25 Happy Fall Things to Do Outside with Your Kids Around Charlotte
October is my favorite month in Charlotte. The heat finally lets go, the sky turns that deep Carolina blue, and every afternoon feels like an invitation to get outside.
So here is my list - 25 fun, easy, mostly free things to do together this fall. Some are for the whole family, some are for a gang of friends, a few are made for Grandma and Grandpa, and the rest are for getting out into nature and loving every minute of it.
No tickets, no reservations, no screens. Just grab a jacket and go.
With the Whole Family
1. Have a leaf-pile party. Rake every leaf in the yard into one giant pile, then let the kids jump. Rake again, jump again. That is the whole activity, and it is perfect.
2. Make leaf rubbings. Collect the prettiest leaves on a walk, lay them under paper and rub with the side of a crayon. Hang the best ones in the kitchen window for the whole season.
3. Eat dinner on the porch. Nothing fancy - pizza on paper plates counts. Eating outside turns a Tuesday into an occasion.
4. Build a backyard fire and make s'mores. A small fire pit, a bag of marshmallows and a few ghost stories that are only a little bit scary. Charlotte's cool fall nights were made for this.
5. Plant something for spring. Tuck a few daffodil or tulip bulbs along the walkway now. Kids love the idea that a surprise is sleeping underground until March.
6. Try a family bike ride on the greenway. Little Sugar Creek Greenway and the Four Mile Creek Greenway in south Charlotte are flat, paved and shady. Stop for a snack halfway and call it a trip.
With Friends
7. Host a sidewalk chalk festival. Invite the neighbor kids, dump out every chalk bucket on the street and give out ribbons for Most Colorful, Biggest and Silliest. Everybody wins something.
8. Run a backyard obstacle course. Hula hoops to hop through, a jump rope to limbo under, a pool noodle to leap over, a cone to run around. Time each kid, then let them time you.
9. Have a pumpkin-painting afternoon. Skip the carving knives and hand out paint. Line the finished pumpkins up on the porch steps for the whole street to admire.
10. Organize a neighborhood nature scavenger hunt. Something red, something smooth, an acorn, a feather, something that smells good. First team back with everything picks the snack.
11. Play flashlight tag when it gets dark early. Fall's early sunsets mean the best game of the year can start by 7:00 and everyone is still in bed on time.
12. Have a bring-your-own-bike parade. Streamers on the handlebars, a few cardboard signs, one lap around the block with a parent on each corner. Cheer loudly.
With Grandma and Grandpa
13. Take a slow walk and let them lead. Grandparents notice things - the mushroom on the log, the woodpecker, the way the creek sounds. Let the kids learn to notice too.
14. Pick apples or pumpkins together. The farms north of Charlotte around Huntersville and Mooresville open their fields every October. Grandpa picks the pumpkin, the kids carry it, Grandma takes the pictures. Check farm hours before you go.
15. Feed the ducks at a neighborhood pond. Freedom Park's lake in Dilworth is the classic. Bring frozen peas or cracked corn instead of bread - the ducks are healthier and the kids feel like experts.
16. Ask them to teach an old-fashioned outdoor game. Hopscotch, jacks, marbles, Red Rover, kick the can. Grandparents light up, and the kids discover that fun does not need a battery.
17. Have a porch-swing story hour. A blanket, a thermos of hot chocolate and whatever story Grandma wants to tell about when she was little. This one becomes a tradition fast.
18. Plant a tree together. A small dogwood or redbud, dug in on a Saturday morning in October, grows up right alongside the kids. Years from now it will be "Grandpa's tree."
Out in Nature
19. Go on a creek walk. Charlotte is full of shallow creeks in parks like Reedy Creek and McAlpine Creek. Old sneakers, a bucket, and an hour of skipping rocks and hunting for crawdads.
20. Start a nature journal. A cheap notebook and a pencil. Draw one thing you saw today. By Thanksgiving it is a book the kids made themselves.
21. Watch the sunset on purpose. Pick a spot with a view - a hill at a park, the top of a parking deck Uptown, your own front steps facing west. Fall sunsets in Charlotte are early and gorgeous.
22. Lie down and look for shapes in the clouds. Costs nothing, takes twenty minutes, and you will be amazed what a six-year-old sees up there.
23. Take the dog on a new trail. My pups love fall too. Most Mecklenburg County parks welcome leashed dogs on the trails - the whole family gets a walk and the dog gets a hundred new smells.
Back in the Kitchen
24. Bake something with what you picked. Apple crisp, pumpkin muffins, roasted pumpkin seeds. Let the kids do the measuring and the mess, then eat it warm on the porch.
25. Make hot chocolate from scratch and toast the day. Real cocoa, real milk, a mountain of marshmallows. Everybody says one favorite thing from the afternoon. That is how a good day becomes a good memory.
More Charlotte family fun
Looking for art classes, music lessons, swim schools or birthday party ideas around Charlotte? I have been gathering the best of them in the Kids' Directory since 2008. Pick up the latest issue around town or browse KidsDirectoryCharlotte.com - The LITTLE book with BIG Resources!
