50 Ideas for Your Fall Outdoor Bucket List

Here are 50 ideas for your fall bucket list. When it comes to seasons, fall seems to get the short end of the stick. After all, it arrives on the heels of our beloved summer, which never seems to last long enough.

But around here, fall is full of its own treasures. Pumpkin patches, apple cider, puddle jumping, trick-or-treating, nature crafts, cool-weather hikes, birthday celebrations, Thanksgiving, the countdown to Christmas and more.

For me, fall represents family traditions, so I look forward to it each year. One of our traditions is creating an outdoor bucket list. Some items on our list stay the same from year to year; others are entirely new. (You can see the lists we made back in 2010 and 2012 if you want.)

If you’d like to make your own fall outdoor bucket list, you’ve come to the right place. Here are a few fun and festive ways your family can connect with nature this fall.

10 Things to Do in Your Backyard

• Go puddle jumping
• Host a snail race
• Jump or run through a pile of leaves
• Go on a spider web hunt
• Plant a fall garden
• Go on a leaf hunt
• Make bark rubbings
• Create land art
• Go bug hunting
• Play I Spy Crows

5 Ideas for Fall Nature Walks and Scavenger Hunts

• Go on fall nature photo scavenger hunt
• Take a flashlight walk
• Go for a walk in the rain
• Try a Thanksgiving Day neighborhood scavenger hunt
• Take a thankfulness walk

5 Fall Nature Crafts

• Make leaf prints
• Make a thankfulness tree
• Create rain art
• Make a leaf crown
• Design your own leaf placemat

10 Activities to Try in Your Community

• Go apple picking
• See fall foliage
• Drink fresh apple cider
• Go to a harvest festival
• Take a hike
• Navigate your way through a corn maze
• Visit a farmers’ market
• Go on a fall camping trip
• Visit a farm, zoo or wildlife rescue center
• Take a field trip in nature to a place of your choosing

10 Halloween Nature Activities

• Visit a pumpkin patch
• Make a snack-o-lantern for the birds
• Go on a Halloween nature scavenger hunt
• Create a pet rock cemetery
• Go on a pumpkin counting walk
• Make your own scarecrow
• Roast pumpkin seeds
• Decorate and/or carve pumpkins
• Make a pumpkin planter
• Watch a pumpkin rot

10 Christmas Nature Activities

• Decorate with nature for the holidays
• Make a holiday card tree
• Go on a neighborhood holiday lights walk
• Create an ornament from nature
• Make birdseed ornaments
• Decorate an outdoor tree for wildlife
• Make twig stars
• String fresh garland for the birds
• Head to a Christmas tree farm
• Have a Christmas-themed picnic

Need a few more ideas? Check out my fall outdoor fun board on Pinterest, which is updated regularly with all kinds of creative ideas. And don’t miss your back-to-school guide to getting outside.