8 Things to Do With Your Kids to Have an Authentic Fall Season

By: Lee Ann Mullen

Fall is a special time for kids. The breathtaking colors of the fall leaves, the smell of autumn air, the softness of a sweater on their bodies in cool weather-- it's a really wonderful time. Make the most of your fall this season by making some good old fashioned autumn memories with your kids:


8. Let Your Kid Play In a Huge Pile of Leaves. 

If you don't have a large deciduous tree in your yard, go find on in the park. Bring a rake. Use your hands. Use whatever you have to use to make a big pile of crunchy leaves and let your kids have at it. This is a rite of passage for anyone who is lucky enough to live in a climate where trees lose their leaves in the autumn.

Think back to it: the feel and smell of those crunchy leaves.The excitement building up to your choice of Halloween costume. The anticipation of weeks worth of Halloween candy in that big bowl your mom tried to keep out of your reach.

Be warned-- there may be spiders in the leaves. If you see one on your kid, don't panic. They probably won't notice, and we don't have much for venomous spiders in the CLE anyway.

Just let' em be kids in those leaves.


7. Find an Actual Pumpkin Patch and Let Your Littles Pick Their Own.

There are pumpkins everywhere these days. They're at Walmart. They're at Target. They're at Heinen's. They're at Marc's. You really don't have to go out of your way to find a pumpkin (or 1000 pumpkins) in Northeast Ohio. You don't have to. But you should. 

Finding the perfect pumpkin is childhood gold. While you could potentially let your kid pick one out of a box of orange gourds at Marc's during your weekly grocery run, taking them to an actual pumpkin patch--inconvenient as it may be-- is way more fun and much more memorable for them. Optimally, find a patch where they can actually pick their own right off the vine. If you can't find one, that's cool-- there are lots of other great places where they'll be treated to fields of already-harvested pumpkin goodness. Either way, your kids will get to experience the deep satisfaction of carrying their very own pumpkin back to the car, where it will become their best friend. They might even name it. It's a proud moment for a kid.


6. Now Gut That Pumpkin and Roast Those Seeds. 

Once your child finds a new best friend (erm--if they do), it's time to get dirty. I cringe every time I see those fake "draw on me!" pumpkins at Target (and like any good mom, I love Target). No. No, you will not make your kid get some lame foam pumpkin and draw a face on it with a Sharpie. Yes, real pumpkins are messy. Yes, they are cold and slimy. But for the love of Halloween, don't rob your child of that amazing feeling of having cold pumpkin guts squish between their fingers.

Lay down that newspaper (or unused Giant Eagle circulars-- whatever) and pop that top off and let 'em go to town. Don't worry if they try to eat it. It's food. It's OK. But even better is letting them help as you wash the guts off those seeds and place them on a tray (sprinkled with a little sea salt or cinnamon sugar--mmmmm....) and bake them in the oven. Did I mention that pumpkin seeds are a great source of protein, selenium, and fiber? Yep, making memories can be nutritious and super yummy too.


5. Hop on a Hay Ride.

It's itchy. It's bumpy. It's not at all comfortable. And if it were, it wouldn't be fun! Kids need to experience a hay ride firsthand. When they're babies, they may try to eat the hay (can kids eat hay? I mean animals eat it-- surely it won't kill them, right? Right?). They might even whine a little a the pokey little pieces of straw tickle them. But a few seconds later, they'll take in all the sights, sounds, and smells of hay ride season-- whether yours is a traditional horse-drawn hayride or a tractor-pulled one.

You may think the hay ride is pointless. After all, it doesn't really take you anywhere but in a big circle. But it's part of the fall experience, and you should definitely let your kid go on no less than eight hay rides during their childhood. I made that number up, honestly-- but you get the drift. Climb aboard the dirty hay and let that magic happen.


4. Get "Lost" in a Corn Maze.

There are lots of corn mazes in Northeast Ohio. Kids love them. No one really knows why, but there's a certain excitement that occurs as you wander the labyrinth of towering cornstalks. Of course, it's important you let your kid think they had an instrumental part in finding the end of the maze successfully. And if you're like me, you probably can't find the end anyway, so you secretly leave it up to the kids anyway.

You get major parent bonus points if you can locate a corn maze that ends in a pumpkin patch. Is there anything more exciting to a child than finding their way out of a windy maze only to find a promising patch of 3000 pumpkins? Absolutely not. Well, maybe if they get free candy after the pumpkins or something.



3. Pick an Apple from a Tree and Eat it Right There. 

Autumn is a season of harvest. In today's world, there are so few times a kid can truly see--and taste--where food comes from. Of course, I recommend you garden with your child just for the experience too. But apples are a quintessential food for most humans, so kids get giddy at the thought of picking their own and tasting it right off the tree.

Don't worry, most local apple orchards actually promote the tasting of apples from their trees even though you have to purchase the fruits by the pound. During a recent trip to Patterson's in Chesterland, I was encouraged by the employees to try different varieties of apples from the trees to find which ones I preferred to purchase. Before you let your kid pluck and bite, though, be sure to ask the orchard what they use to spray the trees. We don't want anyone ingesting insecticides now, do we?


2. Make an Apple Pie. From Scratch. 

Everything is about shortcuts these days, but when you bring home your haul of freshly picked apple orchard apples, find some time to bake-- and let the kids help. Apple pie is actually pretty easy to make (even if you're not a talented baker). And while making your own crust is awesome (and it's not as hard as it sounds-- I swear!!), we won't judge if you plop a store-bought crust in your pie plate.

Cut up the apples. Let the kids sample. Put the cinnamon, sugar, and flour in a big freezer bag and let the kids coat the apples by shaking and squeezing them around in the bag. Anywhere you can let the kids help is great! If pie isn't your thing, you could make apple sauce, apple cake, apple chips, apple crisp, or anything else your little heart desires from those sweet, crisp apples. Whatever you do, just let the littles help-- even if it takes a little while longer.


1. Make a Scarecrow.

It doesn't matter if you have a garden or not. Making a scarecrow is an oddly fun activity for children. Find an old pair of pants (you know-- the ones your husband owns that are almost completely disintegrated-- or the ones you've been swearing you'll fit in again for the last decade), an old shirt, some socks, and a pumpkin and fill them up with leaves and build yourself a scary dude to put in your yard-- or on your porch, if you're bold.

Be sure to grab some rope or twine to tie off the clothing to keep the scarecrow stuffed as well as some sweet accessories (think a hat, scarf, shoes, etc.). Let the kids draw a face on the scarecrow's pumpkin head, then let them name him. When it's time to clean him up and throw him away, tell the kids he left in the middle of the night because he found a beautiful scarecrow lady and they ran off to get married. Or tell them he went off to college to fulfill his dreams of being a nurse. Or just tell them the truth. It's totally up to you.



Listen, if you don't do all eight of these things, we get it. Life is busy. But they're really fun for kids, and they'll probably keep your little ones meltdown free for at least a few minutes. And they make good photo ops for Facebook. But seriously, pick a few of these simple fall delights and watch your child's eyes light up. They'll remember this stuff forever just like you probably do too.