Autumn Activities for Children: Fun and Creativity in Nature & at Home

Autumn is a wonderful time of year to spend time outside with the family. The colorful variety of autumn leaves, chestnuts and other natural materials offers numerous opportunities to organize creative and fun leisure activities with the children. Whether a day trip with children or simply an afternoon in your own garden - autumn invites you to many great experiences. In this blog post, we present you with exciting ideas for leisure activities with children nearby that you can do directly outside in nature, but that can also be continued at home.
If you like an idea, you will find detailed step-by-step instructions for everything at the end of this blog .

1. Crafting with autumn leaves

The beautifully colored autumn leaves are a real highlight of the season and are perfect for crafting. When doing crafts with children, you can create great works of art from the leaves. A simple but beautiful idea: place collected leaves on thick paper and paint over them with wax crayons so that the leaf shapes appear as a stencil. You can also make little leaf men, using the leaves as the body, arms and legs.

2. Make chestnut men

One of the most popular activities in autumn is making chestnut men. All you need is collected chestnuts, toothpicks and a bit of imagination. You and your children can make small figures by connecting the chestnuts to the toothpicks. Whether animals, fantasy creatures or even entire chestnut families - there are no limits to creativity! This activity not only promotes children's fine motor skills, but is also a lot of fun.

3. Leaf labyrinth in the garden

If you have a garden or a park nearby, you can create an exciting leaf maze for the children. Simply clear an area and create small paths and trails out of piles of leaves. The children can then run through the maze, play catch or have races. This is a great way to keep them busy in the fresh air and at the same time get some exercise into their everyday lives.

4. Crafting with natural materials from the forest

A walk in the forest is not only healthy, but also a great opportunity to collect materials for craft projects. You can create the most beautiful decorations with your children using pine cones, moss, small branches and leaves. When crafting with natural materials from the forest, you can create cute forest animals or autumnal door wreaths, for example. This way you can transform the collected treasures into sustainable and creative craft ideas for the whole family. It is also a great way to combine outdoor and indoor activities. The materials are collected outside in the sunshine and can then be used indoors later when it gets too cold in the evening. This way it never gets boring!

5th Autumn Scavenger Hunt

A day trip with children becomes a real adventure with an autumn scavenger hunt. Hide small treasures or tasks in the forest or park and create a simple map that leads your children through nature. They can also collect leaves, chestnuts and other natural materials that you can later use for crafts. This activity combines exercise, adventure and creativity in a playful way.

6. Craft ideas for children: natural mobiles

Another creative idea is to make a nature mobile. Collect various autumn materials such as leaves, chestnuts, acorns and small branches. Attach these to a string and hang them on a sturdy branch. You can hang the finished mobile in the garden or on the window - that way you always have nature in view. These craft ideas for children are not only decorative, but also a nice memory of your trips into nature together.

7. Painting with autumn colors

For younger children, painting with autumn colors is a great way to encourage their creativity. Use the different colors that nature offers in autumn. Let your children paint or stamp colorful leaves, chestnuts and branches on paper. The colors of autumn make their artwork shine and create wonderful autumn pictures.

Step-by-step instructions:

1. Crafting with autumn leaves: leaf stencils

You need:

• Various colorful autumn leaves
• Thick paper
• wax crayons in different colors
• adhesive tape (optional)

Step-by-step instructions:

1. Collect autumn leaves in different shapes and colors with your children. Make sure that the leaves are dry and not too brittle.
2. Place a sheet of paper underneath the paper. If it slips, you can fix it with some tape.
3. Take a wax crayon and hold it sideways so you can cover a larger area.
4. Rub the chalk gently over the paper so that the outline and structure of the leaf are visible on the paper.
5. Repeat the process with different leaves and colors to create a colorful fall artwork.

