Though the sweltering summer days are behind us, the arrival of cooler weather doesn’t signal a need to stay indoors. The fall season, with its stunning hues and refreshing air, presents countless opportunities for families to engage with the great outdoors.
Explore Local Farmers’ Markets
The fall harvest is an excellent way to diversify children’s tastes. With a range of produce available, including sweet potatoes, radishes, winter squashes, and fruits like apples and cranberries, Canada’s fall offerings are particularly delightful. Farmers’ markets provide an excellent opportunity to understand these tasty ingredients straight from the growers.
Suggestions: Engage with farmers about their favorite methods of preparing these ingredients. Kids can try their skills in making seasonal dishes, such as butternut squash soup, apple pie, or pumpkin bread.
Engage in Halloween Celebrations
As Halloween approaches, fall is an ideal time for some fun fright. Numerous community centres and amusement parks host family-friendly Halloween events. For instance, Canada’s Wonderland offers Camp Spooky, featuring haunted rides, mazes tailored for kids, and a daily costume parade.
Additionally, Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) takes place around this time, primarily celebrated in Mexico and various Latin American regions. It is believed that on November 1st and 2nd, the souls of loved ones return to Earth to visit family. Families commemorate these individuals by constructing altars adorned with vibrant flowers, cheerful skeletons, and candles.
Suggestions: Creating a personal altar at home can be a wonderful way to pay tribute to a loved one without distressing children. Explain that it’s a way to honor their life. For those interested in learning more about this tradition, venues like the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto host free activities, including dance, live music, crafts, storytelling, and face painting.
Visit a Pumpkin Patch
A trip to a pumpkin patch can be a delightful way to spend an autumn afternoon. During October, families can select their pumpkins for Halloween jack-o’-lanterns or enjoy the roasted seeds as a seasonal snack.
Suggestions: Tom Pate, a pumpkin grower and owner of Brantwood Farms in Ontario, advises choosing pumpkins with a sturdy stem and checking for any blemishes. While it’s possible to buy pumpkins from grocery stores, he says, “there’s much more joy in picking one out from a vast field.”
Many pumpkin patches also feature hayrides, face painting, and petting zoos. For those inclined toward creativity, Brantwood Farms offers various shapes and types of pumpkins, including warty and white pumpkins, perfect for crafting ghost decorations. “Carving a pumpkin allows for endless creativity,” he notes.
Hike on Scenic Trails
Autumn offers a stunning backdrop for outdoor activities. From September through mid-October, hiking trails are ablaze with vibrant foliage in shades of orange, red, and gold.
Suggestions: Some of the finest hiking trails in Canada include:
- The Fundy Trail in New Brunswick, located just under an hour from Saint John, spanning 10 miles (16 km) of scenic coastal views.
- The Bruce Trail in Ontario, recognized as Canada’s oldest and longest hiking path.
- Lighthouse Park in Vancouver, featuring a network of trails that weave through towering Douglas fir and western red cedar trees, culminating in breathtaking ocean vistas.
Play in the Leaves
A yard filled with fallen leaves can become the setting for a fun-filled day. Let the kids gather the leaves into a massive pile, and then reward their efforts by jumping in!
Suggestions: Creative children can have a blast using leaves as well. Collect a variety of colorful leaves in good condition, ensuring they are dry, and then press them between two sheets of newspaper. After placing heavy books on top for approximately 24 hours to flatten them, they can be stored in an album or frames for year-round display.
Tour a Local Farm
Many farms welcome visitors in the autumn for tours and activities. Brooks Farms in Mount Albert, Ontario offers a range of child-friendly experiences, such as a petting zoo, train rides, and hay races. A visit to the countryside allows families to enjoy fresh air and expose their children to a different way of life.
“It’s a unique experience,” asserts Paul Brooks of Brooks Farms, which also provides opportunities for apple, squash, and pumpkin picking. “It’s a great way for children to discover where their food comes from.”
Engaging in picking your own crops is an affordable, traditional, and sustainable activity, according to Scott Lunau from Albion Orchards in Ontario, which invites apple pickers in the fall. “In the fall, we can eat local produce, which is essential since much of our food is imported,” he explains.
Suggestions: Research when to visit the farm to get the best fruit-picking experience. Farms usually maintain websites that detail picking conditions and what apple varieties are ripe. Always ask farm staff for guidance on how to pick apples correctly.
“Avoid pulling apples off forcefully,” advises Lunau. Picking one apple too harshly can cause others to fall. “When they hit the ground hard, they get bruised and are no good,” he emphasizes.
Provide small baskets for young ones to hold their apples, making them feel included in the experience, and be sure to pick up some delicious apple products like cider, jellies, and pies.
