It’s finally fall! Autumn is the perfect season for outdoor activities and cozy indoor fun. As the leaves change colors and the temperatures drop, parents are always on the lookout for new and exciting ways to keep their children entertained.

Here are 7 fantastic fall-themed activities for kids that are not only fun, but educational too. These activities are perfect for elementary-school-aged kids ages 4-12 and can be done at home or in the classroom.

1. Leaf Rubbing: Leaf rubbing is a classic fall activity that never goes out of style. All you need are some sturdy leaves, some crayons in fall colors, and blank sheets of paper. Place the leaves under a sheet of paper and rub the crayon over them to create beautiful leaf prints. This activity helps children learn about the shapes and sizes of different leaves. See more leaf rubbing ideas here.

2. Pumpkin Decorating: Carving pumpkins is undeniably fun, but it can be messy and, depending on the sharpness of the tools you use, and bit dangerous for young, un-coordinated children’s hands. Plus, once you carve a pumpkin, it will rot within a few days. Good news! There are other ways to decorate pumpkins that last longer and don’t require removing oozing pumpkin guts! In our house, we love painting and decorating pumpkins with stickers, glitter, and other craft supplies. It’s a fun and creative way for children to express themselves through seasonal art. See more pumpkin art ideas here.

3. Fall Books: Reading is always a great activity for children, and fall-themed books can be a great way to teach them about the season. Some of our favorite fall books for kids can be found on a previous blog post here.

4. Nature Walk Scavenger Hunt: Fall is an excellent time to explore the great outdoors. Get on those boots and take a nature walk with your kids. Enjoy the changing colors and smells. Before your head out, create a list of items for kids to find, like acorns, different colored leaves, and pinecones. Bonus: Bring along a basket to collect all the pretty fallen leaves, pine cones, and acorns, and use them for your DIY crafts, like making a fall leaf garland.

5. Bake some apple treats: Fall is also apple season. You can go apple picking if you live in an area where that’s possible. But most likely, you already have some apples, applesauce, or apple juice at home right now. Any of those items can be turned into an apple treat that kids can help you make.

For example: mix cinnamon and spices into apple juice, warm it up to make warm apple cider. Or make apple-flavored muffins using applesauce as a substitute for eggs. Or just bake up a whole apple and turn it into apple crisp style stuffed apple.

The possibilities are endless! There’s always caramel apples, apple pie and so much more! No matter what you choose, let your kids get involved by assisting with the measuring and stirring, grating, setting the timer, and more. They’ll love taking part in the process almost as much as they’ll love the delicious results.

6. Fall family photo at the pumpkin patch: My family loves to go to one of many local pumpkin patches each year and take photos. We usually dress in color coordinated outfits- e.g. burnt orange and gray, all black, etc. As we move around the pumpkin patch shopping for pumpkins, we’re also scouting out spots that look like a good photo backdrop. We’ve done photos with a scarecrow, on bales of hay, and even in those goofy things with the face cutouts. We do some selfies and then we usually ask a kind stranger if they wouldn’t mind taking a photo for us as well. Whether or not you actually buy a pumpkin, you’ll have a memento to take home right on your phone.

7. Download and Print Kids Activity Worksheets: What’s the perfect rainy day indoor activity for kids? Our free fall children’s activity book worksheets! We here are Halo Books have some great festive and educational fall worksheets for Halloween and Thanksgiving. Our worksheets are available for download now and include coloring pages, mazes, spot the difference, crossword puzzles, word scrambles, tic-tac-toe, and more! Download the pages at https://www.halobooks.co/free-downloads.