Fun Fall Family Activities!
“Loss pulls out the shadowed colors and brings them to vivid light. It focuses a flashlight on the present, and for that moment, the present is all to be celebrated and grabbed onto, for beyond the brilliant light is He who holds eternity.” (Bekah Jayne Pogue)
I don’t know about you, but I love fall! I love the smells, the changing temperature. I am a total pumpkin girl — I love all things pumpkin! Growing up in California having fall activities were what made fall real. I love fall activities and doing them with my girls.
I love it because, as I watch nature change, it reminds me things pass away, change and grow. It reminds me that loss brings beauty, that God has the trees in a cycle to protect themselves, and even in the protection there is beauty and newness. I love this reminder that God is constantly making all things new, and he does the same in our lives. This allows us to trust him, to live in the present as the gift from him that it is (2 Corinthians 5:17).
I love embracing this gift of fall and being present by making memories and teaching gratitude to my daughters. We love so many fall activities, and I’d love to share some of them with you.
Leaf Gathering:
We go for a walk or hike, or simply venture into our front yard, and gather leaves. We then talk about the colors, we might get paper and crayons and do a leaf rubbing, or maybe I feel fancy and we get beeswax, melt it and dip the leaves to keep in the house. This simple activity gets us in touch with nature and gives me great truths to ask the girls about:
How do you think God chose these colors?
What about this walk reminded us of God’s creativity?
Why do the leaves change?
What does that tell us about who God is?
Apple Picking & Pumpkin Patch:
This can get pricey, but sometimes we go and give the girls a few dollars for a little pumpkin and just enjoy walking around. We talk about the textures, colors and shapes of the pumpkins.
How does that point to God’s creativity?
How do pumpkins grow? How does an apple tree grow?
Apple painting: Cut the apple in half and notice the star shape, maybe make apple paint prints. Use the cut apple, dip it in paint and make a stamp.
Bake an apple pie or crumble.
Roast the pumpkin seeds!
Make pumpkin slime: combine cornstarch, water and pumpkin goop.
Carve or paint pumpkins — a favorite tradition, for sure!
Gratitude Jar or Tree:
There is so much goodness in practicing gratitude. The Lord tells us to practice thanksgiving, for the protection it creates in our brains and nervous systems and for the ability to combat the entitlement we and our kids are constantly faced with. We paint a mason jar together, put it in the middle of the table with sticky notes or ripped paper. We choose a meal each day where each person writes down one thing they are grateful for, share that thing with everyone at the table, and then put it in the jar to be read on Thanksgiving. You can also make a tree and use handprint cut-outs each day — this is super cute, but it was a lot of work to keep up. The jar worked much better for our family!
Salt Dough Pumpkins:
This is just fun! It smells so good, and everyone can participate.
Dough: 1 cup of flour; ⅓ cup salt; ½ cup water, 1-2 tsp cinnamon.
Preheat oven to 250. Combine all ingredients, and then roll out dough. (We used a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut the dough into shapes.) Use a toothpick or straw and make a hole somewhere on the ornament. Bake at 250 for 2 hours, or let air dry.
Next, paint and/or decorate your salt dough pumpkins! We hung some around the house and gave some away to neighbors and friends.
Fall is a beautiful time to enjoy together, to get outside and notice God’s creativity. As we do these activities with our kids, what do we learn about God and the world through our kids' eyes? They are innocent and pure as they see the clouds that look like bunnies moving in for the thunderstorm. They invite us to slow and take in the moment. What do you notice about fall? What invitations does it hold for you this year?