There’s something rather special about autumn when you have young children.

The cooler mornings, colourful leaves, conkers scattered beneath the trees and the excitement of spotting the first pumpkins all create plenty of opportunities for simple family adventures.

And the best part? You really don’t need to spend much money to keep little ones entertained.

A walk through the woods can become a wildlife hunt. A handful of fallen leaves can provide hours of play. A basket of blackberries can turn into something delicious to make together at home.

If you’re looking for autumn activities for under 5s, here are some of our favourite ideas for September and October.

🍁 1. Go on a conker hunt

Autumn wouldn’t be autumn without conkers!

Take a bag or little basket on your next walk and see how many you can find. Young children will love searching beneath the horse chestnut trees and discovering the shiny brown conkers hiding inside their prickly cases.

You could even make it into a little challenge:

How many can you find? Which is the biggest? Which is the smallest?

For younger children, it’s a lovely opportunity to practise counting, sorting and comparing without it feeling like learning.

Just remember that conkers aren’t suitable for eating and supervise young children around them.

🌲 2. Collect pine cones

Pine cones are another fantastic autumn treasure.

Collect a few different shapes and sizes while you’re out and bring them home. Children can sort them, count them, use them in imaginative play or simply enjoy exploring how they feel.

You could even make a little autumn nature basket containing pine cones, leaves, conkers and other safe natural treasures you’ve found together.

🫐 3. Go blackberry picking

September is a wonderful time to look for ripe blackberries.

Little hands can carefully pick the berries while you talk about their colour, shape and texture. It’s also a great way to encourage children to notice what is growing around them.

Then comes the best bit…

Take your blackberries home and make something together.

A simple blackberry crumble, pie or muffins can turn a morning walk into an afternoon baking activity.

Children can help wash the berries, mix ingredients, spoon the mixture into a dish and, of course, enjoy tasting what they’ve helped make.

Only pick blackberries where you’re certain they are safe to eat, away from roads and areas treated with chemicals, and always supervise children.

🍂 4. Play in the leaves

Sometimes the simplest activities are the biggest hits.

Find a big pile of fallen leaves and let the children jump, run, kick and throw them.

You can make it into a game by seeing who can make the biggest leaf pile or asking your little one to find leaves of different colours.

And yes, you may end up covered in leaves.

That’s part of the fun!

🐿️ 5. Go on a wildlife-spotting walk

Autumn walks are perfect for spotting wildlife.

Take a slow walk through your local park, woods or countryside and see what you can find.

Squirrels, birds, ducks, rabbits, hedgehogs, insects and even the occasional fox can all become part of your little one’s wildlife adventure.

One of our favourite ideas is to give your child a simple challenge:

“How many squirrels can you spot?”

My 3-year-old daughter absolutely loves seeing how many squirrels she can find!

You could keep a tally on paper when you get home or simply make a mental note as you walk.

The important thing isn’t how far you walk - it’s giving children time to stop, look and explore.

🌳 6. Have a proper autumn walk

Instead of rushing from A to B, make the walk itself the activity.

Let your child choose which path to take. Stop to look at interesting trees. Listen for birds. Look for mushrooms. Search for tiny insects under logs.

Ask questions like:

• What colours can you see?
• Can you find a yellow leaf?
• Can you hear a bird?
• Can you find something smooth?
• Can you spot something bigger than your hand?

There’s no need for a worksheet or complicated activity.

Just give them time to explore.

🎃 7. Visit a pumpkin patch

September and October are perfect for a trip to a pumpkin patch.

For young children, it’s about much more than choosing a pumpkin. They can explore the fields, see how pumpkins grow and enjoy the excitement of finding their favourite one.

Once you get home, you could:

• Decorate your pumpkin
• Paint it instead of carving it
• Scoop out the inside together
• Roast the pumpkin seeds
• Make pumpkin soup
• Bake something with pumpkin

It turns one day out into several different activities.

🐄 8. Visit a farm

Autumn is also a lovely time for a family farm visit.

We love visiting farms as a family because there’s so much for young children to see and talk about.

Depending on the time of year and the farm, children might see animals, tractors, crops being harvested and all sorts of seasonal activity.

You don’t need to turn it into an educational lesson. Simply being around animals and seeing how food is grown can give little ones plenty to talk about.

🥾 9. Make an autumn treasure hunt

Before heading out, make a simple list of things your child might find.

For example:

☐ A red leaf
☐ A yellow leaf
☐ A conker
☐ A pine cone
☐ A feather
☐ A squirrel
☐ A bird
☐ Something green
☐ Something tiny

You don’t even need to print anything. You can simply tell your child what you’re looking for as you walk.

🎨 10. Make leaf art

Bring some fallen leaves home and turn them into artwork.

You could stick leaves onto paper to make animals, people or funny faces.

Or simply let your child arrange them into patterns.

Try adding crayons, pencils or paint for even more possibilities.

🍃 11. Make a leaf rubbing

Place a leaf underneath a piece of paper and gently rub over it with a crayon.

