Autumn Break with Young Children
Helpful tips + Free and low-cost ideas for the first holiday of the school year.
In many parts of the world, parents and children are preparing for the first school break of the year.
School holidays of any length can be a welcome break from busy schedules but on the flip side, they can turn into just another thing that has to be planned and organised.
There can be pressure to make the school holidays fun and memorable with endless trips and activities. Sometimes this can make you feel like you are upending the contents of your wallet to throw money at the problem.
For my part, I am READY for the break. As we have limped doggedly towards the end of the first term, things have gotten more intense. A Special assembly , 30th Anniversary Celebrations for the School, a dance performance to rehearse and a Halloween extravaganza to prepare for are a recipe for super-excited children and totally exhausted parents. We are very much in need of some down-time, especially since this is my youngest child’s first ever time at school.
When I polled my Instagram audience recently, I found that 66% have either a long weekend or week-long break from school (in fact, some event messaged to say they had two week off.)
And if you’re not getting any holiday time, do keep reading anyway. Plenty of these ideas can be used on weekends and the advice can be applied to other school holidays throughout the year.
But what to do? Lots of things cost a lot of money these days so every day of the holidays can’t be an extravaganza.
Here’s my advice:
Whilst there are historical reasons why children in many parts of the world get a break from school during the Autumn season - a subscriber in Scotland told me the children get a two week break as it was originally for the children to help with potato harvesting season - it’s undeniable that children really need a break from school so that they can recharge.
School is intense.
Children need to focus for long periods each day - and for some, this is their first ever experience in a classroom setting.
Don’t feel guilty about your child being bored.
You are not an entertainer and you do not need to make every single hour of your day non-stop fun.
Boredom is in fact good for children. It helps breed creativity and allows children to play freely.
Children need to have the space to play independently.
Child-led play is an important part of growth and development - it’s how children learn best. You can read more about it here.
Slow down and hold space for childhood wonder
There’s nothing wrong with a leisurely Autumn walk around your local neighbourhood. For a child, there’s so much space for joy and wonder in the everyday: a ‘weird’ shaped leaf or a tiny flower growing out of a pavement crack can be magical to a child.
Some useful tips to help you navigate the holiday:
Consider the break as a week-long rhythm
Planning out your week to include a mix of free activities and trips. Try to spread out bigger trips where possible so that you aren’t doing intense activities back-to-back.
Aim to have a focal point to your activities each day without scheduling in too much.
This might look like:
Monday - play date
Tuesday - trip to the museum
Wednesday - art
Thursday - family hike
Friday - family movie night
Saturday - Halloween party
Sunday - baking
You can find some Autumn Break Ideas at the end of this article.
Host a family meeting to decide on key events you want to attend or activities you really want to do.
Sometimes we can assume that our children want to do big trips every single day but the reality might be different.
When I asked my children what they wanted to do, they came up with the following:
playing football in the park
going to the ‘little park’
make a jack-o-lantern
do art together
visit the open gardens with the ‘cool’ playground
play together
visit the children’s museum
dress up for Halloween and do a treasure hunt
Only a few of these things will need to be paid for.
Use the definitely / maybe downloadable resource (at the end of this article) to help you plan out your week.
Keep anchor points in your day as consistent as possible.
Having a daily rhythm really helps children to understand when they can play and when it’s time to do other activities.
On a normal day or week, this might be easy to achieve but when your child is out of their usual routine, things can get a little trickier to manage.
For the week that your child is away from school, try to keep anchor points the same each day.
Here’s some examples:
Going outside to play after lunch each day
Doing your daily focus activity in the morning after breakfast
Playing together after snack time in the afternoon
Having screen-time for 30 minutes in the afternoon before dinner.
Helpful Play Prompts & Resources
30 Days of Outdoor Play Challenge (free to all subscribers).
Autumn Break prompts - free to all subscribers and featured below.
Definitely / Maybe list for Family Meetings - free to all subscribers and featured below.
Helpful Articles:
If you’re going on a holiday, read Travel with Kids: 5 Tips from an Expat Family of 5
Autumn Rhythms - to get additional ideas for the break
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