If your kids need a reason to spend more time outside this fall, this list has 20.
Crisp air, crunchy leaves, muddy boots, and rosy cheeks mark the season for low-effort, high-fun outdoor adventures.
And these aren’t just time-fillers. They’re memory-makers. The kind of stuff your kids will remember more than anything they did on a screen.
These 20 outdoor fall activities give kids a chance to run, build, explore, and create using everything autumn has to offer.
Printable Fall Scavenger Hunt
Gear up for a crunchy-leaf adventure! Armed with a colorful fall scavenger hunt checklist, kids dash outdoors hunting for acorns, spiders, conkers, puddles, even squirrels storing nuts. It’s like a bingo board of fall fun that gets kids outside and noticing the little things.
Free Fall Fitness Prompts
No gym needed here. Jump into fall fun with 24 fall playful movement prompts that turn the backyard into a seasonal obstacle course. Think leaf pile leaps, pumpkin squats, or scarecrow stretches to burn off kid energy.
Fall Leaf Scavenger Hunt Activity
Give them a rainbow challenge with this fall leaf scavenger hunt. Kids look for red, yellow, orange, brown, and even purple leaves on this fun outdoor walk. It makes leaf collecting feel like a game while sharpening their color recognition skills outdoors.
Nature Crown Craft
Sticks, bark, acorns, moss, and leaves become royalty-worthy headwear with this nature crown craft. It combines a peaceful nature walk with the joy of dressing up. Bonus: Kids will want to wear it proudly.
Fall Leaf Science Experiment: Exploring Colors & Chlorophyll
Got curious kids? Turn your backyard walk into a mini science lab with this fall leaf experiment.
Let little ones kids soak fallen leaves to extract pigments. They can learn about all the different chemicals inside leaves that give them their colors, even when they change.
Pine Cone Pumpkin Craft by Fireflies & Mud Pies
Transform simple pine cones into charming, rustic mini pumpkins. All you need is a little paint and imagination for this outdoor fall pumpkin craft.
The best part? They double as cute decorations your kids actually made.
Homemade Stick Fort For Outdoor STEM
Let kids become backyard engineers by weaving branches into Lincoln‑Log style walls to build their own hideaway fort. It’s an open‑air STEM workshop that mixes design thinking, problem-solving, and the thrill of rough-and-tumble play.
Teamwork, engineering, and pretend play all in one. This is definitely the type of unstructured play children need more of in life.
Pumpkin Washing Station
Water, soap, and pumpkins. That’s it.
Kids love getting messy and helping with real tasks. This is pumpkin washing sensory play disguised as a chore—and it actually keeps them busy.
Fall in a Bottle Fun Outdoor Fall Activity
Let children fill clear bottles with autumn treasures for a portable snapshot of fall’s wonders. It’s outdoor I-spy game and mesmerizing keepsake all in one.
Measuring Leaves by And Next Comes L
Give your kids a ruler or tape measure and a handful of leaves in this measuring leaves fall activity. Measuring and comparing turns into a game, and they might not even realize they’re working on math and writing skills.
Fall Leaf Tree Craft by Mommy Evolution
Collect real leaves and branches on a crisp walk to design a fall leaf tree masterpiece. Nature meets crafty magic when each twig and leaf finds its place on paper. It’s hands-on, calming, and surprisingly realistic when it’s done.
Bug Hunt Fine Motor Activity
Transform backyard strolls into bug hunt fine motor mini expeditions with tweezers, nets, and insect containers. It’s a buggy workout for little hands and curious kids.
Fall Activity Journal
Hand kids this printable fall activity journal full of autumn doodles, writing prompts, and observation pages. It has space for drawings, leaf rubbings, and notes about what they saw to chronicle their leaf-hunting and pumpkin adventures. Kind of like a nature diary meets scrapbook.
Candy Corn Painted Rocks
Paint ordinary rocks into sweet candy corn look-alikes using simple stripes of white, orange, and yellow. This fall craft is a fun way for kids to get creative with fall colors. It’s simple, relaxing, and a fun way to bring art outside.
Pinecone Bowling
You don’t need pins. Transform the backyard into a woodland pinecone bowling alley with this nature play idea. Using freshly fallen pinecones as a ball to roll as close to a marker as possible, kids can enjoy a nature-inspired twist on bowling that’s perfect for autumn afternoons.
Apple Stacking Game
Challenge your little engineers with this STEM-inspired activity where they stack apples to create towers before they topple. What starts as a challenge, ends in a lot of laughter. It’s a fun way to explore balance, gravity, and design principles.
Stonehenge Outdoor Activity
Step back in time building a miniature Stonehenge with rocks and sticks found outside. This hands-on activity invites kids to explore ancient architecture and the mysteries of history while enjoying the cool fall weather.
Fungus Investigation
Take a walk after a rainy day and let the kids look for mushrooms in this fungus investigation. Bring a magnifying glass and talk about why fungi grow where they do.
It’s great for teaching nature’s autumn cycle. Just remind them…look, don’t touch.
Leaf Sunflower Craft
With just a little construction paper, and a whole lot of leaves, kids can make their own leaf sunflower craft. Can’t find enough yellow leaves? No problem, just break out the yellow paint.
It’s simple, but the results are stunning. And it gives kids a new way to look at fallen leaves.
Creating Nature Art by Fireflies & Mud Pies
These cute little leaf people are made from sticks and leaves gathered while outside. Finish off the friends with a pair of googly eyes for a silly nature art look that is guaranteed to generate some laughs.
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