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Autumn is one of the most beautiful times of year. 

Here we share 50 play activities for you to get inspiration from. Some wonderful ideas for your left over pumpkins too - not just for Halloween!

You can also find weekly nature planning ideas and invitations to play in my Rewilding Nature Study Programme

1. Make conker tea - provide charity shop tea pots and utensils for children to make their own nature afternoon tea!

2. Try Apple Bobbing! A classic.

3. Decorate pine cones.

4. Pumpkin Wash station.

5. Play Pumpkin or apple skittles!

6. Spider Web sensory tray using masking tape to create a web. Add conkers and tweezers.

7. Pumpkin hammering.

8. Autumn painting.

9. Apple printing 

10. Pumpkin ring toss.

11. Weighing pumpkins.

12. Spider printing.

13. Skeleton bone dig.

14. Pumpkin Tea! Open the tops and let the children scoop out the seeds and flesh for their pumpkin tea or pumpkin soup creations.

15. Web painting.

16. Make your own nature paint brushes.

17. M...

When it comes to planning for the first few weeks of the Autumn term with your new children I would focus on prioritising the following:

• Making sure new children feel safe and settled
• Building positive relationships with all children
• Establishing rules and expectations 
• Getting children used to the daily routine 

If you take a re-watch of my video from my Hygge Summer School you can see that I share the ways I would plan and organise the daily routine at the start of the year in Reception or nursery. 

When the time feels right for you and your children you can then start to spark new curiosities and interests by introducing these to the children. As much as I believe lots of what we teach from should come from the children I also understand that there needs to be a balance of us as educators offering the opportunity to broaden the children's knowledge through the exposure to different and new experiences. These might be linked to seasonal changes, festivals or celebrations.  ...