A lovely seasonal Blog of the Week from Bakes Books and my Boys, packed with some fab ideas for getting out and making the most of autumn with all its colours and beauty. Chosen from all the fabulous post on our Parent Bloggers Network this week.

Do share your favourite autumnal makes and bakes with us too.

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After a bit of a dismal summer the temptation to hibernate until spring is very tempting but impossible when you have youngsters! In fact this time of year is one of the best to go and out explore and spent the days investigating the countryside.

1: Picnic

Regardless of where you go or what you do take an autumnal picnic with you! It sounds bizarre I know but personally I think an autumn picnic beats a summer one hands down! For a start no wasps!! So fill up some flask with hot soup, pack some crusty rolls and juice and off you go! If you don’t have a rug there are plenty of benches or fallen trees at this time of year to cop a perch and watch the animals scurry around while you sip your hot soup

2: Kick up the leaves!

Or at the very least go and explore a local wood! The woodlands trust has some amazing prints off you can use from a treasure hunting pack to conkers through to a spooky pack. Take a lot at some of these here http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/autumn/

3: Make an autumn wreath

Start your skills now ready for winter and cheer up your front door at the same time.Get some nice stiff card and cut in a circle shape. Then on a walk through the woods collect as many bright and colour leaves as possible and also collect some acorns and fir cones.

When you get back allow the leaves to dry (with this weather bound to be slightly damp) While the leaves are drying you can if you want a sparkly wreath get some gold spray and spray the edges of the fir cones gold. These will look pretty dramatic as they open and close depending on the weather so your wreath will look different every day.

Once everything is dry start gluing! We tend to use a glue gun but there’s some amazingly strong glues out there you can use instead and get gluing!

4: Leaf rubbing

Collect fall leaves of all shapes and sizes as you explore the countryside. On a piece of plain white paper, position leaves vein side up in a pattern that you find pleasing. Lay another sheet of plain white paper over the top of the leaves. Select the crayons that you would like to use to create your rubbing and peel off the paper wrappers. Turn a crayon on its side and gently rub over the top sheet of paper. The leaf images will magically appear on the paper! Experiment with different crayon colours and leaf. Great fun! Why not cut them out later and thread on string for some Autumn bunting?

5: Pick your own and make a crumble

Ingredients

• 4oz/100g SR Flour
  2oz/50g Margarine
  1oz/25g Granulated Sugar
  2 Medium cooking apples
  Caster sugar to sweeten the fruit
  Small foil dishes/or medium sized Pyrex bowl will do.

If you are able to pick some blackberries with the children they can be added to the apple for a more tasty and colourful filling.
(other fruit can be used such as peaches, raspberries)

Method

To make the crumble, rub the margarine into the flour, the children will enjoy taking turns in doing this. Add the granulated sugar and stir until it is well mixed and then set to one side.

Prepare the apples by peeling and cutting them into small pieces, letting the children help where appropriate. If using blackberries or raspberries, wash thoroughly before adding to the apples.

Fill each foil case ¾ full with the apple and blackberries and then sprinkle with a heaped teaspoonful of caster sugar. Cover the fruit with the crumble mix and press down gently.

Cook at 180°C for 20 minutes or until crumble is golden brown.

Care should be taken when taking the dishes out of the oven as the fruit juice may bubble at the edges and become very hot.

Pumpkin Pie Play dough

Materials

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, all spices) should be able to buy in shops
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup water
• Food colouring (we used 6 drops of red and 15 drops of yellow)

Instructions

Combine the dry ingredients in a non-stick saucepan. Add the oil, water, and food colouring and whisk until smooth. Stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, cook the mixture over medium heat until it forms a ball, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a counter, let it cool slightly, then knead the dough until it has a smooth texture, about 1 minute. The dough will keep up to a week in a sandwich bag.

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If you have been inspired by these autumnal ideas find loads more great makes and dos over on Netmums. 

Check out our Autumn fun gallery, full of fantastic ideas and our Autumn pages which are packed full of crafts, food ideas and more.

And don’t forget to check out the Netmums Halloween Guide too!