In late September through October and November colourful trees and fallen leaves can be found in National Trust gardens and parks as well as in back gardens, city parks and along tree lined streets. And these trees can be a brilliant invitation to play and can help start conversations about the changing season.
You could collect and arrange fallen leaves by colour. Starting with the lightest shades like green and yellow and moving onto the darkest oranges, reds and purples. You could create a leaf collage by sticking them to paper or arrange them by size or shape on the ground.
Leaves also make wonderful decorations; you can tie their stems between string to create leaf bunting or paint their bumpy grooves and veins and use them as printing blocks. Golden leaves are perfect for nature crowns, just measure a piece of card around your head before you go out and remember to pack your glue too.
Beneath towering trees there’s an equally magical world of gnarled trunks, tangled roots and colourful fungi. Remember mushrooms and fungi can be dangerous so just look, don’t touch.
Celebrate the mystery and folklore associated with trees by imagining fantastical creatures who might live in the tree’s dark nooks and hidden crannies or explore how tree trunks have different textures and shapes by take rubbings using paper and crayons.
Small twigs and pinecones can often be found on the floor around trees and can inspire all sorts of play. And can be used to introduce explorations of shape, texture, movement and sound. How do twigs and pinecones feel? Can they be stacked or rolled? Do they crunch or snap? They also make great mark makers and can be swirled in mud and puddles.
Autumn is also the time of year when many shrubs, bushes and trees bear fruit, and lots of National Trust places have walled gardens or orchards with apple, pear and plum trees. These places often celebrate their apple harvest with special Apple Day events with fruit picking, juicing and tasting opportunities. You might also spot fruit trees growing on city farms, in community gardens and allotments, with many of these places celebrating Apple Day too.
You could use fruit trees and blackberries, which are often found growing in hedgerows in local parks and near roadsides, as an opportunity to talk about the types of creatures who might eat this type of food, such as birds and insects. You could also talk together about how these fruits can be found in many popular foods such as jams, biscuits, pies and crumbles.
From mid-September, in celebration of the new season, the National Trust is giving away a limited number of free visit passes for entry to select places throughout the autumn months, giving more families the opportunity to experience nature, beauty and history.
To claim your free pass, visit: nationaltrust.org.uk/autumn
Terms and conditions apply
