Fall and Halloween activities

From the time that my son was a year old we've always tried to do a fall family hike during the time when the leaves are changing colors and falling off of the trees. We also always make a trip to one of the local pumpkin patches so that we can get our pumpkins and enjoy a fall day out in the fresh air. As far as craft type of things, we've bought canvas bags and sponges with paint and I've let the kids decorate their own Trick or Treat bags. We will always paint pumpkins. Another thing that we like to do is to gather leaves and dry them and then use those for an art project.

Hi Flight84, those plans you have are wonderful for a toddler. We have a lot of Fall Festival here that are sponsored by different churches. Churches celebrate the coming of the Fall seasons and not Halloween. They have fun activities just like the ones you just described, activities that will keep the children safe and have fun at the same time. There are some places that observe Halloween but they aren't affilliated with the church, those celebrations are more Satanic. I am for the religious, christian celebration myself. Be bless and hope your toddler enjoy his festivities.

Toddlers and preschool kids are fun to work with, but most of the activities are usually geared towards older kids.These are some ideas we do with the little ones. We print out some halloween coloring pages (for free) via the internet. Like big blank pumpkins or something easy like that. At halloween, we sometimes play: pin the nose on the pumpkin (supervised and with help aiming the kids.) No fall would be complete without using a set of those plastic bowling pins and balls (the kind for little kids). Tie a strip of orange crepe paper around the neck of the pin, and use a washable marker for putting a couple eyes and a rounded mouth on them (presto...ghost bowling lol). Buy some of those little table pumpkins and have a pumpkin hunt, good for indoors and out. Put a number or something on one of them, and give a prize for getting the numbered pumpkin, and one for the one with the most pumpkins, and a little itty something for every player. (Yep, at that age, it's better to make every child a winner in one way or the other hahaha) We sometimes "Pumpkin treasure dig": hollow out a huge pumpkin and draw a face on the front with markers. Fill the inside with sand, and bury a bunch of small kid toys inside. Each child gets one scoop of their hand to try and find their own treasure in the big pumpkin. Can you tell? We have a lot of fun with fall and halloween, the kids are never too young to celebrate. We also take fall walks around the farm here, and if we can all get together, we'll meet at a park in a different area/town for a fall walk there too. I'm a gramma, so I like to have lots of activities for the grandkids!!