Why October Is the Perfect Time for Outdoor Play
The October Week is here, and you might be feeling like we only just left the summer break behind us. We all know that the cost of travelling is through the roof right now, but fear not! We are here to help you make the most out of a local, fun-filled and not too costly October break for your family, with a focus on keeping kids active outdoors. From days out with the kids to action-packed activities right in your back garden, this is our top 10 list of fun October outdoor activities for Autumn half-term in the UK.
How Titan Toys Can Help
Not everyone has the luxury of taking the week off whenever the kids are out of school, so you might be juggling your own work with trying to keep them entertained, not wrecking the house and acting as a referee between siblings. Right now, our kids are having an infrequent moment of working together on a science experiment on their own! (I can highly recommend a science kit for 5–8-year-olds after this!!!)
Another way to keep them active and entertained is to send them out into the garden for some Titan Toys outdoor play! There are loads of activities you can set up in advance for them to use with their Titan Toys ride-ons, or why not with any of the Go Wild Swing Sets? Here are our top 10 activities to keep kids happy this school break!
1. Build a Backyard Obstacle Course
Children love obstacle courses! This could be something simple, like just throwing out some ropes to follow around, or if you’ve got old planks lying around. The little ones will benefit greatly from working on their balance and learning that using their arms will help them walk across a plank without falling off. The great thing about a Garden Obstacle Course is that it can be adapted to suit different ages and capabilities. Using narrower planks to balance on, adding the climbing wall to climb up and over or adding some distance between items they must jump to. If you then add a little time challenge (what child doesn’t love being timed??), you have the perfect outdoor fitness for kids, where they can try to beat their own time each day, because it is all about them rather than comparing their times to siblings (something of a daily struggle in this house).
2. Leaf-Collecting Treasure Hunt
The leaves have changed and have started to fall to the ground. One thing we have planned for this weekend is to take our 2-seater Can-Am buggy (which, no matter how old, still pulls both the 5-year-old and the 8-year-old up muddy terrain) for an adventure drive up to the woods. This is a tradition we have, and the main reason is to take colourful pictures of the kids throwing leaves everywhere!
But it is also for some leaf-collecting for the kids, to find the best, most colourful leaves to bring home for some Autumn Crafts. If you need inspiration, Pinterest is your one-stop shop for kid-friendly arts and crafts ideas.
The woods are the perfect place for an Autumn Scavenger Hunt. They will bring a basket, stored on the back of the 4x4 buggy, where they will collect their treasures. We’ve got a list of things to find, and they can either work together or independently to find these. Our youngest has just started school and learned how to read, so it will be a perfect way to encourage her to learn new words. The list is the following:
- A red, orange, and yellow leaf
- A pinecone
- A feather
- Something smooth (like a pebble)
- Something rough (like bark)
- An acorn or conker
- A mushroom (look, don’t touch!)
- Animal tracks or footprints in mud
- A bird or squirrel sighting
- Something that smells like autumn (pine needles, damp leaves, etc.)
You can always bring a sketchbook and some autumn-coloured pens for them to draw their own autumn picture while outside.
3. Ride-On Adventures in the Garden
There are so many different types of ride-on toys today, with anything from slower squads to adventurous 24v buggies or high-speed drift-karts. Depending on the kind of kids' electric ride-ons you’ve got and the size of the garden they can play in, they will have endless fun either way.
If you’ve got kids, traffic cones, or anything similar, set up a car-testing track where they must tackle the obstacles without touching the items. It will teach them how to manoeuvre the Titan Toys Ride on through narrow turns and help them develop spatial awareness when judging the distance between the cars and obstacles.
If you have two kids and two different electric cars for them to drive, you could set up a drag strip. Stand with a checkered flag and count them down, and see which vehicle is the fastest across the finish line!
4. Swing, Slide, & Climb with a Playframe
We have already had so much fun preparing the garden for winter. The kids have their own rakes and love helping rake up all the leaves. Fair enough —half the fun has been throwing all the leaves on the slide to speed down through. Our wooden swing set with climbing wall and slide has been ideal for all ages, as we can quickly switch between different hanging accessories, allowing them to take turns on their favourite.
If you would like other playframe ideas, it can never go wrong with some Floor is Lava challenges where they must move through the slide, climb the climbing wall, and cross the swing without touching the ground. You can constantly adjust the difficulty for younger ones by adding some planks to step on or hula hoops to jump over.
Titan Toys Swing Sets offer many different accessories that can be easily switched between, including our personal fan-favourite, the Trapeze Bar and a simple knotted climbing rope.
5. Evening Fire Pit & Storytime
If you’ve been working and haven't had much time for your kids throughout the day, this one is for you! An evening of outdoor fun and cosy activity for the whole family to wind down and bond after a long day.
Light the fire pit or have an actual campfire in your garden, or on a beach. BBQ hot dogs together and have s’mores or chocolate-filled bananas while wrapping up in blankets together and enjoying fire pit stories for kids. Hopefully, you can do some incredible stargazing together, which can also be used for your stories! Halloween is coming up, so they might be into some scary stories, age-appropriate, obviously!
6. Nature Art Using Leaves & Twigs
If you’re out and about trying to get your family's steps in this Autumn break, then there are loads of creative leaves art outside ideas you can carry out while still outdoors! You can always create things on the go—take a picture with your phone or camera —or, if you would rather, bring glue and props that work, too.
You can collect leaves and twigs to make a family portrait, either together or have everyone make their own. Let the creativity flow of things to use that can be found around you.
One of my daughter’s favourite nature crafts for kids was a hedgehog they had done at nursery. They used all different-coloured leaves to create the body and make it look slightly jagged, a bit of bark for their head, and a little dried-up hawthorn berry for their nose.
