Autumn activities – Seasonal writing ideas for your classroom

Autumn activities are a useful starting point for exploring seasonal change, developing descriptive vocabulary and getting children to look more closely at the world around them.

The autumn activities below offer opportunities for pupils to:

• explore the sights, sounds, smells and textures of autumn
• observe changes in the natural world and the weather
• develop descriptive vocabulary and writing skills
• experiment with poetry and non-fiction writing
• compare how the seasons change
• practise grammar and vocabulary in meaningful contexts
• explore autumn through activities at school and at home

You can use these autumn activities throughout the autumn term, whether you’re looking for a starting point for a seasonal topic, a writing activity or something to keep pupils busy during half-term.

KS1 autumn activities

Explore autumn with the senses

For pupils in Years 1 and 2, autumn provides a great opportunity to get outside and use their senses to explore seasonal change.

Our KS1 Autumn descriptive writing pack encourages pupils to identify how the weather changes during autumn and use their senses to describe what they see, hear, smell and feel.

Pupils can explore images in the resource or head outside into the school grounds or local area before using their observations to write a short description of autumn.

Write an autumn poem

Our Year 1 Autumn writing unit takes a more creative approach, using a list poem by published children’s author Joshua Seigal as a springboard for exploring language and the senses.

Pupils begin with an autumn walk, recording what they can see, hear, smell and feel. They then explore the model poem, investigate new vocabulary and look at how sensory details can bring writing to life.

As the unit progresses, pupils plan and write their own list poems about autumn or another season. Along the way, they’ll practise using adjectives, dividing words into syllables, composing sentences orally and punctuating their writing.

The unit also links with geography and science, giving pupils opportunities to explore seasonal changes, weather patterns and the senses.

Investigate autumn changes

Our Year 1 Autumn Changes writing unit uses a simple non-chronological report to explore what pupils might notice during autumn.

Pupils can begin by taking a short walk around the school grounds or looking at autumnal images. They’ll discuss what they notice, learn new vocabulary and use their observations to contribute to a class book about autumn.

The activities cover sentence construction, punctuation and vocabulary while linking with science and geography. Pupils can write about trees, plants, weather and animals, using headings to organise their work.

LKS2 autumn activities

Describe a pumpkin patch

For pupils in Years 3 and 4, our expanded noun phrases autumn writing pack uses a pumpkin patch as the setting for a focused writing activity.

Pupils will create expanded noun phrases to describe the scene, using determiners, adjectives, modifying nouns and prepositional phrases. They can then use their ideas as the basis for descriptive writing.

You can also use this resource alongside work on harvest or Halloween.

Compare summer and autumn

Our KS2 autumn descriptive writing pack uses a scarecrow to help pupils explore the contrast between summer and autumn.

Pupils will look at images of a scarecrow in the two seasons and use antonyms to show how the setting has changed. They’ll then write a recount from the scarecrow’s point of view, using the supplied story opening as inspiration.

Autumn activities for home learning

Autumn learning doesn’t have to stop at the classroom door. Our KS1 20 Autumn Challenges and KS2 20 Autumn Challenges give pupils seasonal activities to complete at home during the autumn half-term.

The activities encourage children to be creative, explore the world around them and keep learning outside the classroom.

Set them as a half-term activity or use them as an ongoing homework task during the autumn term.