20 Indoor and Outdoor Fall Activities and Games for Kids

It’s the fall season, with all the beautiful colors, unique activities, and exciting projects to take part in. It’s time to finally get out of the house and enjoy the world around without worrying about the scorching sun or frostbite.

Now is a great time for parents to let children free, play, run around, and make new friends.

While the possibility of countless fall activities and games for kids is enticing, it requires meticulous planning unless you want to spend the whole day with kids sulking for lack of anything to do.

Without further ado, here are 20 fall activities and games for kids for a happy moment this fall season.

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Fun Outdoor Fall Activities and Games

Just because the weather is brisk doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy some outside time! Try these outdoor games and activities that are perfect for fall weather.

1. Scarecrow Tag

Scarecrow tag game is great for a group of kids, at least more than 6 children. You can have one kid as a tag or multiple taggers depending on the number of kids playing the game. When tagged, the kids run in the playing area and must freeze with their legs and arms apart, like a scarecrow.

Tagged players are set free when other free players manage to crawl through their legs. Also, free players are not tagged when they are crouching beneath the legs of a scarecrow.

2. Leaf Blowing Game

Put leaves across the table, and kids can have a leaf blowing contest. The first to blow a leaf across the table is the winner.

3. Pumpkin Pushing Race

Image by Luisella Planeta Leoni from Pixabay

With small and lightweight pumpkins, have kids race between the start and finish line pushing the pumpkin with their feet only. Only pushing with feet is allowed, and no kicking.

4. Pumpkin Sweeping Race

An alternative to the previous game is “sweeping” the pumpkin to the finish line using a broom. You can spice up the game and turn it into a relay race.

5. Finding Pumpkins

Where’s Waldo? is a good game, but this fall, you can kick things up a notch with the “finding pumpkins” game. With this game, your kids will be running around, keeping active and even burning calories! Hide pumpkins in different rooms in the house and let the kids go pumpkin hunting. Consider it a “unique” hide and seek game, especially if there are few kids in the house.

6. Throwing Small Items Into a Pumpkin

This game involves throwing small items, like marbles and pennies, into a pumpkin. Get a pumpkin and carve out a large hole on the top side. Kids can take turns throwing the small items inside the pumpkin, and the kid with most objects inside the pumpkin wins the game.

7. Tossing Pumpkin Seeds

Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay

Another alternative is to have buckets or other containers a few feet apart from the kid. Kids can try throwing pumpkin seeds inside the containers for small prizes, like candy.

8. Soda Bottles Bowling

You can have a bowling game at home with soda bottles, empty or filled with sand or water. Look for gourds to act as bowling balls, and kids who knock down most of the bottles are the winners.

9. Rolling Gourds

If you have a sloppy driveway or a hilly playing area, kids can take turns rolling gourds there. For more fun, use gourds with bumps to make the game more challenging—the player whose gourd rolls longer wins the game.

10. Passing the Corn

Image by Cornell Frühauf from Pixabay

Passing the corn game can be a relay or a passing game. With the passing game, separate the kids into two groups in two lines. The cob should be passed from one player to the other.

However, they are not allowed to touch the cob with their hands. When the cob falls, it’s taken back to the line’s start until it passes to the end of the line without falling. The team that manages to pass the cob to the end of the line is the winner.

Tip: Use this artificial corn if corn on the cob isn’t in-season near you!

Art & Craft Fall Activities and Games for Kids

Some fall activities and games for kids allows your child to play and have fun while learning and exploring their creative side. These art and craft activities and games will do just that:

11. Pumpkin Seeds Art & Craft

Since fall is the official season for pumpkins, you can save the pumpkin seeds (or buy them here) when cooking for playtime. Put the seeds out to dry. Once dry, allow the kids to decorate the seeds with different fall paint colors.

Using a white sheet or poster board, draw different mosaics where the colored seeds can be placed. Ou will end up with beautifully colored mosaics; your kid can hang around the house as decor and morale boost.

12. Fall Leaf Art & Craft

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

You will need some crayons, fall leaves, a glue stick, a drawing pencil, and drawing paper for this activity. Draw a tree with multiple branches where the collected leaves will go. If your child doesn’t know how to use a glue stick, this will be an excellent opportunity to show them how to handle one.

You can start by showing your kid how to apply the glue using the glue stick on one of the branches. The next step is to glue the leaves on all the branches. The final step is to decorate the rest of the tree using the crayons.