The shape and texture of the leaf will appear on the paper.

Try different leaves and compare the patterns.

It’s a wonderfully simple activity for little hands and introduces children to the different shapes and textures found in nature.

🐦 12. Make a simple bird feeder

Autumn is a good time to start thinking about the birds in your garden.

You can make a simple bird feeder together and then keep an eye out for visitors.

Your child can help fill it and then see how many different birds come to feed.

You could even keep a little list of the birds you spot.

☔ 13. Embrace a rainy autumn day

Autumn isn’t always sunshine and crunchy leaves.

Sometimes it’s wet.

And that’s okay!

Put on wellies and waterproofs and go for a puddle walk.

Jump in the biggest puddles you can find, look for worms and watch the rain running down leaves.

Then come home for a warm drink and a story.

🍎 14. Go apple picking

If you have a pick-your-own farm nearby, autumn can be a great time to go apple picking.

Young children can choose their own apples and learn that the fruit they see in the supermarket actually grows on trees.

Once you’re home, use your apples to make:

• Apple crumble
• Apple pie
• Apple muffins
• Stewed apples
• Homemade apple sauce

🧺 15. Have an autumn picnic

Who says picnics are only for summer?

Wrap everyone up, pack some snacks and find a beautiful spot outdoors.

You could combine it with a woodland walk, farm visit or trip to the park.

For little ones, eating outside can make an ordinary snack feel like a proper adventure.

🔎 16. Go on a mini bug hunt

Even as the weather gets cooler, there are still plenty of tiny creatures to discover.

Look underneath leaves, around tree trunks and in grassy areas.

See if you can find ants, beetles, spiders, worms or other little creatures.

Remember to be gentle and leave anything you find where it belongs.

🪵 17. Build a little nature collection

Choose a basket or box and use it to collect safe natural treasures during your autumn walks.

You might find:

• Leaves
• Pine cones
• Conkers
• Small sticks
• Feathers
• Acorns

When you get home, let your child explore everything they’ve collected.

You can sort objects by size, colour or type - turning a simple walk into an opportunity for early learning.

🌰 18. Search for acorns

Look beneath oak trees for fallen acorns.

How many can you find?

Can your child find a tiny one and a big one?

You can even compare them with the conkers you’ve collected.

🥣 19. Make something warm together

After a chilly autumn adventure, there’s nothing better than coming home and making something together.

Try a simple:

• Vegetable soup
• Apple crumble
• Blackberry pie
• Pumpkin soup
• Banana and blackberry muffins
• Hot chocolate with a story afterwards

Young children can help with simple jobs such as stirring, pouring or weighing ingredients with supervision.

📚 20. Have an autumn story afternoon

After all that outdoor exploring, sometimes you just want to get cosy.

Choose a few favourite books, make a warm drink and settle down together.

You could even choose a story featuring animals, forests, farms or autumn and see if your child can spot things in the book that they saw on their adventures.

It’s a lovely way to connect real-world experiences with books and imagination.

🔦 21. Go on an early evening walk

As the days get shorter, take advantage of the earlier darkness with a short family walk.

Look for lights in houses, the moon, stars or animals that you might not normally see during the daytime.

Keep it simple and safe, particularly with very young children.

🎃 22. Make an autumn sensory tray

Bring some of your autumn discoveries indoors and create a simple sensory activity.

A tray containing leaves, pine cones, conkers and other safe natural items can give young children plenty to explore.

They can touch, sort, count and compare everything you’ve found.

Always supervise young children closely and avoid small objects if they are still at the stage where they put things in their mouths.

🍂 23. Make an autumn colour hunt

Choose a few colours and see how many examples your child can find outdoors.

Red. Yellow. Orange. Brown. Green.

A simple colour hunt can turn an ordinary walk into an adventure - and autumn provides an especially good backdrop for it.

🐑 24. Look for seasonal farm activities

Check what’s happening at local farms during September and October.

Depending on where you live, there may be pumpkin picking, animal experiences, tractor rides, harvest activities or seasonal events.

For under 5s, these experiences can be particularly exciting because they’re seeing things they’ve often only encountered in books or pictures.

❤️ 25. Let them be bored

And finally, don’t feel that every autumn day needs an activity planned.

Sometimes the best thing you can give a young child is time and space to make their own fun.

Let them play with the leaves.

Let them explore the garden.

Let them collect sticks.

Let them make up a game.

Let them ask questions.

Let them get muddy.

Childhood doesn’t need to be perfectly planned to be memorable.

🍁 Making the most of autumn with little ones

One of the things we love most about this time of year is that so many of these activities are completely free or very inexpensive.

You don’t need an expensive day out to create a memorable experience for a young child.

A bag of conkers, a handful of blackberries, a pile of leaves and a walk around the local park can provide hours of exploration, conversation and play.

And when you come home muddy, tired and carrying a collection of autumn treasures, there’s always the perfect excuse to get cosy with a good book.

So wrap up, pull on those wellies and make the most of autumn while it’s here. 🍂