10 Screen-Free Autumn Activities for Kids That Don't Need Much Setting Up

‍There's a particular kind of afternoon that arrives in late September. It's not quite cold enough for the heating to go on, it's dark by half past six, and somewhere between school pick-up and tea a small voice asks what they can do.

‍I spent a lot of years answering that question, first as a nanny and nursery worker and then with my own daughter. What I learned is that the best autumn activities aren't the elaborate ones. They're the ones you can start in two minutes with what's already in the house — or already lying on the ground outside.

‍So here are ten that have always worked for me, with younger children (roughly aged four to seven). Most of them are free. One of them is a printable I've just launched, and I'll tell you about that when we get to it.

1. The pocket leaf hunt

Before you leave the house, agree on five things to find: a red leaf, a yellow leaf, an acorn, a pine cone, a feather. Pockets are the collection bag. The walk home from school suddenly has a purpose, and you'll be amazed how much slower and more observant a child becomes when they're looking for something.

‍If you want a ready-made version, the Autumn Scavenger Hunt page in my new book has nine things to find and colour — but a list on the back of a receipt works just as well. ‍

2. Leaf rubbings with the side of a crayon

‍Peel the paper off a wax crayon, lay a leaf vein-side up under a sheet of paper, and rub the crayon sideways over it. Ten minutes, zero mess, and children love the moment the leaf appears. Try it with different leaves and talk about why the lines look different. ‍

3. Apple bobbing in the washing-up bowl

‍You don't need a barrel. A washing-up bowl, a towel on the floor, and three apples. Hands behind backs. It is chaotic and wet and absolutely worth it. (There's an apple bobbing page in the book for the days when you'd rather keep the water in the tap.) ‍

4. Make a hedgehog from a pear

‍Half a pear, flat side down, with cocktail sticks or dry spaghetti pushed in for spines and a raisin for the nose. Older children can do the spines themselves; younger ones do the nose and the eating. It's a snack and an activity, which is the best kind. ‍

5. A cosy corner that's actually for them

‍Push two chairs together, drape a blanket over the top, add a cushion and a torch. Call it the hibernation den. Children of this age will happily spend half an hour "being a hedgehog" if you give them somewhere to do it, and it doesn’t cost a penny. ‍

6. Colour, count and talk

‍This is where my new Autumn Colour & Learn Book comes in, because it was drawn for exactly these afternoons.

It's 30 pages of hand-drawn artwork for children aged 4 to 7, and rather than a stack of unrelated worksheets, the pages follow a gentle story through an autumn day. A sleepy squirrel wakes up. The woodland friends — squirrel, hedgehog, owl, fox and robin — have breakfast together. There's a swing in the trees, a scavenger hunt in the leaves, apple pie, apple bobbing, gathering for winter, a toffee apple, and finally a bedtime story. Children want to see what happens next, which is why they keep going.

Mixed in with the 21 colouring pages are nine little learning activities: count the autumn treasures, an autumn pattern path, spot the difference, "what should we wear?" (for a rainy walk), and three draw-your-own pages where they decide what to draw. The page I'm proudest of asks them to colour the animals and then talk about how each one gets ready for colder weather. That conversation is where the real learning happens.

There's a grown-up answer guide at the back and a "You Did It!" page to finish on.

‍It comes as two PDFs, A4 and US Letter, so it prints on any home printer, and because it's a download you can print any page again — for a second go, for a sibling, for a classroom, or next autumn.

‍You can find it on my website or in my Etsy shop. It's 30% off for launch week. ‍

7. Conker maths

‍Collect a bag of conkers and use them for everything: counting to twenty, sharing between teddies, making a line from the door to the sofa and guessing how many it'll take. Sneaky maths that doesn't feel like it.

8. Toffee apples (the easy version)

‍Proper toffee apples involve boiling sugar, which is not a job for a four-year-old. The easy version: apple slices, a little melted chocolate or warmed peanut butter to dip, sprinkles if you're feeling brave. Same joy, no burns. ‍

9. A jar of autumn

‍An empty jam jar. Everything from the leaf hunt goes in: leaves, acorns, a conker, a feather, a bit of moss. Sit it on the windowsill. Children go back to it for weeks, and it's a lovely quiet thing to look at while they're colouring. ‍

10. A bedtime story in the dark

‍Torch on, big light off, everyone under one blanket. Read the same book you always read; it's better in the dark. The last page of my colouring book is a bedtime story scene for a reason — the day should end somewhere soft.‍ ‍

The point of all this

‍None of these need a plan. Most of them need something you already have - a jam jar, a crayon and a bit of patience. The printable is there for the days when even that feels like too much, and there's no guilt in that. Some afternoons the win is ten quiet minutes and a hot cup of tea.

‍If you'd like the Autumn Colour & Learn Book, it's here on the website and here on Etsy. And if you'd like more ideas like this through the season, you can join my email list here (you’ll just need to scroll down a little) — I send a short note each week, never more.

Happy autumn 🍂

‍Lucy x Fun Printables 4 Kids