Once school is in full swing, it’s easy to get caught into the day-to-day of schedules, extracurriculars, and commitments. While these schedules and commitments are important for helping develop responsibility while providing a comfortable, predictable, and safe environment of your child, it’s important not to get caught up in so much of the daily bustle that you forget to play with your child.
Family activities together are not only a source of fun and pleasure; they’re also an important development tool for children of all ages. Similar to research on the importance of family meals together, regular family activities can help:
- increase connection and sense of belonging
- encourage confidence
- increase academic performance
- lower risk of depression or substance abuse
- improve communication skills and verbal development
- encourage creativity
- grow confidence in trying new activities
- feelings of safety and security
This fall, we recommend sitting down as a family and writing a “Fall Activity Idea List” to hang on the refrigerator. Do your best to do 1-2 activities per week together. Let your children participate in making the list to increase buy-in for the challenge, and let your children take turns choosing an activity on the list. Even non-readers can have the opportunity to point and ask what a certain activity is, or if they don’t yet have the comprehension skills to choose an activity–like an infant–it can still be fun for the family to let the baby’s hand fall on the paper and choose whichever activity the child’s finger touches first.
Here are some of our favorites:
- Pick apples at an orchard
- Bake a pumpkin treat
- Go to a pumpkin patch
- Carve jack-o-lanterns
- Make-your-own mini pie
- Jump in a leaf pile
- Go on a hay ride
- Do apple-stamping art
- Make a leaf collage
- Make bird feeders
- Go on a fall hike
- Drive to see fall leaves
- Read Halloween stories
- Make homemade apple cider
- Picnic at the park
- Go to a corn maze
- Visit a farm
- Make treats for a neighbor
- Paint mini pumpkins
- Go for a bike ride
- See a drive-in movie
- Make-your-own-pizza night
- Board game (+ hot chocolate) night
- Invent a board game or card game together
- Play hide-and-seek, kick-the-can, or sardines
- Make homemade cards for relatives
- Scrapbook together
- Make fall leaf garlands
- Do a science kit together
- Go on a family scavenger hunt
- Do an informal photo shoot together–take turns being the photographer and the models
- Go to a roller-skating rink
- Make a family scarecrow
- Paint a mural together
- Do a volunteer project together
What are some of your favorite family fall activities?
