coolest parents ever!

3. Small Town Friday Night Lights      

         The first time that my husband suggested that we go to the local football game on a Friday night, I didn't understand. I had at least 30 other things that I would rather do than go watch a high school football game...after all, I'm not a 17 year old anymore. But once we got to the game, it all started to come together. There were people at the game that I hadn't seen or talked to in years and it was great catching up with them. The kids had friends that had also come to the game with their parents, and they were excited to get the chance to run and play with them. The energy was electrifying. By the time the second play of the game was in progress, I found myself yelling and screaming...just as I did as a 17 year old. Then I looked at my husband and was taken back to him as the varsity quarterback, myself as the stat girl, and the undeniable chemistry between us. Attending this one game helped me remember that no matter how rough life gets at times, we still have each other and an amazing bound between us. I would have never guessed that spending a Friday evening at the football field would yield in catching up with old friends, our kids having fun with their friends, and myself falling for my husband all over again!

4. Bonfires
          The cool crisp fall air, the glow of the fire, the crunchy exterior & chewy interior of the perfectly roasted marshmallow, all add up to the perfect fall evening with family. Throw in some hotdogs and hot cocoa and you have magic! At least once during September and once in October (I try for more, but sometimes it just doesn't happen) we ask the kids to help pick up any sticks that have fallen off the trees into the yard. It is miraculous how great of a job they do at cleaning up the yard debris when there is the reward of a bonfire once the chore is completed. Just as with the leaves, this teaches the kids that their hard work has positive consequences, and it reminds us adults of the power of play after hard work.

5. Fall Decorating         

          As I walk through the stores, I notice an array of fall decorations that are beautiful. However, not one of these can even be compared to the impressive decorations that my kids create to decorate our home. Pumpkins and black cats made out of construction paper, bats made from egg cartons, witches with felt hats, and ghosts made from cheesecloth are just a few of the astonishing decorations that adorn our humble abode every fall. We have tried scouring Pinterest for ideas, and we have let the kids run wild with their imaginations. And while all of the décor is creative and a product of our kids' enjoyment, I personally love the things that come straight from their imaginations. These pieces didn't come with instructions or even a picture of the finished product, besides the image that our child had in their head.

6. DIY Haunted House

            Whether it is the garage, the basement, or just one room of the house, letting you kids runs wild with the ideas of things that frighten them, and they believe will frighten you, will be wildly entertaining. My husband and I sit and laugh as we overhear the whispers of the kids as they secretly plan out how to scare us when we enter their haunted "house." We know that there will undoubtedly be a child hiding under a pile of stuffed animals, another in a closet of behind a door, and one that will, for sure, jump out screaming way louder than necessary. For the most part we know what to expect, but other times we are surprised by their ingenuity as we see a toy rat go across the floor tied to the top of a remote control car. It doesn't matter if we are surprised or not, we are "scared" by every part of their creation. And we relish in knowing that all four kids worked together to complete a project that they fantasized all on their own.

7. Pumpkin Patches & Corn Mazes



Our kids enjoying the hay bales at The Harvest Barn pumpkin patch & corn maze.

         No fall would be complete without a trip to the local pumpkin patch & corn maze. with zip lines, hay bales, mini golf, feeding the goats, seed corn to play in, corn stalks to get lost in the middle of, picking out the perfect pumpkin, sampling homemade fudge & locally made beef sticks, and smelling the hand-dipped candles, there is something for everyone in the family at most pumpkin patches and corn mazes. I'm not sure if my husband or my kids have more fun on the zip lines, and I am fairly certain that my competitive nature gets the best of me as we partake in mini golf. After hours of family fun and a good 15 minutes of picking hay off of the kids and getting corn out of their shoes and socks, we are all wiped and fully exhausted, but we would never ever imagine not engaging in this fall favorite!

8. Pumpkin Decorating and Carving
          Now that we have the perfect pumpkins picked out, we get to begin the decorating and carving stage. We give the kids the choice of painting their pumpkins or carving them...I think they only chose to paint once and later ended up carving out their paintings. This is another activity in which the whole family loves being a part of. The younger ones draw their design on the pumpkins, and an adult cuts out the design exactly how it is drawn...even if it doesn't make for a clear picture of anything. We have tried many fun ways of carving over the years, and the older kids have decided that using a metal cookie cutter & hammer is way more fun than using any knives that come in the pumpkin carving kits. We have also come to the conclusion that using glow sticks instead of candles adds a completely creepy aspect to our jack-o-lanterns.

9. Pumpkin Seeds
           Before you throw out the seeds that you just removed from those pumpkins, STOP! Try your best to remove the seeds from the rest of the "pumpkin guts" and put the seeds into a bowl of water to rinse them off. Once rinsed, soak the seeds in salt water for 8 hours, I like to do this step overnight. Next, pat the seeds dry, season, and bake 12-15 minutes at 350. We have 3 family favorites for ways to flavor the seeds before baking them. My personal fav is to just sprinkle the seeds with salt and bake. My husband likes them best when we coat the seeds in a concoction of Worcestershire sauce and seasoned salt before baking. And the kids' favorite is to coat the seeds in a cinnamon and sugar mixture before baking. These are for the perfect on the go snack as we go on our nature hikes.

10. Trick-or-Treating
          Every year I try to help the kids pick out the perfect costume and come up with the best joke, and every year all four kids pick a different costume, than what mom thought was best, and make up their own jokes...not all of which make sense. But in the end, seeing the kids dressed up going door to door telling their jokes takes me right back to being 8 years old and my own trick-or-treating experiences. I may laugh harder at their jokes than I probably should, and I definitely smile more than necessary as I watch them trade candy with each other at the end of the night, but I do all of this because I know how important these memories will someday be to them.

It is hard to believe that all of these have remained family favorites over the years, and it is even harder to believe that these activities now hold greater meaning to me every fall than my birthday does. As a child, all I could do was wish for the fall days to go quickly until my birthday at the end of October, yet as an adult, I wish for the days of fall to slow down and allow me more fall family days!