25 Autumn Family Activities for Cosy Weekends
There’s something about autumn that makes weekends feel made for family time. The days get cooler, the jumpers come back out, and suddenly staying home with hot chocolate and a film sounds every bit as good as heading out for the day.
It’s also one of the easiest seasons to enjoy without spending a fortune. There are leaves to collect, puddles to jump in, pumpkins to pick and plenty of excuses to get cosy indoors when the weather inevitably turns.
So, if you’re looking for things to do in autumn with the kids, here are 25 autumn family activities for making the most of those crisp, colourful weekends.
1. Go on an Autumn Nature Walk
Pull on your wellies and head to your local woods, park or nature reserve. Autumn walks are much more fun when nobody’s in a rush, so let the kids crunch through the leaves, look for acorns and conkers and see how many different colours they can spot along the way.
Take a bag or little basket too, as some of your finds can be used for crafts when you get home.
2. Have a Family Bake-Off
Pick an autumn recipe and get everyone involved. Apple crumble, cinnamon rolls, gingerbread, pumpkin muffins or a big batch of cookies are all perfect for a chilly afternoon.
Older children can take charge of their own recipe, while younger ones can help with weighing, stirring and the very important job of licking the spoon.
3. Make Hot Chocolate
Turn an ordinary hot chocolate into a bit of an event by putting out marshmallows, whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles and a few different toppings. Let everyone create their own ridiculously over-the-top concoction.
Add blankets and a family film afterwards and you’ve got a very easy cosy evening sorted.
4. Go Conker Hunting
Going conker hunting is one of those simple autumn activities that never really gets old. See who can find the biggest, smallest or shiniest one, then take your collection home for crafts, counting games or the traditional game of conkers.
Just remember that conkers aren’t edible, particularly if you have younger children helping with the hunt.
5. Have a Family Board Game Afternoon
When it’s pouring outside, clear the table and bring out the board games. Let everybody choose one favourite and work your way through them with drinks and snacks nearby.
You could even keep a family scoreboard going throughout autumn if things tend to get slightly competitive in your house!
6. Visit a Pumpkin Patch
Pumpkin picking has become a brilliant autumn family tradition. Instead of grabbing one from the supermarket, spend a morning choosing your own and enjoying everything else your local pumpkin patch has to offer.
Lots now have food stalls, photo spots, maize mazes and other family activities too. Take your wellies though – pumpkin fields and British autumn weather are quite the combination.
7. Make an Autumn Scavenger Hunt
Turn your next walk into an autumn scavenger hunt by making a list of things everyone needs to find. A red leaf, acorn, pine cone, feather, conker, mushroom, spider’s web and Y-shaped stick are all easy ones to add.
You can work together, split into teams or give everyone their own list and see who finishes first.
8. Have an Autumn Movie Night
Pick a cosy family film, close the curtains and pile onto the sofa with blankets. Add popcorn, hot chocolate and a few treats and you’ve got an inexpensive Saturday night that requires almost no planning.
For extra cosy points, everyone has to wear pyjamas.
9. Make Leaf Art
Those bags of leaves the kids collected on your walk can finally be put to use. Make leaf people, animals, collages or autumn pictures, or paint the leaves and use them to create colourful prints on paper.
It’s an easy autumn craft that costs virtually nothing and gives you something to do when the weather turns.
10. Visit a Farm Shop
Autumn is a lovely time to explore a local farm shop. Look for seasonal fruit and vegetables, choose something nice for dinner and perhaps pick up a cake or two while you’re there.
You could give the children a small budget and challenge them to choose something the family has never tried before.
11. Build a Den
Head into the woods and see what you can build from fallen branches and sticks. You don’t need anything elaborate – find a suitable spot and work together to make a little hideaway.
If the weather is truly awful, bring the idea indoors instead. Blankets thrown over chairs make a perfectly respectable rainy-day den.
12. Make Homemade Soup
A chilly autumn weekend is perfect for a big pan of homemade soup. Let the kids choose some of the ingredients, help chop anything age-appropriate and serve it with plenty of warm crusty bread.
It’s also a handy way of using up vegetables lurking at the back of the fridge.
13. Go on a Puddle Walk
Rain doesn’t have to ruin your plans. Put on waterproofs and wellies and deliberately go looking for the biggest puddles you can find.
