Do you love the crisp autumn season and all the great fall activities too? I am always amazed at how many fun Fall activities for kids there are both indoors & outdoors. So let’s start planning your new fall adventures with Autumn traditions your kids can look forward to every year.
If you’re searching for ideas of things to do in the fall with kids you’re sure to find the answers here. You’ll even get a free printable Fall Bucket List for 2021 to help you remember everything your family wants to try.
Add first to your bucket list cool outdoor fall activities like apple picking, taking a fall hike, jumping in the leaves, corn mazes, and more. To enjoy some outdoor time with your kids.
Then try all the fun indoor fall activites at home such as decorating your house, carving pumpkins, playing Halloween games, fall crafts, baking pumpkin seeds, and apple tastings.
Follow along and find your next family tradition or just have a blast searching. You can even try a fall weekend getaway to watch the leaves change.
Get inspired for Fall this year with these 40 awesome Fall activities for kids and start making unforgettable memories with your family.
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40 Awesome Indoor & Outdor Fall Activities for Kids
Table of Contents
Outdoor Fall Activities for Kids
Enjoy a fun day out with the family trying these entertaining outdoor fall activities for kids.
Apple Picking
Find a local farm in your area to go apple picking. Then make delicious No-Bake Apple Slice Cookies with all your apples.
Attend a local Fall or Halloween Festival
Google fall festivals near me and see what events are hosted in your area. It’s a fun way to spend the afternoon with the kids.
Corn Maze
Enjoy the adventure of finding your way through a corn maze. Kids will love searching to find their way out. The one we go to even has a scavenger hunt to do while you’re in the maze.
Pick Your Own Pumpkin
Head to a local farm and let the kids pick out their own pumpkin. While you’re there check to see if they have any special fall treats like pumpkin or apple donuts.
Farmer’s Market
Head to your local Farmer’s Market and teach your kids about foods that are harvested in the fall.
Visit a Zoo
Often local zoos host a Boo at the Zoo for several weekends where the kids can wear their costumes and watch the animals play with pumpkins.
I know the Chicago Zoo’s both host a great Halloween Event that we attend every year. Brookfield Zoo and Lincoln Park Zoo
Rake Leaves & Jump In
Every kid loves jumping into a huge pile of leaves. Let the kids help you rack them up into piles and then jump in. We bought kid-size rakes so they could help.
Build a Fort
Build a fort with sticks in your backyard.
Botanical Gardens
Go to a local Botanical Garden and watch the leaves change and see the different fall plants and flowers.
Autumn Hike
Head over to your local state park or forest preserve and take a family hike through the changing leave. Enjoy looking at the changing colors and collecting pretty leaves.
Get tips on how to have the best family hike without any whining and keep the kids excited about the walk with our free printable Nature Scavenger Hunt.
Collect Leaves on Your Hike
While on your hike collect leaves to use for crafts later. Kids can paste them onto construction paper and make a collage. Or make leaf rubbings by placing a leaf under a piece of paper and rubbing a crayon across the paper.
Go to a Haunted House
This is for older kids in your family. Before you go do a little research ahead of time to see how scary it will be for the kids.
Amusement Park
Find out if your local amusement park hosts a fall event or festival.
The Six Flags near us does a great job of changing the park into a Halloween theme in the fall. The kids love to see all the decorations and characters walking around.
Go on a Hayride
A fall tradition the whole family will enjoy. Make sure to bring some hot chocolate to drink on your ride.
Build a Scarecrow
Get some hay from where you buy your pumpkins. Pick out some old clothes and stuff them with hay.
Tie the ends of the shirt and pants with string to hold in the hay. You can use a plastic trick or treat pumpkin for the head.
When you’re done place it in your front yard sitting on a chair with pumpkins around the feet. It’ll be a cute display.
Decorate Your Yard for Halloween.
Make it a family project this year to decide all together how you want the yard to look. Then work together to decorate. We love to use the pumpkin bags that you fill up with the leaves you rake in your yard.
You can also place Halloween signs or blow-ups around your yard. Then use spider webbing on your bushes and trees.
Find more ideas in our Cheap & Cute Fall Decorations from Dollar Tree & Family Halloween Activities.
