Autumn Activities for Kids

Autumn is here! And so are the upcoming school holidays. As a fellow parent I sympathise with having kids home for nearly three weeks and either having your toddlers climbing the walls or your older kids saying “I’m boooored!” 100 times a day.

If you’re alone at home with your kids these March holidays then we’ve got just the thing for you – a few epic autumn activities for kids that will hopefully keep you all from going crazy.

Leaf Rubbings and Paintings

A good old fashioned activity. To do leaf rubbings, place the leaves under plain paper and rub over the top with a crayon. Little ones might need a bit of extra help to rub hard enough. For leaf paintings, simply paint the leaf and press it onto the paper to reveal a wonderful word of patterns.

Autumn Scented Playdough

I personally love this one as my toddlers can play for at least half an hour with playdough. Use this no-cook playdough recipe:

In a bowl, mix together 2 cups flour, 4 tablespoons cream of tartar, and 1 cup salt. Add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and 2 cups of boiling water. Keep stirring until it all comes together. It may look a little gooey at this stage, but leave it to cool and then take it out and knead on a dry surface. The kneading is very important and will help get rid of all the stickiness. Store in an airtight bag or container in a cool spot.

For the autumn scents, add 1 – 2 tablespoons of spice such as nutmeg, cinnamon, and mixed spice or find earthy essential oils.

If you’d like to add colour, use food colouring or replace some of the water with a good dollop of paint. Paint gives a beautiful rich colour for autumn!

You can even add textures to the dough by mixing in rice, glitter, salt, seed, sand, etc.

Autumn Small World Tray (sensory tray with a twist)

In an old drawer/shallow box/container you can set up a magical autumn world using items collected from a nature walk and objects around the house.

Line the drawer/box/container with orange/brown/yellow paper then add all your autumn goodies. You can add leaves, pine cones, warm coloured gems, toy toadstools, doll furniture, pieces of wood/twigs, acorns, bits of autumn scented playdough, Lego figurines or small dolls. You can even make little trees by sticking leaves or small twigs into a bit of the playdough. Your imagination is the limit!

Hedgehog Bread (and baking fun)

Baking is always a fun (and messy) activity to keep little ones busy. You can cheat a bit here by using a premix and getting your kids involved in measuring out and adding the ingredients needed. Once the dough is mixed, simply get the kids to shape it into little hedgehogs. You can use raisins for the eyes and use toothpicks or scissors to rough up the dough and make spikes. Why not even try playing around with other shapes and animals.

Another fun baking activity could be to make autumn leaf shaped biscuits iced with autumn coloured icing sugar or even gingerbread men.

Autumn Pinecone Fairy

You’ll need a small pinecone for the body, a white or skin coloured felt ball or bead for the head, leaves for wings, a large acorn cap for a hat, and some string/wool for hair. You can also use pipe cleaners for arms and legs should you want to add on. Use a glue gun to put the pieces together and voila!

You can add a piece of string so the fairy can be hung up and dance in the wind. Why not go a step further and get creative by building a fairy house or even some little fairy furniture from twigs and acorns. 

A few other ideas to keep you going:

• Create an autumn crown or headpiece.
• Autumn themed suncatchers or dreamcatchers with leaves, acorns, autumn coloured gems, etc.

• Symmetrical leaf art – fold a leaf in half, paste it on paper and get your kid to draw the other half in.
• Acorn toadstool – paint the caps red with white spots and glue to upside down acorns – you may want to sand the bottom so it stands upright.
• Bake a fun apple pie or make toffee apples.
• Make a bird feeder.
• Go on a nature walk and teach your kids some facts about the seasons
• Jump in the leaves and hear the fun crackles they make.