This post is sponsored by the Voice of Play.

Yes I’m one of those people that are a bit depressed when the kids go back to school and summer is “over”. I’m not a fan of shorter days and chilly weather.  I have this momentary dementia, thinking, well there goes my summer walks and the kids playing outside all the time. If it were up to me it would be about 78 degrees all year round and only rain at night. After I get over the initial “summer’s over depression” I start to realize, there is still so much fun to be had in the fall and that includes outdoor play.

We recently moved.  We’re exploring our new surroundings and I realized. “Man I think we’re spending more time outside than ever” There were gardens that were created by the previous owner.  Being that no one had lived in the house for about 2 months the gardens needed some cleaning up.  I got my gardening tools, and gardening gloves and set to work. My 2 year old daughter loves being outside anyway but she wanted to help me garden.  After seeing how much she enjoyed it, I got her her own little gardening set. Several days have been spend for 30 min-45 min just gardening.  She was so content to sit with her gardening set, dig in the dirt, and water things for me.

Here in Pennsylvania, we’re lucky to be able to see such dramatic changes in each season. During fall, one of my favorite things is to see all the gorgeous fall colors in the trees and on the ground.  The golds, the reds, the oranges, and the browns. It’ so beautiful.  This is also one of my favorite times of year to walk some of the local nature trails.  As an added bonus, there’s a lot less bugs in the summer and the cooler air makes the walk less exhausting.

It’s amazing what the kids can find to do if you let them use their imaginations too.  I was outside cleaning up a bit.  I had them outside with me.  They were playing the the play set for a while, then I caught this scene.  My two youngest entertaining themselves for at least 20 minutes with sticks, mud, and leaves.

Most if not all the playgrounds are still open too. In fact, one of our local playgrounds just did an upgrade and the kids are itching to try them out.  Fall in PA can be unpredictable. It could be 38 degrees for a high one day, 2 days later it could be 68 degrees. Those 68 degree days, we definitely make sure we take full of advantage of them.  It’s supposed to be 68 on Tuesday I believe so that’s the day we’ll plan on checking out the new playground upgrades.

For those chilly fall nights we sometimes build a small fire outside.  We’ll sit around, roast marshmallows, talk to the kids about their day.  They enjoy it. My oldest son is real outdoorsy.  He likes to help my husband build the fire.

There’s always fall chores too like raking leaves.  I know, not very exciting, but it can be fun.  Seriously, look at this, tell me this doesn’t look like fun!

Don’t forget about heading out to your local school’s football games. Our school only charges a couple dollars to get in. You support your local school, the kids love seeing people in the stands cheering for them.  What could be better? My kids like to run around with other kids while we sit and watch the game too. So much better than sitting and watching tv.  This is from one of my oldest son’s junior high games.

I’m just starting to get used to fall and my kids are already wishing for the winter so they can go sled riding and make snowmen. But that’s another post!  For more ideas for year round play check out voiceofplay.org I encourage you to check it out.  If you have other fall play ideas comment here or tweet them to @Voice_of_play and @LuvSavingMoney with #YearRoundPlay