2. Make chestnut men

You need:

• chestnuts
• toothpicks or skewers
• glue (optional)
• Felt-tip pens or googly eyes for decoration

Here's how:

1. Collect chestnuts with your children, preferably in different sizes for the head, body and feet.
2. Choose a large chestnut for the body. Stick two toothpicks into the bottom for legs and connect them to two smaller chestnuts for the feet.
3. For the head, insert a toothpick into the upper side of the “body” and attach another smaller chestnut.
4. You can attach more chestnuts to the body with toothpicks as arms.
5. Decorate your chestnut man with felt-tip pens, googly eyes or small leaves for hair. You can also make a small hat out of a leaf.
6. Repeat the process to make different figures – animals, people or fantasy characters.

3. Leaf labyrinth in the garden

You need:

• autumn leaves
• rake
• stones or small obstacles (optional)

Here's how:

1. Clear an area in the garden or park to make room for your labyrinth.
2. Use a rake to form the piles of leaves into lines that will serve as the walls of the labyrinth. The more leaves you have, the higher you can make the walls.
3. Create paths and dead ends to make the labyrinth exciting. Small stones or branches can be used as additional obstacles.
4. Let the children run through the maze or hide small treasures in it for them to find. For older children, you can increase the difficulty by making the maze more complex.
5. At the end, the children can also throw the leaves around – great fun!

4. Crafts with natural materials from the forest: forest animals

You need:

• pine cones
• Small branches
• moss, leaves and acorns
• Glue (hot glue gun for older children, craft glue for younger ones)
• googly eyes or felt-tip pens

Here's how:

1. Collect various natural materials such as pine cones, branches, moss and acorns while taking a walk in the forest.
2. Choose a pine cone as the body for your animal. A larger pine cone is good for animals like hedgehogs or bears.
3. Use glue to attach small branches or acorns as legs and arms.
4. Use leaves or moss to decorate the animal, for example as fur or wings.
5. For the face, you can stick on googly eyes or paint eyes and a mouth with felt-tip pens.
6. Set up your forest animals as autumn decorations or act out a little story with them.

5th Autumn Scavenger Hunt

You need:

• Small treasures (e.g. chestnuts, acorns, etc.)
• paper and pen for the map
• String or chalk for clues (optional)

Here's how:

1. Choose a park, forest or garden where you can conduct the scavenger hunt.
2. Hide small “treasures” like chestnuts or acorns in different places.
3. Draw a simple map on which the children can find clues to the hiding places. You can also add little puzzles or tasks to make the journey even more exciting.
4. Give the children the map and let them search for the treasures. You can also use string or chalk to leave clues or markings in the area.
5. At the end of the scavenger hunt, the collected materials can be used for crafts!

6. Make a natural mobile

You need:

• Branches, chestnuts, leaves, acorns
• string or thread
• Scissors
• glue or hot glue gun

Here's how:

1. Collect various materials such as chestnuts, acorns, colorful leaves and small branches while taking a walk.
2. Use a sturdy branch as a base for your mobile.
3. Cut strings of different lengths and tie them to the materials you have collected. You can pierce chestnuts and acorns using toothpicks to hang them on the strings.
4. Attach the strings with the materials to the branch so that they hang at different heights.
5. You can hang the finished mobile in the garden or on a window, where it can dance in the autumn wind.

7. Painting with autumn colors

You need:

• autumn leaves, chestnuts, branches
• watercolors or finger paints
• Thick paper
• brushes and pens

Here's how:

1. Prepare a painting table and lay out thick paper.
2. Let the children paint or stamp with the autumn leaves , chestnuts or branches. Colorful leaves can be used as stamps by dipping them in paint and pressing them onto the paper.
3. Use different colors to recreate the diversity of autumn. Children can also paint their own creations, inspired by nature.
4. Hang the artwork as autumn decoration.

In summary, autumn offers countless opportunities for leisure activities with children nearby. Whether you are making crafts with natural materials from the forest, making a chestnut man or simply going on a day trip with children - this time of year invites you to experience nature together and get creative. Use the many craft ideas for children to create unforgettable moments with your little ones and have fun copying them!