In this post I will be sharing 20 easy fall nature walk ideas. These walks are meant to be easy and fun to take with your kids and require virtually no preparation.
Welcome to my big list of fall nature walk ideas!
Autumn is an amazing time of year for walking. As the seasons change, there is much to observe.
You can take a hike to a place with a gorgeous view of a lake and the autumn leaves. You can take a walk in an apple orchard or a pumpkin patch! A sunset walk or an early morning walk, or just enjoy the crunchy leaves!
But what if you’re feeling a bit uninspired and you want to really optimize this autumn time before winter hits? Well, here is your solution!
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1. Acorn or Pinecone Collecting or Foraging Fall Nature Walk
Age range: all ages!
Equipment needed: Baskets or bags
I thought I would start us off with an easy fall nature walk that can be done with any age of child.
Right from around one year of age, babies can understand picking up items and putting them in a basket. My toddlers absolutely LOVE to collect acorns and nuts in fall. This activity can also be done by collecting local berries or fruit, like crabapples, elderberry, or rosehips.
It actually doesn’t matter too much if the fruit is edible – these foraged items can be used for crafts, display, left out for the birds, given to a farmer for their pigs (apparently acorn-finished pork is highly prized? Who knew!)
2. PlantNet Plant ID Walk
Age range: 5+
Equipment needed: phones or tablets with cameras, ideally data or wifi signal too
There are plenty of great plant identification apps available for free these days. The one I like to use is called PlantNet. You simple snap a photo of a plant, indicate what part of the plant it is and are given a list of possible plants it may be! This is a super fascinating activity and you can easily learn many new plants that grow in your area. It is great to get some final plant IDs done during fall.
3. Cairn Building
Age range: All ages
Equipment needed: None
Many ages of children will love to build rock towers on a nature walk. Lately, however, I have seen people getting stirred up online over the disruption to the natural environment that cairn building causes. Personally, I see no harm in children playing with rocks, but if you are in a National Park or something, maybe put the rocks back when you are done with them.
4. Duct Tape Nature Bracelets
Age Range: All Ages, this one is a big hit with preschool up to grade 2.
Equipment needed: Duct tape, scissors (or teeth)
To make these lovely nature bracelets, each child needs a duct tape bracelet around their wrist with the sticky side facing out, before the walk begins. On your walk, you can either see what sticks to you, or intentionally select some nature finds to add to your bracelet. Easy and lovely!
5. Getting Lost, A Hansel and Gretel Walk
Age Range: 8+ or at parent’s discretion
Equipment needed: Breadcrumbs, compass
For this nature walk, select a safe place where you can “get lost” and try to find your way back! Breadcrumbs and compass optional!
6. Zero Tech Geocaching
Age Range: 3+
Equipment needed: Pencil, notebook and a waterproof container
Have you ever tried the popular geocaching activity? My kids really enjoy the treasure hunt aspect of this. For this zero-tech spin, leave a note in a sealed container for a friend who walks the same area as you do (you may need to let them know and give them a good clue where you left the note!). This has a very message-in-a-bottle feel and kids will love heading back out to check if their friend left them a reply!
7. Nature Obstacle Course
Age Range: 2+
Equipment needed: Just a variety of obstacles that you find and then either plan a route through or move to create a course! This nature walk may be more challenging than some of the others on this list, but I think it could be really fun!
8. Fungi Hunt Nature Walk
Age range: 1+
Equipment needed: mushroom field guide
It’s interesting to kids that mushrooms aren’t plants, and at this time of year they are popping up everywhere. A basic mushroom field guide would be a bonus for this fungi hunt but is of course, totally optional. Be sure to look up high as well as down low and don’t eat anything you can’t 100% identify!
9. Bark Rubbings Easy Art Nature Walk
Age range: 3+
Equipment needed: Paper, masking tape, crayons
On this nature walk, you’ll want to pay special attention to the different types of bark on your local trees. You can identify a few that your children find interesting, and make a bark rubbing of them. Simply tape up your paper to the tree, and lightly rub a crayon across the paper, all in one direction. Do this at a few trees and compare! You may want to title each rubbing with the type of tree it came from so you don’t forget!