Nobody is allowed to complain about getting muddy – that’s rather the point! Head home afterwards for warm drinks, dry socks and something nice to eat.
14. Have a No-Phones Afternoon
Put everyone’s phones and tablets away for a couple of hours and do something together instead. Play games, bake, go for a walk, make something or simply sit around the table and chat.
It might receive a few groans initially, particularly from teenagers, but that’s half the fun.
15. Make Caramel Apples
Caramel apples are surprisingly easy to make at home and feel very autumnal. Dip apples into caramel or melted chocolate and add sprinkles, chopped nuts or little sweets.
Lay everything out on the table and let everyone decorate their own. Things may get sticky, so consider that fair warning!
16. Visit Somewhere New
Pick somewhere fairly local that you’ve never visited before. It could be a country park, woodland, castle, museum, garden or walking trail.
You don’t need to travel miles for a family adventure. Sometimes the places closest to home are the ones we keep saying we’ll visit “one day”, so make this the weekend you finally go.
17. Make an Autumn Wreath
Collect leaves, twigs, pine cones and other natural materials and turn them into an autumn wreath. Children can create their own smaller versions using a cardboard ring as the base.
Hang the finished wreaths somewhere indoors and you’ve got homemade seasonal decorations that barely cost anything.
18. Have a Family Reading Hour
Everyone chooses a book and finds somewhere comfortable to curl up. Add blankets, drinks and snacks and spend an hour reading together.
Younger children can choose picture books or listen to someone read aloud, while older children and adults disappear into their own books. Quiet family activities absolutely count!
19. Go Stargazing
As the evenings get darker earlier, autumn is a great time to introduce the kids to stargazing without having to keep them up until midnight. Wrap up warm, head into the garden or somewhere away from bright streetlights and see what you can spot.
Take blankets and a flask of hot chocolate if you want to make a proper evening of it.
20. Make a Family Autumn Bucket List
Sit down together and decide what everybody wants to do before autumn ends. Your list might include pumpkin picking, baking a pie, visiting somewhere new, watching a particular film, collecting conkers or taking a woodland walk.
Stick your finished autumn bucket list on the fridge and tick things off as you do them.
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21. Have an Autumn Picnic
Picnics aren’t just for summer. If it’s dry, wrap up warm and take sandwiches, soup in a flask and hot drinks somewhere pretty.
If the rain has other ideas, spread a blanket across the living room floor and have the picnic indoors instead. You still get the sandwiches without the soggy bottoms.
22. Make a Home for Wildlife
Autumn is a great time to give the wildlife visiting your garden a helping hand. You could make a simple bug hotel, create a pile of logs and leaves for insects, put up a bird feeder or find ways to make your garden friendlier for hedgehogs.
It’s a lovely family activity that carries on giving long after you’ve finished making it.
23. Have a Family Photography Challenge
Give everyone a phone or camera and set the same autumn photography challenge. Ask them to capture things such as the brightest leaf, something orange, a reflection in a puddle, autumn berries, a cosy moment and their favourite autumn view.
Compare everyone’s photos when you get home. You might be surprised by how differently everybody sees the same walk.
24. Cook a Proper Sunday Dinner Together
Instead of one person disappearing into the kitchen while everyone else waits to be fed, get the whole family involved. Someone can peel potatoes, someone can prepare vegetables, someone can set the table and someone can be in charge of dessert.
Then sit down and enjoy it properly together. The washing up can be a family activity too, although I suspect that suggestion might be slightly less popular.
25. Have a Completely Lazy Sunday
Not every weekend needs an itinerary. Sometimes the best autumn family activity is doing absolutely nothing productive.
Stay in your pyjamas a little longer, make a big breakfast, watch films, play games, read books and eat something nice. Busy family life doesn’t always leave much room for simply being together, so don’t feel guilty about occasionally keeping the calendar completely empty.
Making the Most of Autumn as a Family
You don’t need expensive days out or elaborate plans to make autumn weekends memorable. Some of the nicest family moments happen during the simplest activities – kicking through leaves, baking something together, getting soaked on a muddy walk or piling onto the sofa for a film.
Pick a few ideas from this list, make your own autumn bucket list and enjoy the season while it’s here. Because before we know it, somebody will mention Christmas and all hell will break loose!