You can also collect loads of different-sized leaves and, using a needle and thread, string them up and hang around your door like a leafy garland!
7. Family Walks & Leaf-Watching
I get it —it is not always the easiest to get children out for a walk, and sometimes it requires a lot of yummy snacks and treats along the way. For us, it's a whole bag of hot chocolate in a thermos, cinnamon buns, jammy scones and some apples. We are lucky enough to live in Scotland, where we are surrounded by gorgeous forestry walks over hills and through glens. Some of the walks are maintained and include fun activities for children along the way, which is a bonus, but trust me, leaf-watching outdoors could be just as amazing for kids as it is for you!
I mentioned earlier the Treasure Hunt we will do with our kids, and this is something you can easily bring along for an Autumn Walk with kids. It will give them a purpose for the walk, beyond just the fresh air and exercise!
We are members of the National Trust for Scotland, which sends out a Newsletter throughout the year. We have just received an Autumn special, all about the lovely leaves, and it also includes a special booklet for kids, with a lift to see and check off. When they have spotted 15 of the items, they can bring them to a National Trust Scotland-staffed property and receive a sticker!
Have a look for local Instagram accounts highlighting the very best and adventurous family walks on offer, or other autumn activities they may recommend. I have been following Wandermaw on Instagram for years, and she not only shares realistic reviews of activities but also talks about low-cost, magical nature adventures for everyone, no matter where you live. I love the creativity of finding magic in anything in nature while always keeping it real.
8. Mini Sports Challenges
We want to keep our kids active, and they usually spend some days during the breaks in different sports; however, we wanted to spend more time together and enjoy the crisp air outdoors. But we still want to make sure they burn loads of energy so they can be chilled out enough to enjoy a whole movie in the evening! Kids' outdoor games could be anything from creative relays where they must run like crabs or roll through the grass as quickly as possible, to spring around a stick 10 times before running for added challenge.
If you have an Airborne Garden Trampoline, it is the perfect opportunity to practice backyard sports for kids! No matter what sport your child is practising, Trampolining can add benefits.
You have the obvious situations where they are practising gymnastics, parkour, BMX or snowboarding, where working on their tricks and skills on the trampoline is part of their everyday routine. But even if they play other sports such as football or tennis, they can still benefit from the cardiovascular exercise provided by bouncing, as well as increased body control and awareness.
During the October Holidays, you can include a fun trampoline session daily to get them moving and burning energy, and, if you incorporate games like Simon Says, for example, they will have loads of fun!
9. Pumpkin Picking & Carving Outdoor
Naturally, October is a month of pumpkin picking and carving. I grew up in Sweden, where this was never a thing (we didn’t even celebrate Halloween back then!) However, just like many other American things, it has slowly crept into our traditions.
Pumpkin picking can be a great day out with the kids this October, but it is getting quite expensive as well. Luckily, the supermarket pumpkins are still reasonably priced! Therefore, you can create your own October pumpkin activities with a twist!
Scatter out store-bought pumpkins around a field, and if your kids have Titan Toys Electric ride-on buggies, they can drive around on an off-road adventure and collect them in a more fun way! If they have the Dirt Traxx Tipper Buggy, even better! It is made to be driven around picking pumpkins!
10. Glow in the Dark Garden Games
As the sun goes down earlier, we must be creative and think of evening for kids in a different way if they are to enjoy garden toys all year round! We must be a little creative. Attach glow tape around your trampoline, with fairy lights around the top. The kids could even wear glow-stick bracelets, add some tunes, and have a lit dancefloor made for impressive breakdance tricks!
All of Titan Toys' ride-on cars have working LED lights, but the Drift-Karts in particular, with their under-chassis lights, are perfect for darker evenings! You could also create a parking spot using glow sticks or tape, and have your kids practice reversing into it. Glow games outside are always popular!
Here you can run a different version of the treasure hunt: hide small glow-in-the-dark items—stones, small bunnies, and light-up balls —and have children walk around with their flashlights to try to find them.
Bonus Tips & Safety
Tips to Dress for Autumn Weather
The weather switches quickly between sunny, comfortable, and windy, freezing and soaking wet. From experience, since Scotland is known for having 4 seasons in a day, my best October weather-play tips are to dress your children in layers.
- Base Layer – For example, a lightweight merino wool layer which feels soft on their bodies and does not soak up sweat.
- Mid Layer – A fleece, wool or a jumper that keeps them warm but is easy to take off if they feel too warm.
- Outer Layer (Weather Shield) – Water and wind-proof jackets and trousers, preferably made of a breathable material such as shell.
And if you want my recommendation for the best autumn clothing for kids, check out Polarn O. Pyret. Outstanding quality that will last for years and be passed down to siblings. They also come with reflective stickers, so your kids are more visible in the dark.
I’ve bought multiple jackets and trousers second-hand, and they still have loads of life left in them. To ensure they stay water- and windproof, avoid washing them, especially with fabric softener.
Safe Use of Ride-Ons & Play Equipment
As always, ensure all play equipment is safe to use. Consider that the leaves can make climbing wall stones extra slippery, and the same goes for the garden trampolines.
If you are playing outside when it is dark, ensure your garden is safe to play in, with no hidden obstacles and not too dark to see.
Make sure the LED lights on your ride-on car work correctly when you're out driving in the dark so other drivers can see you clearly. Always make sure your kids are wearing appropriate reflective clothing.
Encourage More Outdoor Play This October
Hopefully, you'll find some of these ideas helpful to keep kids active this October Holiday, while also keeping costs down and making the best use of the Titan Toys outdoor toys you already have. Remember to make use of local organisations and social media accounts for inspiration.
