All children need to connect with nature, but children who are easily overwhelmed by the busy and loud day-to-day environment can really be grounded by the quiet beauty of the outdoors. The peacefulness of nature can help calm and restore the highly sensitive child (HSC). Each season brings new opportunities to get outside with your HSC and enjoy what nature has to offer. Fall, in my opinion though, is the best season to explore the outdoors. Here are 10 fun fall outdoor activities to try with your family.
This post contains referral links. See my disclosure page for more information.
10 Fall Outdoor Activities to Enjoy with your Sensitive Child
Leaf fun
Leaves provide a great sensory experience. The different colors, shapes, smells and textures make them great for sensory play. 
Rake up some leaves for your children and let them jump in, pile them at the bottom of a slide for a soft landing, or crumble them up and make leaf confetti! If 
they aren’t tactile defensive, they may enjoy covering themselves up and hiding in the leaves.
Try out some leaf Olympics for the whole family. Make piles and create an obstacle course that involves jumping over different size mounds. Try creating a maze with leaves. You can even have a contest of who can catch a falling leaf first. Have you ever tried to catch a falling leaf floating down? It’s a lot easier said than done!
FREE HIGHLY SENSITIVE CHILD RESOURCE LIBRARY
Get access to cheat sheets, checklists, and other valuable resources to help highly sensitive children when you sign up to receive my weekly newsletter
Explore a new park
Are your kids tired of playing at the same park all the time? Shake things up and check out a few parks in your area that you have never been to. Look into nature parks in your county as well. These places often provide nature trails for hiking. Make an afternoon of it by visiting a few different parks and then take a vote on which one everyone liked the best. Who knows, you may find a new favorite!
Plan a picnic
Fall is the perfect time for a picnic. It’s not too hot and is usually a lot less buggy. Make up a lunch or a few snacks and eat alfresco in your backyard or pack them up when you explore a new park in your area. Bonus: No need to clean the floors after lunch from all the food that never makes it into your kids mouths!
Nature scavenger hunt/Geocaching
Get outside with your kids and sharpen their observation skills with a scavenger hunt. Autumn is a great time for exploration and having 
specific things to look for can make a family walk fun and exciting. For little ones, you can do a traditional scavenger hunt where you look for things like acorns, colored leaves, pine cones, and animals.
Tired of the same old nature treasure hunt? Switch it up by trying a color or texture scavenger hunt. Check out this awesome Outdoor Nature Scavenger Hunt Card Game. This game gives a twist to an old favorite! It involves finding things by size, color and even texture. It comes in a nice carrying bag, so you can throw it in your purse or pocket and bring it out anytime the mood strikes!
If your children are older, geocaching, is a great outdoor activity to do with them. It is a social activity that can take you to some really cool places, plus it often involves fun treasures. Older kids will love this real-life treasure hunt.
Family bike ride
Bike rides are one of my favorite things to do with my family. It provides a unique way to enjoy the outdoors while fitting in some family bonding time. However, varying levels
of bike riding skills can cause a roadblock when it comes to biking as a family.
For the longest time, we would strap my youngest into the baby seat while my older one would pedal along side of us. When he grew out of his baby seat on the back of my bike two years ago, we stopped riding as a family because he wasn’t confident or fast enough on his training wheels to bike on his own. We used our Croozer jogging/bike stroller for a bit, but we wanted our little guy to be able to enjoy the sensory input gained from riding a bike.
We started researching different options and I stumbled upon the WeeRide Co-Pilot Bike Trailer. I believe this to be one of the most genius inventions out there. It has allowed us the opportunity to bike ride as a family again and my son LOVES it! He feels like a big boy on it and it is giving him the confidence pedaling without training wheels. Research a bike trail in your community or ride around town and explore the seasonal changes taking place in your neighborhood.
Campfire
Enjoying nature at night can be even more peaceful than during the day. One of my favorite fall smells is that of a campfire in the cool, crisp air. Enjoy the warmth of a fire on a cool night, while listening to the sounds of the fire and insects in the area. If you’re lucky enough to have a clear night, you can enjoy the sight of some stars as well. If you and your children are up for it, you could even try a backyard camp out.
Visit a farm
Fall is a great time to visit a farm. It is harvest season and yummy fall foods & colors are bountiful! Take a hayride, go apple or pumpkin picking, and snag an apple cider donut and cider before you leave!
Fall Science
Sensory filled science experiments are a great way to explore all that autumn has to offer. While on a hike or walk around your neighborhood, have your children gather treasures in a bag (acorns, leaves, pinecones, stones, seed pods, etc.) for a sink and float experiment. At home, fill a bucket of water and predict which items will sink and which will float. Try out some of these other fall science experiments from other parenting bloggers – Fall leaf science , Pinecone science, and Apple volcanoes.
Down by the water fun
Sometimes the simplest of activities are the most fun. Find a river, lake, pond or stream in your county and let your children interact with nature there however they 
enjoy.
One of family’s favorite things to do is to visit the river near us. There is something so calming about being near a body of water and our boys always find something to do. Sometimes they throw rocks, other days they feed the ducks. On warm days they stick their feet in the chilly water and draw in the dirt with sticks.
Family Outdoor Game Night
Have you tried a family game night yet? Now that my youngest is five and my oldest is eight, we are trying to incorporate these nights more. It’s a great way to connect with your kids and enhance social and problem solving skills. Add in the extra benefit of fresh air and the sounds of nature, by taking game night outside. Set up a table or blanket for board games or try out a fun yard game like kid friendly lawn darts or one of our family’s favorites, a Ladder Toss Set
How will you help your child connect with nature this fall?
You now have 10 fall outdoor activities to try out with your family. Which ones do you like best? Have a favorite fall family activity that I didn’t mention? Please share it with us in the comments, so that other families can try it out as well.
Other posts that may be helpful to you:
Why Spending Time Outdoors in Nature is Essential for Highly Sensitive Children
Beginner’s Guide to Understanding High Sensitivity in Children
5 Myths About the Highly Sensitive Child
Resources for Parents of Highly Sensitive Children
FREE HIGHLY SENSITIVE CHILD RESOURCE LIBRARY
Recent Comments