To be honest, autumn would be our best season even if it was only about leaves. Trying to catch leaves falling from the trees is our best nature play activity EVER. We find it totally addictive and can spend literally hours doing it. If you haven’t tried it we can seriously recommend. London plane trees are particularly brilliant as they have massive leaves and whoosh down slowly. It can take ages to get one, you can compete on who gets the most and, remember, each time you catch one it’s LUCKY too!

• CHASE THEM! You just need a windy day and a safe place to do it. Can you pin them down and catch them? Who can get the fastest?
• PICK THEM. Who can find the prettiest? Can you get one of each colour.
• MAKE THINGS WITH THEM: Glue them onto glass jars to make lanterns or cover them in paint to make leaf prints. Alternatively cut them up into bits and see what you can make them into.
• STAMP ON THEM! Who can get the best CRUNCH.

Conkers

There’s a few weeks from mid September to early October when walking underneath a tree can be hazardous. Once you’ve got them out of the prickly shell though, collecting these becomes a bit addictive too.

Acorns

An early autumn treat these if you want to get them in good shape. Use the cups as fairy bowls, draw faces on the nuts or look for a little fidget acorn which is trapped in it’s shell.

Sycamore Helicopters

Look out for these on the floor. Grab handfuls, throw them in the air and watch they helicopter their way down.

Apples & Pears

Around us the apples tend to ripen in August and the pears in late September. Both good to eat but fallen ones also great for practicing carving skills or mushing to make drinks.

Blackberries & Sloes

We get a bit less obsessed with blackberries in autumn but they’re still around and available. Sloes are a small round sour type of plum. Not recommended for eating but they’re great for squishing for potions or fairy food.

Pumpkins

If you can pick a pumpkin it’s well worth the effort. There are farms willing to help you with this or maybe you’ve managed to grow one? Once picked, as well as eating them, you can paint them, make amazing carvings and turn them into lanterns.

If they’re a bit past their prime they’re fun to smash too. If you’ve got a cauldron bubbling somewhere the mushy bits will look great inside.

Wands & broomsticks

Get out into the woods and see how many twigs you can gather. Can you find a wand among them?

Then turn the rest into a broomstick…

Be witchy…

Can you pick things to make a potion with? Or find something to turn into a cauldron? What spell will you cook up?

The summer may have been dry but I suspect there’ll be a fair amount of rain to get used to again. Fear not, there are LOADS of ways you can enjoy it with kids.

Check out the Ways to play outside when it’s been raining for days blog for some inspiriation.

Make the bugs somewhere to winter…

The insects and bugs will be looking for places to sleep out the winter. Can you find a quiet corner for them and make something they’ll like?

Bug hotels are great fun to make and can fit in any containers you can find. Just make sure you have lots of small spaces they can curl up into.

Hide & seek in the dark in the park

Get out and explore the dark a bit. We play hide and seek with torches in the local park and go for nature walks in the dark. Kids don’t find this nearly as creepy as adults do! Obviously head to well populated areas where you feel safe though.

Find things to light up

If the dark gets too much though why not look for things you can light up? We head to the woods in November to look for the perfect fallen branches to make into light decorations.

Who can find the most Christmassy one? Maybe you can make them into something first?