Fun activities to do in Autumn

AUTUMN IS A SECOND SPRING WHEN EVERY LEAF IS A FLOWER ~ Albert Camus

Embrace the season with these ideas that celebrate cooler weather and changing colours.

Pumpkin pie-scented playdough

you will need:
1 cup plain flour
½ cup salt
1 Tbs cream of tartar
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp all spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
A few drops of orange food colouring (or a few drops each of red and yellow food colouring)
1 Tbs oil
1 cup boiling water

Method:
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Add the oil and food colouring.
Carefully pour in the boiling water and mix with a metal spoon.
Knead on a floured surface until cool enough for little hands to join in.

Leaf garland
Have fun gathering a bunch of leaves with your child. When you get home thread them up on some string and decide where to hang them!

The leaf matching game
Collect a bunch of leaves for each child and set off on a nature trail to find the trees that match each leaf.

Hot chocolate on the run
Family walks on a crisp autumn day are a sensory delight. Enhance this experience with a thermos of hot chocolate and a pocketful of marshmallows. You’ll be creating an outing that the children will remember for years to come.

Snap happy
Find a big pile of autumn leaves and add children. Grab your camera or your phone and capture the joy of the season as they play. Returning to the same area every year to photograph your kids doing the same sort of thing would make a sweet record of the passage of time.

New gummies
Mark the change of season with a family shopping trip for shiny new gumboots. If it’s a rainy day, even better! Take them outside and christen them as soon as possible with a frenzy of Peppa Pig-style puddle-jumping.

Autumn leaf artworks
Such beauty at our feet! Collect autumn leaves and create beautiful art. You could make a colourful leaf rainbow or a wreath. Use a cardboard ring as backing on which to glue multi-hued leaves.