Costume Parade for Kids
See if your town has a local costume parade for the kids. Often a downtown merchant association will host these or your local park district.
You could also plan a socially distanced parade for your neighborhood. We did it in 2020 and it was so much fun we are continuing the tradition this year.
Don’t forget to pick up fun Halloween Costumes for your kids. We found a great Halloween discount site we love and you might too. See if Halloween Costumes has that cool costume your kids really want this year!
Hide & Seek with Glow Sticks
Let the kids head outside at night to play hide and seek with glow sticks on their wrists. The nighttime element adds a spooky aspect to this fun game. It’s sure to become a new Halloween tradition.
Glow in the Dark Hunt
Hide around your yard small plastic pumpkins with glow bracelets inside. Then at night let the kids go out and see how many pumpkins they can find.
Fall Family Photo Shooot
Plan an outdoor family photoshoot and get your holiday cards done. Here are some cute family photo ideas.
Find a New Playground
Get the kids outside and running while visiting a new playground in the area.
Looking for a socially distanced Halloween this year? It’s easier than you think! Get inspired with our 15 Fun Halloween Social Distancing Ideas for Kids.
They’re unique ways to celebrate Halloween even if you’re not social distancing in 2021.
Indoor Fall Activities at Home
Some days the weather isn’t great in the fall and you need engaging indoor fall activities for kids at home.
Here are some fall-related fun indoor activities for kids.
Make Pumpkin Cookies
Make some delicious fall desserts together. Our family loves these super easy 3 Ingredient Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Play Halloween Bingo
The kids will love a fun game of Halloween Bingo. Use our FREE printable Halloween Bingo Game Cards for a Halloween Party or fun family game night.
Carve a Pumpkin or Decorate Pumpkins
A Halloween tradition you can’t skip is carving or decorating pumpkins. If you don’t want the mess of carving pumpkins just decorate them with stickers and markers.
We love the pumpkin stickers because they’re cute and your kids get to be creative designing their pumpkins. The pumpkins also last longer when you don’t carve open the pumpkins.
If you want to carve your pumpkins try using pumpkin stencils this year to help you trace cool designs.
Bake Pumpkin Seeds
After you carve the pumpkins a delicious snack is eating your pumpkin seeds. They are super easy to make.
First, clean your pumpkins seeds, dry them, and toss them in a bowl with olive oil. Then lay them flat on a cookie sheet coated in nonstick spray.
Bake at 300 degrees for 45 Minutes. When they come out toss with salt and they’re ready to eat.
Make Your Own Halloween Costume
Get creative with your kids and make your own Halloween costumes this year. Find tons of ideas on Pinterest
If you don’t have time to make your own save money with Halloweencostumes.com. The site has tons of Halloween costume ideas and all are reasonably priced. Why spend a ton on a costume they will only wear for one day
Family Game Night
Enjoy a night at home playing fun family games together this fall. Kids and parents will have a blast!
Make some yummy Halloween treats and yummy fall dinner to make it a whole night of fun.
You’ll find tons of ideas in our Favorite Family Game Nights or Elementary School Classroom Party Games (these work for home too)
Don’t have time to plan a family game night? No problem make it easy with our Complete Family Game Night Planner with a full year of monthly game nights already planned for you. Just print it out and you’re ready to play!
Check it out and see if the Family Game Night Planner is for you!
Plan a Halloween Party
Kids love a fun Halloween party and there easier to host than you think. Invite all the kids to come and show off their costumes.
Next plan some fun Halloween party games. Get inspired with these fun party games I use at our kid’s school holiday parties and at home.
Then have the kids play some quick and hilarious Minute to Win It Games for kids.
After the Minute to Win It games calm the kids down with an easy game of Halloween Bingo. Grab our FREE printable Halloween Bingo Cards.
Or make it a virtual party for a Socially Distanced Halloween with fun Zoom Games.
Halloween Mystery Boxes
Create spooky Halloween Mystery Boxes for your kids at home or at a Halloween party. Kids will reach into the sensory box that’s filled with surprise items to make the kids squeal.
Let the kids guess is it Witches teeth or candy corn, a warlocks brain or spaghetti. They are super easy to make with a tissue box, construction paper, and some spooky items.
Get directions to make your own Halloween Mystery Boxes.
