Fall Starts Tomorrow

Happy Labor Day!

Did you spend the day outside? I remember Labor Day picnics growing up. The entire neighborhood would congregate around the pool and the grill. We would swim, eat hamburgers, swing in the hammock, and play bocce ball.

The next day we'd jump into fall and school with both feet. But just because the pool is closed, does not mean that we also need to close our front doors.

I love spending time outside in the fall. The following is a list of some of our family favorites:

1. Visit an orchard to pick apples or pears. For a reasonable price, you can purchase enough apples and pears to make sauces, butters, and pies to last until Thanksgiving.
   
2. Cut a few apples in half, dip them in paint, and make an apple stamp collage.
   
3. Take a hayride. Wear rain boots and a jacket and be prepared to spend a day at the farm. While you're there, pick pumpkins and enjoy some of the other fresh fall produce.
4. When you get home, carve your pumpkins, bake with them, and roast the seeds. Save a few seeds for a seed spitting contest outside.
5. Make a scarecrow with hay from the farm and old clothes waiting to be donated. Sit outside and read to your scarecrow. Kids are often more confident reading to an animal or inanimate object.
   
6. Enjoy a petting zoo. Also take the time to ask the farmer lots of questions about what the animals eat and what their normal temperament is.
7. Rake the leaves in your yard into letters, pictures, or mazes to follow. Of course, you can also rake the leaves into a pile and jump into them.
8. Rake the leaves in your neighbor's yard for them just because.
9. Collect leaves in several different shapes and sizes. Lay the leaves under a sheet of white paper and rub the paper with a crayon.
   
10. Take a neighborhood nature walk. Stop to take pictures of each other in front of the fall foliage. Take note of any animals you see and how their behavior might be different in the fall as compared to other seasons.
    
11. Take another walk at night and try to identify fall's emerging constellations such as Pegasus and Aquarius.
12. Light a campfire and roast s'mores or banana boats.
13. Attend a high school football game. Drink hot chocolate and cheer for the home team.
14. Organize a two-hand touch football game in your neighborhood.
15. Tailgate at home. Roll the grill into the driveway and set up a few lawn chairs. Enjoy listening to a game on the radio with a few neighborhood friends.
16. Weed the garden, spread new mulch, and plant bulbs for spring flowers.
17. In many regions, it's not too late to plant vegetables to harvest through the fall and winter. Try lettuces or spinach and several root crops that will mature before the ground freezes.

How do you enjoy the changing seasons outside? Don't forget to add your favorite ways to play outside before September 30 at our Outdoor Play Link Up!

Linked up at Sun Scholar's For the Kids Friday.