Fall may be famous for cozy afternoons indoors, but many of the season’s best activities happen outside. Cooler temperatures, colorful foliage, and a calendar full of seasonal events create opportunities for children to explore, stay active, and connect with nature before winter arrives.
If your family is looking for ways to spend more time outdoors this season, these fall activities make it easy to enjoy the fresh air together.
Discover 15 outdoor fall activities that help kids stay active and connected to the season!
1. Go on a Fall Scavenger Hunt
A fall scavenger hunt is a great way to get kids outdoors and engaged with nature. On a walk through the local park, backyard, or neighborhood, encourage children to look for items such as colorful leaves, maple seeds, mushrooms, acorns, pinecones, and migrating birds.
Autumn scavenger hunts can help build children’s observation skills and inspire a deeper interest in their physical environment.
2. Start a Nature Journal
This outdoor fall activity is perfect for older children. Give your children a notebook and encourage them to sketch what they see whenever they venture outdoors.
Recording changing leaves, weather patterns, or wildlife sightings can help them connect more directly with the season and can be added to almost any of the outdoor fall activities in this list.
3. Visit a Sunflower Field
Depending on where you live, early fall can be one of the last chances to visit local sunflower fields before the growing season ends. It makes for a fun family outing and an excellent photo opportunity.
4. Explore a New Trail
Instead of visiting the same park every weekend, explore a different trail, nature preserve, or walking path each month with your family. A new trail through the woods can feel exciting to children, especially as the leaves begin to turn.
5. Go for a Fall Bike Ride
A fall bike ride is the perfect outdoor fall activity for children who can benefit from getting outside and moving their bodies. It’s also a great way to explore the neighborhood and see some beautiful fall foliage along the way.
6. Create Leaf Art Outside
Collect fallen leaves in different colors and shapes, then use them to create temporary outdoor artwork. Children can arrange patterns, animals, or nature scenes using only materials they find around them.
For more creative fall ideas, read our blog post: Fall Crafts for Kids Inspired by Culture Around the World.
7. Visit a Local Harvest Festival
Many communities host fall festivals featuring hayrides, seasonal games, live entertainment, and local food. These events offer children a chance to experience the season while connecting with their community.
8. Explore a Corn Maze
Exploring a corn maze is always a fun way to bond and do some problem-solving as a family. Work together to find your way through, take turns making decisions at each fork in the path, and see if you can reach the exit without looking at the map.
If you have teenagers, consider splitting into two groups and competing to see who can reach the exit first.
9. Watch a Sunset Together
Fall sunsets often arrive early enough for younger children to enjoy. Plus, watching night fall can also help children who struggle with school-season bedtimes reset their circadian rhythm and go to sleep on time.
For this outdoor fall activity, all you need are warm clothes, a blanket, and some space at a local park, hill, or open field where you can all watch the sky change colors together.
10. Build a Backyard Bonfire
A backyard bonfire can transform any ordinary autumn evening into something special. Cuddle up in blankets and prepare s’mores to make this classic fall tradition even cozier!
11. Have an Autumn Picnic
An autumn picnic is a simple way to get kids outdoors during the season. Pack up some of their favorite snacks and head to a local park or field (or even the backyard!) and spend an hour or two chatting, playing card games, and tasting some seasonal favorites.
12. Go Apple Picking
Is any list of outdoor fall activities complete without apple picking? We think not.
Apple picking is such a beloved fall family tradition for good reason. It’s cozy, it’s fun, and it’s as autumnal as anything. Kids often love exploring orchards, filling up baskets with different types of apples, and tasting them as they stroll under twisted tree branches laden with fruit.
13. Visit a Farm
During the harvest season, a visit to the local farm is another ideal fall activity for kids. Depending on what the farm offers, children may be able to see cute animals, pick pumpkins, and taste delicious homemade cider and doughnuts!
14. Take a Scenic Chairlift Ride
For families who live within driving distance of a ski resort, few outdoor activities beat a scenic chairlift ride during peak fall foliage. As your chair climbs up the mountain, it gives children the chance to see high up into colorful canopies.
Additionally, the top of the mountain may offer sweeping views of the surrounding landscape with pops of orange, red, and yellow among the evergreens and rolling hills.
15. Host a Backyard Halloween Party
Kids tend to love a good Halloween party. After all, it’s another opportunity to dress up, eat candy, and celebrate the holiday with their friends and family! Hosting a Halloween party at home gives children the chance to enjoy festive fall activities in cool weather before the cold of winter arrives.
All you need are some simple outdoor games, festive music, themed snacks, and some dedicated costumes to turn a simple backyard gathering into something ghoulishly fun!
Why Outdoor Time Matters During the Fall
As school routines get busier and families begin to move indoors, outdoor fall activities give children a chance to stay active, explore their surroundings, and enjoy the changing season.
Even simple outings can create opportunities for family connection while helping children develop curiosity about the natural world and their community.
For many families, hosting an au pair makes it easier to fit these outdoor adventures into busy school-year schedules and spend more time enjoying the season together.
Learn how hosting an au pair with Au Pair in America® can help your family make more time for outdoor adventures this fall.
The vibrant colors, comfortable temperatures, and seasonal experiences that make fall so special don’t last forever. Fortunately, making the most of the season doesn’t require much. Oftentimes, a trail, a notebook, or a walk around the neighborhood is all it takes to help children connect with the season.
If you’re interested in more fall activities you can enjoy as a family, read our blog post, which covers everything from outdoor adventures to cozy indoor activities:
For families who host an au pair with Au Pair in America®, outdoor fall activities often become opportunities for both family connection and cultural exchange. An au pair may join your family on hikes, trips to the farm, or seasonal outings while sharing stories and traditions from their own childhood, adding a new perspective to experiences you already enjoy together.
Plus, nothing beats the excitement children feel when they show their au pair a beloved fall family tradition for the first time!