Halloween Obstacle Course
Create an indoor or backyard obstacle course for your kids to run. Have them run around plastic pumpkins, walk over a broomstick and crawl under spider webs.
Hot Lava Game
This classic kids’ game is the perfect indoor game on cool fall days. Kids pretend that the floor is hot lava and they can’t step in it.
To play lay pillows on the floor and have the kids jump from pillow to pillow without falling off and touching the hot lava on the ground.
Decorate Your House for Fall
Get into the fall spirit by decorating your house for the autumn season together. Above is a cute Fall wreath I made with Dollar Tree items. It looked so cute on my front door!
Get ideas and save money in our How to Make Cheap Fall Decorations from Dollar Tree that Look Expensive.
If you don’t have time to shop try Decocrated a cool home decor subscription box I found and love. You’ll get 6-8 cute home decorations 4 times a year so you’re ready for every season.
You’ll be so excited about what Decocrated sends and you won’t have to shop or make it!
Make a Sensory Table
Make a sensory table or bowl with dried corn, leaves, and measuring cups. You could also add construction trucks to push and dump the corn and leaves.
Left Center Right Game
Play the Game Left Center Right with Halloween Candy or candy corn. An easy dice game kids of all ages will love.
Visit a Children’s Musuem
Explore a children’s museum in the area and check out their fall and Halloween exhibits. We love the Kohl Children’s Museum in the Chicago suburbs.
Apple Tasting
Have an apple tasting with different types of apples that are available in the fall. Cut up a slice or two of each and see which apple everyone likes the best.
You could also dip them in caramel dip for a really fun fall treat.
Find even more fun ways to keep your kids busy on cool or rainy fall days in our Energy Busting Rainy Day Activities & Games. Have them ready so that when it rains out your set.
Save some money while having a great time with your kids in our 60 Fun & Free Things to Do with Kids Screen Free.
Fall Crafts for Kids
Keep the kids busy with these fun fall crafts for kids. All are easy to put together, and the kids will love creating the fall memories to keep.
Leaf Rubbing – Have the kids go out and collect leaves from the yard. then place the leaf under a sheet of paper and rub a crayon over the leaf. Kids will love seeing their leaf come to life on the page
Leaf Handprint – Trace your child’s handprint and then have them decorate the handprint with leaves. The leaves can be the children’s nails or any creative way they want to decorate.
Apple Stamping – Cut an Apple in Half and dip it in the paint. Then use the apple as a stamp on a piece of construction paper.
Free Printable Fall Bucket List
A free checklist of all the Family-Friendly Fall ideas you can do this autumn. Print it out and see how many activities you can do this fall.
Click here to print
Fall Weekend Getaways
Take a fun family weekend getaway this fall with the kids and experience the changing of the leaves and the autumn season. Often schools will have a fall break so take advantage of the long weekends and make some memories with the kids.
Here are a few of our favorite Weekend Getaways.
Door County, WI – Head up to northern Wisconsin to see the leaves change. We love visiting Door County. They have great state parks to hike, fun fish boils, shops, and beautiful beaches to skip rocks. Door County, WI
Lake Geneva, WI – If you live close to Chicago, Lake Geneva, WI is a fun place to visit in the Fall. Columbus Day weekend they have a great fall festival in their downtown the whole family will love. Lake Geneva, WI
Midwest Getaways – There are tons of places to explore in the Midwest to see the changing of the leaves while also keeping your kids entertained with great Children’s Museums, Zoos, and more. Get Inspired with these 10 Awesome Weekend Getaways in the Midwest
National Parks – Visiting a National Park in the Fall is the ultimate place to watch the leaves change color. Drive, hike, and walk through the parks to see the vivid color changes all around you. Your whole family will be in Awe. Here are our favorite National Parks with Kids.
Staycation – Or just plan a fun staycation with the kids on their fall break. Here are 40 Fun Things to Do on a Family Staycation. Be inspired to have more fun in your own hometown with the kiddos.
Are You Ready for Fall Now?
Are you ready now for a fun-filled fall with memorable things to do with your kids? Use these 40 indoor and outdoor Fall activities for kids and start your own autumn family traditions.
Is there a fall tradition your family loves to do? Share it in the comments so we can all try it too!
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