10. Walking Staff Foraging Nature Walk
Age range: 1+
Equipment needed: none
There is something about a good walking staff that seems to appeal to any age of child! Go forage some of the best walking staffs and enjoy!
11. Leaf Art Nature Walk
Age range: 1+
Equipment needed: basket or bag for favourite leaves is handy, camer (optional)
For this nature walk, you’ll be gathering leaves and arranging them into an art piece right on the trail! Try to make a rainbow or other simple shape with your leaves. This will not work well on a windy day. I love to take pictures when we do this easy fall nature walk.
12. Shape Hunt (Easy Scavenger Hunt)
Here’s a super easy and printable-free version of the classic nature scavenger hunt. Pick any or several different shapes (even one per kid!) and go out there and find them in nature. For example, a circle may be a rock. A bit of bark may be square. A cloud formation may be heart-shaped. Enjoy!
13. Nature Paints Walk
Age range, 2+
Equipment needed: Some old yogurt containers or similar, mortar and pestle if you have them, old paintbrushes, paper, water.
For this nature walk, you’ll collect leaves, mud and berries and crush them up for nature paints. You may need to add water to some of these. Enjoy!
14. Rock Collection Walk
Age range: 1+
Equipment needed: a basket or bucket
To one of my kids, every walk is a rock collection walk. As you collect rocks on this nature walk, why not wonder how long those rocks have been around? Perhaps wonder how the rocks were formed. See if you can identify the type of rock.
15. Tea Walk
Age range: 3+
Equipment needed: Basket, thermos of hot water
Ah I love a good old natural cup of tea from the garden. For this nature walk, you’ll be identifying common herbs to collect for tea. Mint, dandelion, catmint, lavender, or chamomile might be nice! If you can’t identify herbs for tea with confidence, you can always make some tea on a mud kitchen and leave it out for the fairies. It is also really nice to bring along a thermos of hot water and make your tea on the go!
16. Collecting and drying herbs for herbal bath
Age range: 2+
Equipment needed: basket, scissors
In my post on a relaxing herbal bath recipe for sore muscles, I mentioned several herbs you can easily forage in your yard. Why not head there for some inspo on how to collect herbs for your own herbal bath?
17. Nature Book Walk
Age range: All ages
Equipment needed: A book about nature or with lovely nature scenery, a blanket or chair, umbrella for inclement weather
This is a nature walk where you bring a book and read it! I recommend choosing a place with a great view for this walk. It can be so lovely to read outdoors, especially in good weather. If it’s rainy, mind not getting your book wet!
18. Pick Out a Campsite Walk
Age range: 3+
Equipment needed: None
For this walk all you need is a good imagination! Take a walk with the goal of choosing a great place to camp. Is it near water? What could be used for shelter? Any hazards nearby?
19. Scat Walk
Age range: 5+
Equipment needed: Scat ID cards (optional), camera or phone (optional), Scat ID book (optional)
You have to be very observant for this walk! Take a peek down low to the ground and see what droppings you can spot. You may want to choose a place you frequently find droppings to avoid disappointment. Then, take photos, ID what you can and make drawings at home! Also, how cool is this Scat ID Keychain!?
20. Earthing Walk
Age Range: 0+
Equipment: None
Earthing, or grounding, has many physical and mental benefits such as reducing stress and improving immune function. Before going out for your earthing walk, take note of how your body and mind are feeling. Maybe help your child to write down words that describe how they feel. When you go for an earthing walk, you go barefoot. Be sure to find a safe place for your child to go barefoot, avoiding asphalt, debris and pesticide-treated lawns. Simply walking around barefoot stimulates important acupressure points on your child’s feet and also lowers oxidative stress. It may even help with their sleep!
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Love all of these ideas! I probably collect too many rocks on our walks as is (can’t help it there are so many good ones) Going on a scat walk along with a making bark rubbings are great for the wintertime too! Thank you for sharing!