26 Fall Outdoor Activities To Enjoy

Fall Is Beautiful 

Every season seems to have a certain aesthetic associated with it. In winter, it’s the mountains of snow. Spring is often associated with April showers bringing May flowers. Summer has the vast warmth of the sun taking its full effect. With the fall season, you get the presence of leaves turning a large variety of colours as animals scurry around, getting ready for winter. While you also scurry around to get ready for winter, it’s important that you take some time and enjoy the unique activities that let fall give you a fun experience. 

The feel of fall is very distinct from other seasons, as leaves change colour, many fruits and vegetables are at their largest and ripest, and several entertainment companies that depend on warm weather are giving us their grand finale for the year. Here’s a list of ideas that you can use to spend a day taking advantage of these opportunities. 

Fall Outdoor Activities 

1. Attend A Fair 

A fair is a great fall outdoor activity that lets you take advantage of several entertaining activities all in one place. Often themed around being family-friendly, fairs are a natural fit for large groups with varying tastes. They provide fun sights to see, delicious food, games to play, and rides to go on, ensuring that there will almost certainly be something for everyone. 

2. Collect Fall Items  

While fall does provide you with the opportunity to collect leaves, there’s much more than that you can gather. Pinecones often pop up around this time of year and can certainly look impressive when gathered. You might also be able to collect acorns if you are able to beat the squirrels to them. 

Another fall outdoor activity you could do is leaf sorting. Find leaves on the ground and figure out, based purely on the shape of the leaves and those nearby, which tree they came from. 

3. Make Fall Crafts 

If you’re looking for fall outdoor activities to do with fall items you collect, you can turn them into little nature crafts. This can be a fun activity for kids, or if you want to feel like a kid again for a little while, you can do it yourself. Leaf crafts such as leaf crowns, decorating pinecones with little nick-nacks, and acorn designs, as well as combinations of these three, can make unique designs. 

4. Decorate Your Yard For Halloween 

The fall aesthetic is never complete without some Halloween feel, and decorating the outside of your home can be a fun fall outdoor activity. Why not think outside the box with your designs a little bit? Maybe you take your traditional skeleton and give him a hat and a whip, calling him “Indiana Bones.” Maybe you create tombstones with the names of your favourite fictional characters to grab the attention of people who walk by every day. Perhaps you can add other fall crafts that you made? The possibilities are endless, so let your imagination run wild. 

5. Have A Fall Photo Shoot 

Photos with your family and friends with the beauty of fall in the background and look great, and a photoshoot is the perfect way to take advantage of this. While you have the option of hiring a professional photographer if you want the best shots possible, there’s nothing wrong with a fun photoshoot where you take the pictures yourself. See how creative you can get when you combine people’s poses and the background of the shot. 

6. Jump In A Pile Of Leaves 

Let’s face it: you’re probably going to have to rake leaves at some point. While the raking part might not be fun, once you’re done getting a bunch of colourful leaves in a pile, feel free to recapture your childhood with a fall outdoor activity and jump in. Just make sure that the leaf pile is on a soft surface and there is nothing else in it before you jump onto it for safety purposes. 

7. Go Apple Picking 

Leaves aren’t the only things that come from trees that you can take advantage of in the fall. While there are many other fall outdoor activities to get fresh air and some exercise, many of which are on this list, very few of them come with the added advantage of having a bunch of healthy treats that’ll last. There are plenty of farms and apple orchards ready for your apple-picking adventures. Remember that you can also create some great recipes using fresh apples, as well as use them for the next activity mentioned. 

8. Bobbing For Apples 

This classic fall outdoor activity is often done around Halloween time and can make the apples you picked useful. This activity involves filling up a large tub or similar object with water and placing apples inside it. The players then must use exclusively their teeth to grab an apple. While traditionally played by children, there’s nothing stopping adults from doing this as well. 

9. Visit A Pumpkin Patch 

Another Halloween-themed fall outdoor activity that you can do in the fall is to go to a pumpkin patch. While these places often offer many alternative activities that you can also partake in, one of the largest is the opportunity to pick out a pumpkin to sit on your front porch for the season. These places will have plenty of these little orange fruits for you to choose from. Be sure to keep in mind what you want your final jack-o-lantern to look like. When the season winds down, you can also use the pumpkin in some delicious recipes, including the fall favourite pumpkin pie. 

10. See A Pumpkinferno 

While on the topic of jack-o-lanterns, a place where you can see plenty of them is a Pumpkinferno. For those unfamiliar, a Pumpkinferno is a fall outdoor activity where hundreds, maybe even thousands of jack-o-lanterns are lit up and displayed in a single area to create an area where guests can walk around to see some very impressive displays. These events, usually in the evening, can look spectacular as the jack-o-lanterns are created by some of the most talented local artists available. 

11. Attend A Sporting Event 

Fall is an exciting time for sports. Soccer season is up and running, football season has hit hard, and baseball season is in full swing. Whether you want to watch a casual pick-up game, spot the next big stars developing in the minors, or see the best of the best pros, cheering on your favourite team in person is an exciting fall outdoor activity, especially during the playoffs. You can even make a day of it and attend the tailgate or an afterparty. 

