30+ Fun Things To Do In Fall for the Whole Family

For many of us, fall is about traditions. We have our own small traditions, like enjoying the first pumpkin spice latte of the season, and bigger family traditions, like how we celebrate Thanksgiving. These fun things to do in fall will help us with the current pandemic in leading many of us to rethink our fall traditions.

As cooler weather approaches and the leaves begin to fall, we are wondering what living in the days of COVID means for our Fall traditions and activities.

Fun things to do at home this fall with your kids.

30+ Fun Things to Do In Fall

The good news is that there are still lots of fun things we can do at home! There are so many ways we can connect and enjoy this time with our kids. This Fall can still be an exciting time to celebrate and have fun together.

Check out these 30 fun things you can do with your kiddos while at home.

Fun Fall Activities

Have a Scavenger Hunt

You can have a scavenger hunt in your own home, backyard, or around your neighborhood. There are so many ways to go about it! Here are some options:

Look for colors. Check out this easy printable for hunting with preschoolers.
Go on a nature scavenger hunt with your kids to explore the world in your backyard.
Hide clues in your house, yard, or neighborhood for children to discover. Each clue should eventually lead to a special note, place, or even a treat. This would be a great safe alternative to trick-or-treat this Fall.

Fun Things To Do At Home

Binge Your Favorite Halloween Movies

Some of my favorite family memories involve movie nights. Our whole family loves fall, so we are always looking for ways to celebrate that allow us to all gather together as a family.

This year, you and your kids can snuggle up for family movie night on the couch or outdoors if you’re lucky enough to have a projector. To have an awesome movie night with your kids, gather together with popcorn, candy, and your favorite movies.

Here are some suggestions:

If your kids are older, you can try some truly exciting character movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, or Twilight.

Build a Backyard Maze

Another fun way to celebrate the season and get the kids involved is to build your box maze in the backyard. You don’t need a cornfield or lots of bales of hay to create a fun Fall maze.

It’s the perfect time to recycle all those Amazon boxes! You can use cardboard, sheets, and recycled materials to create a very cool maze for the whole family to enjoy.

Spend time planning your maze together. You might be surprised by some of the cool ideas your kids come up with! Talk about how you can make it work, and have fun drawing your design on paper. Then, let the STEM learning fun begin as you do your best to create a backyard box maze together.

Your box maze is the perfect activity for any Fall celebration, but it’s especially fun to create a maze for Halloween! Be sure to use lots of twists, turns, and dead ends filled with fun decorations, cool lighting effects, and a Halloween soundtrack for the perfect Halloween ambiance.

Decorate for Fall

While we’re talking about building a box maze for the fall holidays, why not spend time decorating for fall or Halloween. Getting the house ready for this fun holiday can be exciting. Have the kids help, and soon you’ll all be getting in the spirit together as you prepare for Fall fun.

Toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy decorating with silly window clings, helping place pumpkins, and adding fake spiderwebs to the bushes. Older children can help by planning, setting up mums, and decorating a space. You can create a theme for your fall decor or just enjoy choosing lots of colorful decorations you all enjoy.

Pumpkin Decorating Contest

Our annual pumpkin carving contest is one of our favorite Halloween family traditions! This year, you can start a carving contest with your kids too. Whether you choose your pumpkins at the patch, or from the grocery store, a carving contest is a great way to celebrate with your kids this year.

Your kids can choose their own designs to carve, and you can judge the results, or with younger children, you can give them a marker and let them draw their own silly faces. Then, you cut according to their design. The result is sure to be a special and unique design that’s all their own!

We give prizes for the most complex design, the silliest pumpkin, and the scariest pumpkin. I try to make sure each child gets a sweet chocolate prize. What will your pumpkin decorating prize be?

Go Hiking as a Family This Fall

Fall is the perfect time to get out and enjoy the great outdoors with your kids. Hiking is a good way to stay active, get exercise, and explore nature while keeping your distance from others.

Be sure to plan at least some of your Fall hikes for late October, when most leaves have fallen. It’s the perfect time to take your kids hiking through the woods because they’ll be able to see a lot more.

Here are some other important things to remember while you’re hiking with kids:

Keep it short. Remember, the farther you walk, the longer the walk back will be. With young children, plan hikes that are two miles or less in length. On these hikes, it’s more about exploring nature together than reaching the pinnacle or end of the trail.
Wear layers. It may be cool when you begin your hike, but it could be very warm by the end of the day. Be sure you have layers you can add or take away as needed. Kids that aren’t comfortable are grumpy. Grumpy kids can quickly ruin a family hiking experience.
Bring water and snacks. No matter how big your meal was before beginning your hike, you will want to bring snacks on the trail if you’re hiking with young children. The only thing more grumpy than a hot or cold kid is a hungry kid. Apples, granola bars, and trail mix make great hiking snacks for Fall adventures.

Campfire Ideas

Roast Marshmallows Together

Campfire s’mores and roasted marshmallows are a Fall family favorite! Gathering together around a fire pit, campfire, or marshmallow roaster like this one from Nostalgia.

It’s the perfect time to talk and reconnect as a family. You can spend time telling jokes, taking turns inventing spooky stories, or debating how to roast the most perfect marshmallow. I like mine toasted nicely on the outside and melty in the middle. Delicious!

Make a Gratitude Tree

As Thanksgiving approaches, the perfect at home activity for your kids this year is to explore gratitude together as a family. One fun way you can talk about what you’re thankful for is by creating a gratitude tree.

Spend time brainstorming people, things, and blessings you can be thankful for individually and as a family this year. Then, write down all the things you are thankful for on leaves. Pin each leaf of gratitude to a paper tree or found branch.

You can cut leaves in Fall colors from construction paper or use real leaves. The most beautiful gratitude tree we ever created was made from large Magnolia leaves we collected. We used metallic permanent markers to write our messages of gratitude and then attached them to a large limb we found while hiking.

It created a beautiful Fall decoration for the wall in our dining room that had everyone talking at Thanksgiving.

Prepare a Recipe Together

Cooking for Thanksgiving is a family event that can last for days. Getting your kids involved in the process can be helpful. Plus, it’s a fantastic way to make some new memories in the kitchen this Fall.

Teaching your kids to cook helps them learn many important skills while building confidence and encouraging independence. Even very young children can enjoy measuring, mixing, and washing vegetables. Choose a kid friendly recipe or teach them a cherished family recipe. It’s the perfect way to pass the torch and share the stories behind the dishes that always adorn your family table at Thanksgiving.

Fall Games for Families

Have a Backyard Football Game

Football is a huge part of the Fall season here in America. This year, we might not be able to attend football games and tailgate, but we can recreate a similar experience at home.

Get the whole family involved in a backyard football game. You can even plan some of your favorite fall foods for dinner that night.

So what’s the best way to plan a fall game? Agree that everyone plays and comes up with the rules together. Then, have fun! A friendly competition in the backyard can be a lot of fun, but be sure to spend more time enjoying each other and the games than keeping score this Fall.

Fall Slime Recipe

The amazing look and feel of this fall slime make autumn come alive.

Fall Activities for Families

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Do you have more ideas for fun Fall things to do at home with kids?

Don’t forget to share how you’re planning to spend the season with your little ones in the comments. I love reading about your Fall memories and family traditions too.

Fall Activities

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