"Fall" into some Family Fun

Fall is the perfect time to enjoy being together as a family thanks to the cooler temperatures, beautiful colors, and activities a-plenty! Take advantage of this wonderful time of year with these 10 family activities.

1. Go for a nature walk. Pick up colorful leaves, twigs, and acorns. Come back home and make a garland by spelling out "Happy Fall" using the items you have collected.

2. Visit a nearby Pumpkin Patch—there are several in the Wichita area! Better yet, make it a yearly family tradition.

3. Help your child explore their senses with a pumpkin. See: Talk about the color of the pumpkin. Hear: Compare the sounds of a whole pumpkin to a hollow pumpkin. Taste: Remove the pumpkin seeds, clean, sprinkle with salt, and bake! Touch: Let your little one get 

messy by digging their hands in the inside of the pumpkin. Smell: Compare the scent of a pumpkin to that of other vegetables.

4. Go to a football game. There’s nothing that says "fall" like football! And your kids will love the excitement of it all.

5. Make pumpkin bread and deliver it to your neighbors or an elderly person. Not only will the baking be a fun activity, it will give your children an opportunity to be thoughtful of someone else.

6. Make a maze out of the leaves in your yard! Just use your rake to clear off a path for your kids to walk. Once they’ve mastered one maze…make another!

7. Create a nature bracelet with your child. Loosely make a loop of tape, sticky side-out, around his/her wrist. Have your little one pick up leaves, acorns, etc. while outside and stick it on the bracelet!

8. Preserve the beautiful leaves you see by waxing them. Just cover your ironing board with several layers of newspaper, sandwich the leaves between 2 layers of waxed paper, put another piece of newspaper on top and press with a medium-hot iron for thirty seconds. Lift off the waxed paper and remove the leaves…they should be waxed enough to retain their shape and make a beautiful fall display!

9. Curl up and read a book together…with hot apple cider!

10. Enjoy a game of "Pumpkin Bowling" by filling 2-liter bottles with water and rolling the pumpkin to knock over the bottles. Or play "Roll the Pumpkin" by grabbing 2 pumpkins and a couple brooms. Each person will attempt to propel the pumpkin across the finish line the fastest by using the broom.

Jenae is a wife, mother of two boys’ ages 2 ½ and 10 months, and former first-grade teacher. She loves spending time with her family and sharing fun and educational activities for young children on her website www.icanteachmychild.com.