The transition to autumn is one of my favorite times of year.
I love getting out the puffy vests, cozy blankets, rakes and pumpkins. My feet are ready for wool socks and hiking boots. I love sleeping with the windows cracked for a crisp autumn air overnight. My hands and lips are ready for a warm beverage or beautiful bowl of steaming soup.
And something about this season calls out for family time. Here are some fun, cozy ways to enjoy autumn together as a family!
Fire & Food
Nothing beats sitting around a crackling fire. Forget streaming the latest content, I could binge a good fall fire anytime.
Because of our family’s love of camping and campfires, we have developed a reliable firestarter that has yet to fail us. We take a cardboard egg carton and cut it into the twelve cups; each cup gets filled with any combination of tinder. Our favorite fillers are dryer lint, sawdust, ripped-up newspaper, cotton balls and dry leaves. Once the cups are filled, we dip each in melted paraffin or candle wax to seal everything in and help the starter get our kindling going.
Allow the wax to dry and store until your next campfire. When ready to use, add the starter into the middle of your preferred log formation and light with a match or lighter; you will need a little kindling and some logs to get it going. Then enjoy!
It is hard to imagine having a campfire without cooking a little something over it. Our family favorite campfire foods include:
• Hush ’em ups: A salty sweet alternative to the classic s’mores. We use saltines or club crackers topped with a soft caramel. Add a roasted marshmallow and top with another cracker. So, so good.
• Pudgy pies: We make both savory and sweet pudgy pies. Our savory options are usually fancied-up grilled cheese sandwiches or pocket pizzas. For grilled cheeses, we lay in a buttered (or mayonnaise-ed) piece of bread — wet side down on the pudgy pie iron — and fill with cheeses, spreads and condiments. Top it off with another slice of buttered or mayonnaise-ed bread and hold over the fire checking every few minutes for a golden, gooey pie! For pocket pizzas, we use pizza dough (Trader Joes’ is a reliable hit if we don’t make our own) on both sides of the iron, fill with pizza toppings and press the dough sides together to make a sealed pocket before cooking. Pudgy pie irons are a great way to cook up cookie dough over the fire, or make a classic fruit pie with canned pie filling and dough, much like the pizzas.
• Campfire breadsticks: An easier option that our summer camp kids love to make and eat! Start with a roasting stick — or make your own by peeling/whittling a stick from the woods. Take breadstick dough (the refrigerated tube kind tends to work really well) and wrap a stick’s worth of dough in a twist around your roasting stick. Hold it over a nice hot coal fire (cooking in big/early flames can result in a burnt, doughy mess), turning it to get all sides golden and crispy. They are great to slip off the stick and eat as is, or add in any number of sauces or toppings — pizza sauce, pesto, jam, butter, cinnamon sugar or anything else that strikes your fancy.
Cozy Creations
Whether it’s around the fire, around the house, or in your favorite park, autumn’s bounty calls out for crafting!
There are so many fun crafts with fallen leaves — mandalas, rubbings, pressings, sun catchers, crowns and more. But my favorite autumn nature treasures to use in crafting are acorns; or more specifically acorn caps!
I leave the seeds for forest friends and bring home the caps for my fun. Acorn caps make adorable little hats on peg dolls and other small friends. We also use them in outdoor math work.
But the kids’ favorite thing to do with acorn caps is to make felted wool acorns! Take wool roving — we like to get a candy bag of colors — and roll into a loose ball. Add in foamy soap to the wool and rub in your hands in circular motion, just like if you were making a ball with clay or playdough. Keep rolling until the wool felts into a tight ball. Attach an acorn cap with little tacky glue or hot glue. The completed felted acorns make very sweet ornaments, lovely decorations, fun additions to a mud kitchen and more.
Books & Blankets
Fall is my favorite time to snuggle up under a blanket with a stack of good books!
Here are some favorite picture books:
• Lawrence in the Fall by Matthew Farina
• Shelter by Céline Claire
• Thanksgiving in the Woods by Phyllis Alsdurf
• A Fall Ball for All by Jamie A. Swenson
• Sophie’s Squash by Pat Zietlow Miller
And for all of us adults who need a little encouragement to continue getting outside as the days shorten and weather cools:
• There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom’s Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge) by Linda Åkeson McGurk
– Lee Alliet
Photos by Lee Alliet.
Lee Alliet is a co-founder of Naturing in Madison, a wildschooling mama and an outdoor enthusiast. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two kids and many dogs. You can follow her outdoor adventures at @naturinginmadison and @adventureschoolingalliets.