Fun Things to Do With Your Older Kids This Fall
These fun fall family activities are the perfect things to do with your tweens and teens.
Fall is a wonderful time to plan some family activities. It’s the season of football games, festivals, bonfires, pumpkin spice, and spooky fun. There’s are so many awesome things you can do to celebrate the season together.
This fall, make a point to plan some things that will help you have some fun, connect with your tweens and teens, and enjoy the special things this time of year has to offer.
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Spending Time with Tweens This Fall
Fall can be a stressful time for tweens and teens. Between the stress of heading back to school and the shorter days, it’s too easy for them to stay inside focused on their screens.
It’s crucial that we spend time connecting and strengthening our relationship with our older kids. Taking the time to step away to do something as a family allows your teen to take a break from the stresses of school, sports, and relationships and simply enjoy some quality time with you that will build bonds and create memories.
And they’re definitely not too old for some good ol’ fall fun!
Fun Fall Family Activities with Tweens and Teens
Here are a variety of things you can do with older kids in autumn.
Visit a Cider Mill
Even if your older kids aren’t interested in going apple picking at the orchard this year, they most likely won’t turn down the opportunity to get out and enjoy some time in nature with a simple bribe of cider and doughnuts. Most teens will happy to go on a family outing to a cider mill.
Go on a Hike
Hiking can be a lot of fun for families, especially as the weather turns cooler. Use this as an opportunity to get your kids outside and away from devices for a while. Going on a hiking trip is a great way to give your teens time to open up to you and talk about their lives in a neutral ground situation that is more likely to get your child to feel comfortable talking about things they wouldn’t normally.
To make your nature walk even more interesting, you could compete against each other on this photo scavenger hunt.
Carve Pumpkins
On a cool fall evening, grab some pumpkins and spend some time carving them together. Make a traditional jack-o-lantern or use the many creative templates online to make something extra-special. Use special pumpkin carving tools to make it easy to create an elaborate design.
You could even turn it into a competition and give awards for things like most scary, most creative, best looking, etc.
Make a Bonfire
If you have the space, a backyard bonfire is a great opportunity to spend time with your teens and tweens. Self-contained fire pits make it incredibly easy for you. Kids will love the break in your family routine and who can resist roasting marshmallows?
There’s something about sitting around a campfire that makes it easy to relax and chat.
Go Camping
Fall camping is a great family activity. It’s a lot more fun with older kids that don’t need as much supervision and can actually help with the planning and set up/tear down. Plan your trip somewhere with plenty of fun activities or look for for a location that has an amazing show of leaves changing color.
Don’t forget your hiking shoes and maybe even your bikes so you can enjoy the trails.
Seasonal Activities
Check your area for fun autumn events like fall festivals and carnivals. These are a great way to get everyone into the spirit of the season. Look for things like corn mazes, hayrides, pumpkin patches, football games, and special events at popular local attractions.
And don’t forget to look for spooky Halloween activities too!
Fun Fall Craft
Tweens are not too old for crafts. You just have to choose something that interests your kids and will challenge them a bit, like this embroidery hoop pumpkin or clothespin pumpkin wreath.
After you choose some fun fall crafts for teens, you and your kids can spend some quality time together shopping for supplies and making the project. Then they can use them to decorate their room for fall.
Haunted House
Many teens love everything creepy and scary about the season, which is why a fall staple for them is a trip to a haunted house. While this is often an activity they do with their friends, if you’re up for a scare, it can be a great bonding experience for y’all.
Scary Movie Marathon
Spooky season is a great excuse for a scary movie marathon. Gather plenty of snacks and settle in for a family movie night. It’s also the perfect thing to do over a rainy weekend. If you work with your teens to choose the movies and the snacks, they’ll be more likely to be excited about it.
Our current favorite scary movies are A Quiet Place and Scream.
Not into scary movies? That’s okay. You can still easily do a Halloween movie marathon instead with movies like Hocus Pocus and Halloweentown. My teens and I still sit down and watch these together every fall.
Visit Spooky Historical Sites
Visiting the historical sites in your area is a great way to help bring history to life and get your teen interested in what they are learning in school. Autumn is the perfect time for these field trips because the weather is cooler and crowds are lower.
To really capture your tween’s interest, look for locations that have a known history of paranormal activity and see if they can catch anything odd or disprove stories that are going around.
Also, see if the site has a ghost tour that you can take. These are often quite entertaining and very memorable.
Volunteer Together
As the cold weather moves in, many places like food banks and warming shelters get an overload of people in need. Now more than ever these programs are short on staff and volunteers.
Volunteering with your teen is a great way to set an example of service to others while getting quality time together.
If you’re looking for a fun way to bond with your older kids this season, add a few of these activities to your family calendar.
More Fall Ideas
Here are some more things you can do with your tweens and teens this fall.
- Chalk pastels are an easy way to add some autumn art projects into your day.
- These fall conversation starters are a great way to connect as a family.
- Create some fall decorations together, like this super simple leaf luminary.
- Some fall crafts for teens you can try.
What’s your favorite way to celebrate fall with your older kids?
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