13. Fall Handprint Tree

You will need a white sheet card, paint colors, and Q-tips. You can draw your kid’s hand, right from the arm directly on the paper. Alternatively, you can draw faint lines on the kid’s arm and hand, trace it on the white sheet and paint the tracing with crayons. The final drawing looks like a tree.

The next step is for the kids to mix colors to achieve the fall colors of brown, green, orange, yellow, and red. Kids can use their fingertips or q-tips or the end of a pencil to add dots around the tree. For that colorful look, the dotting needs to be spread with different colors.

14. Apple Painting Craft

Apples are still available in the fall, and you can spare one for your child to play with. You will need an apple, watercolors, and a poster board. Cut the apple into different sizes, like halves of quarters. The kids will dip the apple parts in the various watercolors and imprint them on the paper board. You will end up with a uniquely colored poster board.

15. Painting with Marbles

If you are looking for a project with colors and less mess, marble painting is an excellent choice. You will need paint colors (with fall colors), paper, tape, a handful of marbles, and a box. Place the paper in the box and pour a little of each paint color on the paper. If your kids are older, they can easily do this on their own.

The next step is to roll the marbles on the piece of paper. The ink spreads as the marbles roll in different directions, touching the different colors. When the whole paper is colored, you can help the kids to draw fall leaves and cut them up for hanging.

16. Mr. Pumpkin Head

Image by Susanne Jutzeler, suju-foto from Pixabay

If you’ve pieces of Mr. Potato head, you can use a pumpkin as a prop, and kids can spend their time fitting those pieces on the pumpkin.

This activity will require a small or medium-size pumpkin, one that kids can lift. Poke holes into the pumpkin for eyes, ears, mouth, nose, among other facial parts. Let the kids spend their time fitting the Mr. Potato pieces on Mr. Pumpkin’s head. For more fun, you can allow them to paint these holes using different fall colors.

17. Cooked Pumpkin Playing Dough

You can easily help your kids make their own pumpkin pie playing dough, using different fall colors. While this is a more intensive project, it will keep your kids busy and help them learn some cooking skills.

The ingredients needed for this project are water, flour, salt, oil, cream of tartar, food coloring, and pumpkin pie spice. Mix the ingredients in a nonstick pan, start cooking over medium or low heat while stirring until there are no lumps.

Next, knead the dough till it’s smooth and store it in an airtight container or plastic bag for about a week. You can do this with multiple fall colors, so kids have a mix playdoughs.

18. Uncooked Pumpkin Playing Dough

You don’t have to cook the playing dough and wait for days for kids to play. Just mix flour, salt, water, vegetable oil, and pumpkin pie spice. Knead these ingredients until it’s a smooth dough. Kids can use the playing dough to cut out shapes, numbers, and other fun things.

19. Rolling Acorn Art

Image by Ulrike Leone from Pixabay

Gather acorns, a white paper sheet, a pair of scissors, paints, a tray, and plates or bowls. Draw the acorns on the white paper sheet and cut the shapes out. Alternatively, you can download some acorn art templates.

Pour the different paints you have in bowls. Kids can dip the acorns into the bowls until they are fully covered in paint and place them on the acorn cut out. Then, they can roll the painted acorn using the tip of the sheet. Repeat this with different colored acorns for more color.

20. Glittered Leaf Ornaments

Simple leaf cutouts from clay dough or the previously made pumpkin pie doughs will provide your kids with an opportunity to play, try out some art and craft and decorations for the upcoming holiday.

Using leaf cookie cutters, cut multiple leaves from the clay dough. Use a drinking straw to make holes on each leaf-cut, and let the dough dry overnight. Once dry, apply glue on the leaf-cut front side and spray the different colored glitters like fall colors.

There are numerous fall activities and games for kids to choose from, so you never have a dull moment. With these 20 games, your child can experience the outdoors and indoors, have fun, learn, and explore their creativity.

Note from Amy: Before you know it, winter will be here! Here are fun and unique winter activities for the whole family to enjoy. What are your favorite things to do as a family when the weather starts getting chilly?

About the Author

Mo Mulla is a work from home dad who enjoys reading and listening to music. He loves being a dad and husband to a growing family. He loves writing about his passions and hopes to change the world, 1 blog post at a time! You can find his parenting blog here: www.ParentalQuestions.com