Autumn is in full swing and with many kids on half-term, we’ve been thinking up some fun autumnal activities to keep them amused before they go back to school.

Conkers

Conkers are easy to find at the moment. Pick out the strongest looking ones, attach them to string, hold a conker tournament and finally, crown the conker champion! For something a little less competitive, you could always create conker creatures using matchsticks and other seeds, there are plenty of ideas on this brilliant page from The Woodland Trust.

Pumpkin Painting

Carving pumpkins is so much fun, but with sharp objects being involved, it’s not the best activity for children. Pumpkin painting is safe, colourful and there’s much more scope to what you can create and display. Along with paint, use glitter, embellishments, coloured paper and feathers and soon, kids will have created some crazy and eye catching pumpkins to display during the Halloween period!

Planting Bulbs

A great idea for budding gardeners and kids who love nature. Most bulbs should be planted in spring or autumn, and daffodils are ideally planted in October. It’s fun to do and even better to watch the flowers grow and see the results. Here’s a step by step guide to get you started.

Halloween Treats

It’s handy to have sweet treats in the house around Halloween, to give to any trick or treaters that might come-a-knocking. So why not make it into a family activity and create some Halloween snacks with the kids? The cakes decorated above look brilliant, but if you’re looking for something simpler, why put candy floss on top of your icing to create a cobweb effect, or place some spooky sweets inside a jelly to make a creepy dessert.

Pine Cone Bird Feeder

A simple autumn activity for kids, simply find an open pine cone, attach it to a bit of string, cover it with peanut butter, stick on some seeds or nuts, hang from a tree and watch the birds flock.

Leaf Rubbings

Collecting leaf rubbings is a good way to get the kids out of the house and running around. The idea is simple, but the results can be beautiful – just get some brightly coloured crayons, a lot of paper and let them loose on the trees! Afterwards, the rubbings can be cut, shaped and stuck to make a wall decoration or autumnal window decorations.

If you want some more ideas, browse our activities for kids, including segway rides, meeting the meerkats, a horse riding day and paintballing.

What are you getting up to this half term?

Images from Seth Lemmons, Jodi, happylizzz, sofubared, Jennifer Chait, Meagan, Emma Craig and Geoffrey Kehrig via Flickr