Autumn activities with kids

Our suggestions of things to do with children in Autumn, things they can collect in parks, some animals to look out for during this time and the explanation of seasonal cycle. 

The new season has just begun, the days are getting darker, colder and wetter, which affects the activities you can do with the children. 

Here are a couple of suggestions for ways of keeping children active, happy and interested. 

Parks are beautiful and perfect destinations to spend time in Autumn with the kids. They can learn about different types of trees in London such as: chestnuts, beeches, limes, silver birches, planes, oaks, strawberry trees, weeping willows and so on. 

Some trees are deciduous and lose their leaves in preparation for cold winter. This is because their leaves could be easily damaged during cold weather and that is why a tree sheds its leaves to protect itself. They change colour before they fall. This is because the nutrients in the leaves are being moved from the leaves to the tree's roots. When all of the nutrients are finished being stored in the roots, the leaves change colour and fall to the ground.

Some trees are evergreen because they have leaves that stay green throughout the year. 

There are plenty of things for children to collect in the parks this time of year such as: the different shaped leaves, sweet chestnuts, horse chestnut, acorns - some still in their cups, sycamore seeds, pine cones, feathers and so on except they should avoid picking up wild berries as some of them are poisonous. 

When the weather is not so nice you can take children to the library and find books about animals in Autumn. Winter is coming and for a lot of animals it will be a harsh time as the weather will be cold and there isn’t going to be a lot of food around for them. The children can find out how some animals do many amazing things to prepare for winter including adapting, migrating or hibernating. 

In the local park they may see squirrels preparing for winter by collecting nuts, acorns and berries and eating them and storing them as body fat or storing them away to eat it later at wintertime. Some animals like rabbits grow new thicker fur. To try to stay warm, animals like squirrels and mice may huddle close together.

Hedgehogs will be getting ready to hibernate – which is very deep sleep during which the animal uses very little energy. In Autumn these animals also eat extra food and store it as body fat and energy while hibernating. Food is harder to find this time so if you have a garden you can leave tinned dog and cat food for headgehogs or even special hedgehog food. However remember to never feed them milk as it can cause diarrhoea; instead you can provide plain, fresh water in a bowl. Hedgehogs also like hiding in piles of leaves near hedges in Autumn to keep warm. So the children should to be careful when picking leaves up, jumping on them or playing with them. 

Children can also go bird watching and learn about different species of birds in London parks. Some geese and ducks will be getting ready for the journey to fly south soon to avoid wintertime and to fly to other places where the weather is warmer or they can find foods so you can look out for bird migrations too. Because the trip can be dangerous, some travel in large flocks. For example, geese fly in "V"-shaped groups. Other kinds of birds fly alone.

Also this Autumn on Tuesday 29th of October there is a bat workshop in Hyde Park where children can build their own box for a bat to sleep during winter. They can also learn where bats live, what they eat and how they hunt.

Finally older children can learn about seasonal cycle, which is caused because Earth has a tilt in the axis and moves around its axis as well as rotates around the sun. That is why we have days and nights and different seasons. As the earth rotates around its axis we get day and night and as it orbits around the sun we four seasons in Northern and Southern latitude. 

During Summer in our Northern hemisphere the Sun is higher in the sky above us and that is why it shines on us for longer. During Winter the Sun is lower above us and that is why the days are shorter. 

Halloween is coming soon too which is a great chance for kids to dress up, make their own costumes and masks and decorate the house with skulls and skeletons. They can also either carve a pumpkin or buy a ready made one and of course on Halloween night go out trick or treating around their neighbourhood. 

Fireworks displays will be happening in many parks – some sell tickets in advance and some are free. Check your local area for information. Be careful with young children and pets around fireworks and make sure to stay safe. 

So its time to get your wellington boots out, your hats and gloves on and go out to explore the amazing Autumn time in London. 

We hope you enjoyed this article and found it helpful and if you have any more questions or if you would like us to help you find your perfect candidate then please do not hesitate to contact us. We’d love to help you.