Fall Bucket List: 24 Fun Fall Activities for Families
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Looking for fall bucket list ideas your whole family can enjoy? This printable fall bucket list includes 24 simple activities to help you make the most of the season, from apple picking and corn mazes to colorful leaves, bonfires, caramel apples, and cozy family nights.
There is something about fall that makes me want to do all the cozy things. The cooler weather, colorful leaves, pumpkins, apples, bonfires, and earlier sunsets make even simple family activities feel a little more special.
So I put together this Fall Family Bucket List with 24 simple ways to enjoy the season together.
You don’t have to check off every activity. Let everyone in the family choose a few favorites, see how many you naturally complete, or hang the printable somewhere you’ll see it whenever you’re looking for something fun to do together.
24 Fun Fall Activities for Families
1. Take a Fall Nature Walk
Head outside and enjoy the changing season on a fall hike or walk. Look for colorful leaves, acorns, pinecones, seeds, berries, birds, and other signs of fall.
Make your walk into a game by bringing along my Autumn Nature Scavenger Hunt. See how many items you can find together as you explore.
2. Go Apple Picking
Visit a local apple orchard and pick your own apples. If you don’t have an orchard nearby, choose several different apple varieties from a farmers market or grocery store and have an apple taste test at home.
Then you’ll have plenty of apples for all those fall treats!
3. Get Lost in a Corn Maze
A corn maze is one of those activities that just feels like fall.
See if your family can work together to find the way out. Let everyone take turns choosing which direction to go—and try not to assign blame when you realize you’ve passed the same stalk of corn four times.
4. Carve or Decorate a Pumpkin
Pick out pumpkins and let everyone come up with their own design. Carve jack-o’-lanterns, paint them, or decorate them however you’d like.
And save the pumpkin insides! You can use them to make my wonderfully gooey Pumpkin Slime.
You can also save the seeds for #20!
5. Make a Fall Nature Craft
Gather colorful leaves and other natural materials and turn them into something creative.
My Fall Leaf Crowns are a fun one to try. Collecting the leaves is part of the activity, and everyone can create their own crown from the colors and shapes they find.
We also loved making this Autumn Leaf Snow Globe!
6. Have a Cozy Read-Aloud Night
Pile up the blankets, make something warm to drink, and read a great book together.
And don’t assume read-alouds are only for little kids! A good story can still be a wonderful family activity as kids get older.
If you need some inspiration, browse my list of Classic Books to Read with Kids and choose one your family hasn’t read yet.
7. Have a Family Game Night
Pull out an old favorite or learn a completely new game.
If you’re looking for something different, I’ve put together a guide to 100+ Family Games with ideas for a variety of ages. Let everyone choose a game and turn it into a tournament.
8. Have a Bonfire Night
Bundle up and spend an evening around a fire. Roast marshmallows, tell stories, talk, or simply enjoy being outside together.
No fire pit at home? Look for a campground or another safe place nearby where fires are permitted.
9. Go Stargazing
Fall’s earlier sunsets make it much easier to get outside and look at the night sky without keeping everyone up until midnight!
Look for the moon, planets, bright stars, and familiar constellations. Bring along my Printable Constellation Cards and see how many you can identify.
10. Go on a Hayride
Find a local farm, pumpkin patch, or fall festival that offers hayrides and pile aboard.
It’s simple, a little old-fashioned, and exactly the kind of thing that belongs on a fall bucket list.
11. Look for Fall Birds
Spend some time watching the birds in your yard, neighborhood, or local park. Which birds are still around? Do you notice any that you didn’t see during the summer?
You can also make one of my Homemade Bird Feeders and hang it somewhere your family can watch for visitors.
12. Visit a Pumpkin Patch or Farmers Market
Visit a local pumpkin patch, farm stand, or farmers market and enjoy all the colors and foods of the season.
Choose a pumpkin, pick out some fall produce, or just wander around together and enjoy the atmosphere.
13. Enjoy a Warm Mug of Apple Cider
Not everything on a family bucket list needs to be an elaborate outing.
