Autumn Scavenger Hunt Activity + FREE Printable

The leaves have started to change colour and fall from their branches, autumn is well and truly here. Autumn is probably one of my favourite seasons, early autumn at least, we still have some sunshine and fine days, the leaves are crisp and the air is fresh and full of the mellowness of the season. I love it, and I know I’m not the only one. Yesterday we met a couple of his friends for an autumn scavenger hunt in a local park, it was just the thing to keep them engaged and occupied for an hour and they all did really well.

We live by the river and walk the dog down there most days. By the river is a nature reserve and we often see lots of different birds, insects and plants. I’ve tried to keep the autumn scavenger hunt quite simple, so you should be able to find most of the bugs, birds and plants in your local park.

Download your free Autumn Scavenger Hunt Printable Here!

I have left room on the printable for children to make notes too. If they spot anything different or noteworthy, they can write all about what they’ve seen in the notes section.

Going on a scavenger hunt, or a nature trail is a wonderful thing to do with children and to help them learn a little more about nature and the world around them.

Whatever you do this season, whether you’re walking in the park; pond dipping in a nature reserve or walking the dog on the beach; make sure you stay safe. Keep your eyes peeled for all the wonders of nature and watch where you put your feet!

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Autumn’s Best Bits

I love autumn, I mean what’s not to love? Crunchy leaves to kick through, warm fires to cozy up in front of, the autumnal festivals of Halloween and Bonfire night. I love it. It helps of course that my birthday falls at the start of autumn, and the small boy’s falls towards the end, so autumn is quite literally party season for us. I’ve picked some of my favourite pictures taken of us and our adventures during autumn, what were our best bits?

I love this one, my son and his cousin at Bramhall Hall during half term, wrapped up against the chill and having an awful lot of fun.

I love the skies in autumn, clear and blue, with fluffy clouds and sunsets where the sky is a thousand shades of orange, pink and red.

I love this picture of my son blowing out his birthday cake. His birthday party was a very cold day and him and 16 of his friends enjoyed a trip to the miniature railway, braved the cold and were rewarded with lots of cake. It was a lovely day.

This was our “pumpkin patch” from Halloween, I love the colours of pumpkin and squash, they’re so cheery.

This is another one of the boy and his cousin. They were doing some autumn leaf craft with some leaves we’d collected from the park, it’s a reminder of a lovely day and it was a nice, interesting thing to do with the boys.

Another of my favourite autumn pictures is this memorial bench in our local park, it’s dedicated to a local lacrosse player and is a stunning piece of wood carving. I love the way the small boy is peeking over the bench, it gives it an idea of the scale of the carving too.

Possibly my favourite picture is this one taken during early autumn, it was still warm enough for shorts and a t-shirt but the leaves were beginning to turn and the evenings had a definite autumnal chill about them. The boy looked and was so happy that day.

I love each of these pictures for different reasons. If I were to pick one which I felt represented autumn it would be the boys making the leafy tree. We had such a good time collecting the leaves, then making the tree, it’s a real autumnal memory for us all.

My Autumnal Top Ten

I love autumn, it’s my favourite season, or my least favourite season, I’m still undecided. So in the style of a teenage girl doing a pros/cons list on a potential boyfriend, my favourite things about autumn are…

1. Kicking through crunchy leaves on walks
2. Hot chocolate with optional whipped cream and marshmallows
3. Warm snuggles under a blanket
4. Halloween parties
5. Stew and buttery mash
6. Rainy day crafting with the small boy
7. Watching firework displays from the bedroom window
8. Collecting conkers
9. The evening sky in autumn is often incredible
10. Stodgy, happy puddings with lashings of custard.

But I really hate autumn for these reasons…

1. Rain, endless rain
2. The dark
3. It’s cold
4. Slippery leaves on the pavement
5. Falling conker concussion
6. Arguing over putting the heating on
7. The resulting heating bill
8. Diets are hard, like really hard, I want sticky toffee pudding
9. It’s too cold to go out and exercise, I wanna stay under the blanket
10. Stupid fireworks, it’s not November 5th yet

I could go on, but I won’t, that angry nerve in my eye is twitching again. I’m still undecided. Autumn definitely is a love/hate season for me.

Autumn