Fun in the (Fall) Sun

Sometimes it's hard to get your young ones to tear themselves away from their electronic gadgets long enough to go outside and enjoy a beautiful day. Help them unplug from the TV set by showing them there are entertaining things to do in the real world as well.

Start your day by using your senses to connect to the outdoors. Jennifer Basham, director of Adventure Wild Day Camp in Gresham, Ore., suggests a "Nature Sit." Have your child pick a spot he or she likes, perhaps under a tree. You can do this at a park, forest or even your backyard. Sit with her and take a minute or two to just look around. Then close your eyes and take a minute to listen, and then another to smell. Then talk about what you observed.

Art supplies abound in nature. Collecting leaves to make leaf rubbings is a simple way to create beautiful pictures, Basham says. Place a leaf under a piece of paper and rub over it with a crayon. Regular arts and craft projects take on a new dimension when you get the materials yourself from nature. Joanne Yoon-Choi, a teacher and mother of two, takes her kids out to collect pretty leaves and fat acorns, which they use to create centerpieces.

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Tom Weiss-Lehman, summer program director at Northshore YMCA in Seattle, says there's something special about seeing food cook over an open fire. Go beyond the usual hot dogs and s'mores. Weiss-Lehman suggests baking biscuits in aluminum foil. Experiment to find the right cooking time—an opportunity to hone your child's problem-solving skills.

Yoon-Choi takes her kids to a farmers market, where they select fruits and veggies together. If your children are old enough to work a camera (a simple point-and-shoot will do), this simple outing can turn into a photographic adventure. With all the colors and shapes, it will be fascinating to see the images your child creates. Weather permitting, head to the park to enjoy that fresh produce with an impromptu outdoor picnic.

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Don't throw out the egg shells from your breakfast omelette—rinse them out and have your children fill them with soil, planting a vegetable or flower seed inside. Your child can keep the planted eggshell on her windowsill until it's ready to re-plant outside. "It's a great way to create a little bit of nature inside your house," says Basham. The best part: When the plant is ready to go outdoors, just plant the whole thing, shell and all, into the ground. Just crack it first to facilitate root growth.

Another great idea from Basham to attract nature to you: Create a pine cone birdhouse. Have your kids gather pine cones. Choose a nice big one, and smother it with peanut butter. Then cover it with bird seed and hang it from a tree. Step back and get ready to watch the birds.

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For city moms, grab some sidewalk chalk and get your kids drawing outside. Of course, you'll want to pick a spot that's safe and won't impede foot traffic. Melissa Chang, a stay-at-home mom of two boys, does a variation of this with "deck painting." She gives her boys real paintbrushes, which they use to watercolor the deck.

If you have young children just learning their shapes, here's a special idea from Chang. She takes her boys on "Shape Walks," around the neighborhood, park, city or even on vacation. The mission is to find shapes. Circles, squares, triangles … and when that becomes too easy, start looking for parallelograms or a rhombus. That's not a stop sign you walked by; it's an octagon. You can also take "Letter Walks" and "Number Walks" to change up the game.