12. Play Outdoor Sports 

Even if you’re not a pro, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy the experience of playing a sport outdoors. If you’re on your own, there are solo activities you can do, like dribbling a soccer ball through some pylons or shooting some hoops on the playground. However, sports are a fall outdoor activity that’s usually more fun in groups, and there are a lot of creative ways to have makeshift equipment (hey, those two trees can mark the endzone). Grab a ball and hit the playground, the diamond, or the field and have some fun. 

13. Go For A Hayride 

 A hayride refers to a type of tour where a cart, wagon or similar vehicle filled with hay for the occupants to sit on is pulled by a truck or wagon. These are often found on farms, festivals or fairs, as well as other fall-themed events. 

14. Attend A Winery Or Oktoberfest 

If relaxing with a bit of alcohol is more your speed, the autumn months are the ideal time to do so. Wineries are often at their peak, and with them having so many plants on their property, they are beautiful to explore. They often have their own festivals, as well as the harvest atmosphere, which you can participate in. Ontario’s largest Oktoberfest, which is the second largest in the world, is held every year near Thanksgiving in Kitchener/Waterloo and is a fall outdoor activity that sticks close to its German roots. Whichever you choose to attend, it’s important to remember to drink responsibly. 

15. Visit A Corn Maze 

If you’re looking for a fall outdoor activity that challenges you to use your brain, a corn maze might be exactly what you’re looking for. Often only open on crisp fall days, your entire family can work together to try and escape a local corn maze. 

16. Go For A Colourful Hike 

A fun activity that lets you experience the crisp weather is often to go for a hike. This free activity lets you get some exercise, improves your connection with nature, and lets you see many beautiful colours. Just remember to add an extra layer if you’re expected to face some cooler weather. 

17. Enjoy A Bike Or ATV Trail 

If you want to hit the trail but want to do so with a bit more speed than you normally can on foot, using a vehicle designed to handle difficult terrain might just be the answer. Going for a final bike ride or taking your ATV out for one last spin before the winter is a great fall outdoor activity. Just ensure that you review your ATV safety tips before hitting the trail. 

18. Get Out On The Water 

If a land vehicle isn’t your thing, you might enjoy being on the water a bit more. Boating, canoeing and kayaking are all great ways to spend time with those closest to you. Be sure to know your boat safety tips so that you can enjoy the water without interruption. 

19. See The Salmon Run 

If you thought you loved being out on the water, just imagine how much a fish loves the water. In the fall, salmon return from the large ocean to the small rivers where they were born so that they can have children of their own. There are several places near rivers in Ontario where you can watch these brave fish go on their long migration journey, with September and October being the best time to check out this fall outdoor activity. 

20. Go Bird Watching During Migration 

Salmon aren’t the only creatures that travel extraordinarily far during the fall. Birds fly south to escape the cold Canadian winters so that instead of dealing with mounds of snow and ice, they can ‘tweet’ about their vacation in Mexico. Many of these species will be in their distinctive “V” formation to make themselves as a whole more aerodynamic. Several species of birds will make the trip, giving you a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colours to look up at while you enjoy this fall outdoor activity. 

21. Visit A Farm Or Zoo 

If you prefer to see animals up close and would rather have them sit calmly instead of going on the largest journey of their lives, a farm or zoo might be the fall outdoor activity you would want to try out. A farm often offers many of the activities mentioned above, such as hayrides and corn mazes, while a zoo offers you the chance to visit animals from all around the world in a single day, all in areas that simulate their natural environment. 

22. Camping 

This fall outdoor activity is a chance to get away from the city altogether. Whether you want to make a certain campsite your next RV destination or you want to take things a step further and rough it completely, as long as you keep in mind some camping safety tips, it can be a fun way to live among nature for a few days. 

23. Rent An Outdoor Cabin Or Cottage 

If you want a fall outdoor activity that has the benefits of being out in the wilderness and away from society but still want all the comforts of being at home, renting a cabin or cottage is a great idea. Cottage country is often near forests, making it the perfect place to experience the crisp autumn air and see beautiful leaves of all colours. The place you rent might have some activities, such as boating and ATVs, available, so make sure you research to find the right place for you. 

24. Have A Picnic Or BBQ 

Maybe getting up and running around isn’t your cup of tea. Maybe you prefer a fall outdoor activity that involves kicking back, talking with those closest to you, and forgetting about life’s troubles. In that case, a picnic or barbeque might be right up your alley. It’s up to you if you want to provide all the food as the host or do it potluck style, but either way, just focus on relaxing. 

25. Have A Campfire 

No other fall outdoor activity says a relaxing evening like s’mores on a campfire. As long as you know how to safely create a campfire, this shouldn’t be an issue, but it’s best to keep sand and water ready just to be on the safe side. 

26. Do Indoor Activities Outdoors 

Maybe you want to go outdoors, and there are some activities that you love doing indoors. Maybe you love reading, for example. There’s no better way to combine these two desires than by bringing these activities outdoors on a nice day, turning them into fall outdoor activities. 

Enjoy It While It Lasts 

Time for fall fun only lasts a brief amount of time, and it seems to get shorter every year. You might not be able to do every fall outdoor activity that you want to, but it’s more important to have a great time enjoying the things that you do rather than trying to complete an entire list for the sake of it. Do the activities that appeal most to you, and make sure you enjoy this beautiful season.