Fall is such a beautiful time of year as the leaves start to change colours. Now that the weather is starting to get a bit cooler, what sort of fall activity ideas do you have planned? Here are a few ideas to keep you entertained this fall.

• Check your local area for a company that does hay rides. A ranch in the area may know who to direct you to.

• Visit a hay maze.

• Go to a pumpkin patch and pick out a special pumpkin for Halloween.

• Carve a Halloween pumpkin.

• Bake treats for Thanksgiving or start stocking your freezer with holiday treats.

• Pick apples and bake apple pie.

• Take photos playing in the leaves in your yard or at your local park.

• Bring home some leaves for an easy craft. Simply put a piece of white paper over the leaf and then colour the paper over the leaf…the impression of the leaf will come through the paper to make a beautiful little piece of art.

• Have your children use their creativity to make a centerpiece for your Thanksgiving dinner table.

• Make your own Halloween decorations like tissue ghosts or orange garbage bags filled with leaves and draw pumpkin faces on them.

• Play some fun Thanksgiving printable games – click here for some free printables.

• Play some fun Halloween printable games – click here for some free printables.

• Set up a Halloween haunted  house for friends and family – click here for some fun ideas.

• Play some fun indoor scavenger hunt games – click here for some fun ideas.

• Start (or finish) making your holiday wish list and shopping list.

• Decorate your own Halloween treat jar with painting markers and stickers.

• Go through your summer clothes and pack away items that you’ve outgrown.

• Take family photos for your holiday cards.

• Have your children draw special pictures to go along with the holiday cards.

What are your favorite fall activity ideas?

You’re sure to get a lot of laughter with these silly family game night ideas. These ideas are inspired from traditional games you’re likely familiar with. My husband gave me a strange look when I told him about my Velcro patch idea…more on that one in just a moment!

Human Tic-Tac-Toe: You’ll need 2 groups of at least 3 people for this game. Create a tic-tac-toe playing board on the ground using painters tape (it removes easily without leaving a sticky residue). Each team takes a turn having one player stand in a square of the playing board. As team members choose a square, they must hold the hand of their other team member – this helps to see when a tic-tac-toe winning line is forming.The goal of tic-tac-toe is to create a winning line of 3 team members in a row.

Hungry Hippos: This is an easy game to set up. For this game you’ll need plenty of balloons and either 2 small hockey nets or two laundry baskets. Players will compete against each other to quickly get more balloons in their net than the other player.

Clue Mystery Game: Check out this mystery party post to find easy ways to set up secret clues around your home like glow in the dark messages, secret clues requiring the use of a magnifying glass and more.

Barrel of Monkeys: When I first told me husband about this game, he gave me a strange look but I promised him it would be fun. What you’ll need for this game is a plain t-shirt, some sticky Velcro pads, and some small/light stuffed animals. Place some sticky Velcro pads on various areas of the shirt then place the other portion of the Velcro pads on some stuffed animals. The goal of this game is to roll around the ground to try to stick as many stuffed animals to the Velcro pads on the shirt as possible – without using your hands. It was inspired by the Barrel of Monkeys game…but I guess it’s quite different than the actual game. Oh well, it was still funny watching my husband roll around the ground trying to attach stuffed animals to his shirt.

What are your favorite family game night ideas?