Warm up some apple cider, add a cinnamon stick, and enjoy it together on a chilly afternoon or evening.
Sometimes the tiny traditions are the ones that make a season feel special.
14. Make a Seasonal Fall Treat Together
Apples, pumpkin, cinnamon, maple—pick a favorite fall flavor and make something together.
For an easy hands-on baking project, try my Bread in a Bag. Kids can mix and knead the dough right inside the bag, so you’re sneaking a little learning into your fall family fun, too.
15. Play in the Leaves
Rake up a giant pile. Jump in. Repeat.
Have a leaf fight, bury someone in the pile, throw handfuls into the air, or see who can build the biggest pile.
You have to rake them anyway. You might as well get some fun out of them first!
16. Learn Something New About Fall
Fall is full of interesting questions. Why do leaves change colors? Why do birds migrate? What makes the seasons change? What’s happening inside a pumpkin?
Pick something you’ve wondered about and investigate it together.
A great place to start is my Why Leaves Change Color Experiment, where kids can actually uncover some of the pigments hiding inside green leaves.
17. Do Something Kind for a Neighbor
Add an act of kindness to your fall bucket list.
Rake someone’s leaves, deliver a treat, write a note, help a neighbor—or surprise someone with You’ve Been Boo’ed!
Leave a little Halloween surprise at a friend’s or neighbor’s door and invite them to pass the fun along.
18. Take Fall Family Photos
Find a colorful tree, pumpkin patch, orchard, or beautiful pile of leaves and take some family pictures.
They don’t need to be formal portraits. Hand the camera around and let everyone take some pictures.
You may end up liking the silly, ordinary ones best.
19. Have a No-Screens Afternoon
Put away the phones, tablets, television, and video games for a few hours and see what happens.
Play a game. Go outside. Bake something. Make something. Read. Explore. Talk.
If your kids immediately respond with “But what are we supposed to DO?”, I’ve got you covered with my collection of Screen-Free Activities for Kids.
20. Roast Pumpkin Seeds
Remember those pumpkin seeds you saved back at #4?
Clean them, season them, and roast them for an easy fall snack. Try a few different seasonings and have everyone vote for their favorite.
One pumpkin, two bucket-list activities.
21. Take a Scenic Drive
Pile everyone into the car and go looking for fall colors.
Choose a road you’ve never driven before, head toward the mountains or countryside, or simply explore somewhere beautiful near home.
Turn on some music, bring snacks, and stop somewhere along the way if you find a place worth exploring.
22. Make Caramel Apples
Caramel apples are messy, sticky, and completely appropriate for fall.
Set out toppings like chopped nuts, sprinkles, chocolate chips, or crushed cookies and let everyone decorate their own.
You can even slice the apples first and dip individual wedges if you’d rather not attempt to eat an apple roughly the size of your head.
23. Go to a Fall Festival
Check your community for a harvest festival, fall fair, pumpkin festival, school carnival, or another seasonal event.
And if festivals aren’t your family’s thing, watch a football game instead—at a local high school, college stadium, or curled up together at home.
24. Wear Your Favorite Cozy Sweater
This may be the easiest box on the entire list to check.
When that first genuinely chilly fall day arrives, pull out your favorite sweater and enjoy it.
Bonus points if you combine it with apple cider, a read-aloud, a bonfire, or stargazing and knock out multiple bucket-list items at once.
Print Your Fall Family Bucket List
Print your Fall Family Bucket List, hang it somewhere your family will see it, and start checking things off as you go.
You can try to complete all 24 activities, let each family member choose their favorites, or simply use the list whenever you’re wondering what to do on a fall afternoon.
This isn’t meant to become another list of things you have to accomplish before the season ends. It’s simply a reminder to enjoy some of the little things that make fall special—and make a few memories together along the way.
More Autumn Activities for Kids & Families
If you’re looking for even more ways to enjoy fall, I’ve got plenty! Teach Beside Me is filled with hands-on Autumn Activities, science experiments, games, crafts, printables, and learning ideas for home or the classroom.
