Have a Fall Day!

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years." Genesis 1:14I have always been a lover or all the seasons, but particularly the transition seasons- spring and fall. I have taken many walks in early fall when the sky is a brilliant blue and the air is crystal clear, and you can feel a crispness in the air, and I have just thanked God and praised Him for the seasons and for allowing me to live in a place where we can experience the cold and the hot and the in-betweens.
Every year my kids and I look very much forward to fall. The first tree to turn colors in our backyard is always very much admired, and the anticipation of trips to the apple orchard or pumpkin patch begin to swell. A pair of jeans and a comfy sweatshirt seem to call from the bottom of the drawer to be brought out again for another season of snuggling into their warmth. I've already made the first pumpkin pie of the season, and will soon be adding soups and stews to my weekly menus once again.

For the past 3 years now, I have had a special "Fall Day" with my kids. (ages 5 and 3)
We set aside a day in early fall to simply do "fall things". So, instead of schoolwork, we make fall crafts, such as a construction paper tree filled with leaves made out of small multi-colored construction paper squares, or fingerprints using finger paints. Sometimes I'll find a clip-art picture of a leaf, print it and cut it out. One year we covered it in Red glitter and hung it on the refrigerator. This year, we painted the leaf, then glued it to a rectangular piece of construction paper and wrote "God Made Fall" above it. Then we made a hole in the top of the paper, and hung it with a piece of string.
We always make "Fall Cookies" on that day. Just sugar cookies, cut out as pumpkins and leaves, iced with butter cream frosting and decorated with fall-colored sprinkles.
Often on our fall day we'll take a trip to the playground, or if the leaves have already turned, we'll go out and look for some special leaves and press them between wax paper with an iron, and hang them on the door.
None of what we do is extraordinary, and it is all very inexpensive. And really, we repeat some of the crafts each year, but those tend to be the ones that my kids seem to look forward to the most. Kids love the simple things.
The purpose isn't to make it a complicated day filled with lots of confusing and time consuming projects. The point is to set aside the day to enjoy a special time of year that God created for us, to have fun with each other by doing some different things, having a day off of school. It doesn't have to be a huge project.- just some simple fun together.
So, think of some "fallish" things to do with your kids and enjoy a "Fall Day"!