October has arrived and autumn is no longer just beginning.
The trees are changing almost daily, the mornings have a chill to them and by the end of the month the clocks will have changed and we'll all be wondering quite how it became dark so early.
It's also one of the most atmospheric months of the year to be a child.
There are pumpkins in fields, enormous piles of leaves, misty mornings, harvest food and the novelty of being allowed outside after dark.
So this month's list isn't about filling the diary. It's about embracing the things that belong particularly to October.
Here are ten to choose from.
1. Pick Your Own Pumpkin
There is something wonderfully ridiculous about wandering around a field looking for the perfect pumpkin.
Pull on the wellies, grab a wheelbarrow and let everyone choose their own — enormous, miniature, beautifully round or magnificently wonky.
Make a day of it rather than simply treating it as a Halloween errand. Take photographs, have lunch somewhere nearby and come home muddy.
Then keep your pumpkins somewhere cool until you're ready to carve them.
BINKY IDEA: Give children their own camera and let them document the day from their perspective pumpkins, muddy boots, wheelbarrows and all, enjoy autumnal golden hours with the perfect light for those family pictures.
FIND THE BEST PUMPKIN PATCH NEAR YOU THIS YEAR →
2. Watch the Sun Go Down
This is a lovely one for children who are usually tucked up long before sunset during the summer.
Choose somewhere with a good view, take blankets and something warm to drink and go specifically to watch the sun disappear.
Notice what happens as the light changes.
Which colours can you see?
When does the first star appear?
Can you spot the moon?
Which animals or birds suddenly become more noticeable?
Then get the torches out for the walk home.
It's incredibly simple, but going somewhere specifically to watch it become dark feels rather magical when you're little.
3. Go Stargazing
October's earlier darkness has one rather wonderful advantage: children can actually look at the night sky without staying up until midnight.
Choose a clear evening, turn off the garden lights and give your eyes a few minutes to adjust.
Start simply.
Find the moon. Look for the brightest stars. See whether you can spot a satellite moving slowly across the sky.
Older children might enjoy using a stargazing app to work out exactly what they're looking at.
And if you're somewhere properly dark, take blankets outside and lie down.
BINKY PICK: Binoculars aren't only for daytime adventures. Our Zoo Eyes children's binoculars are an easy way to encourage curious little observers to start looking more closely at the world around them.
DISCOVER BINOCULARS & EXPLORER TOYS →
4. Go Looking for the First Signs of Halloween
One of the nicest things about October is watching Halloween slowly appear.
Take a walk around your neighbourhood and see who can spot the first pumpkin on a doorstep, a cobweb in a window or something spooky hanging from a tree.
As the month goes on, make the same walk again and see how much has changed.
Let children photograph their favourites, choose the house they'd most like to visit on Halloween and award completely unofficial prizes for funniest, spookiest and most wonderfully over-the-top.
It's a simple way to turn an ordinary walk into something they genuinely want to do — particularly as the evenings start getting darker.
BINKY PICK: Take a kids' camera along and let them create their own little photographic record of Halloween arriving in their neighbourhood.
5. Make an October Supper
September was about apple picking and baking, October deserves something altogether heartier.
Choose one properly seasonal supper and make it together. Pumpkin or squash soup. Jacket potatoes with everyone's favourite toppings. Sausages and mash. Homemade bread. A bubbling fruit crumble, Gingerbread or even home made toffee apples or some sort of halloween bake.
Let children help choose the menu and give them proper jobs rather than ceremonial stirring. Then eat it with the curtains closed, candles or lamps on and nowhere else to be.
Sometimes marking the season can be as simple as changing what appears on the table.
6. Have a Family Swap Shop
October is a very good moment to tackle the things children have quietly grown out of before winter: Clothes, books, toys, games, dressing-up things..... instead of simply having a clear-out, turn it into a swap shop.
Get together with a few families, let everyone bring good things they no longer need and allow the children to choose something new-to-them to take home. Anything left can be donated.
It's a lovely way to talk about passing things on, looking after what we own and discovering that something doesn't have to be brand new to feel exciting.
And, conveniently, you might reclaim a little space before the end of the year.
7. Go Somewhere by Torchlight
This isn't an ordinary walk with a torch.
Find somewhere that becomes a completely different experience after dark.
A lantern trail. An illuminated garden. An evening nature walk. A historic building with an after-hours family event. A sculpture trail after sunset.
October is when a whole new category of family outing suddenly becomes possible.
Children experience familiar spaces completely differently when the lights go down — and there's something deliciously exciting about being out somewhere when they would normally be heading home.
BINKY PICK: A pair of walkie-talkies can turn even the walk back to the car into part of the expedition.
08. Start a Family Time Capsule
October is a lovely month for taking stock.
Find a box and ask everyone to contribute something that represents life right now.
- A photograph.
- A drawing.
- A cinema ticket.
- A little note about their favourite song.
- Their current favourite food.
- Something funny they've said.
- A list of their best friends.
- A handprint.
- A prediction about what they'll be doing this time next year.
- Write
DO NOT OPEN UNTIL OCTOBER 2027 on the top and put it away, then forget about it.
This time next year, opening it will be extraordinary, and if you make it an October tradition, you'll gradually create a tiny archive of family life.
9. Go to a Harvest Festival or Apple Day
Before everything becomes about pumpkins and Halloween, October is still very much a harvest month.
Look for an Apple Day, harvest festival, farm event or food celebration near you.
Children can discover unusual apple varieties, see pressing and juicing, try seasonal food and get a much better sense of what actually grows at this time of year.
Apple Day itself is celebrated around 21 October, with events taking place around the country throughout the month. It's one of those slightly old-fashioned seasonal traditions we think deserves keeping.
10. Do Something After Dark That You Normally Do in Daylight
Take the scooters out | Visit the playground | Have hot chocolate in the garden | Play hide-and-seek with torches |Eat supper outside under blankets.
October changes completely once the sun goes down, and sometimes the easiest way to make an ordinary activity feel exciting is simply to do it at the wrong time of day.
Just remember that darker evenings mean being seen matters too.
Bright clothing, reflectors and lights all help when children are outside around roads.
BINKY PICK: We particularly love the Scoot & Ride Highwaykick 3S with LED wheels. The wheels light up as they move, making an already brilliant scooter particularly fun as the afternoons get darker.
DISCOVER SCOOT & RIDE →
And Then There Is Half Term…
We've deliberately left Halloween crafts, Boo Boxes and half-term entertainment off this list.
Because they deserve a list of their own.
From one exhibition we really don't think you should miss to things to make, places to go and ideas for those inevitable rainy afternoons, we've gathered them all together in our Binky Halloween & Half-Term Guide.
READ NEXT: HALLOWEEN & HALF TERM — THINGS TO DO, MAKE & DISCOVER →
And if you're spending more time in the garden this month, there's one other October job we'd encourage you not to do:
Don't tidy quite so much.
Our little guide to making space for hibernating and overwintering wildlife explains why those piles of leaves, old stems and forgotten corners can be far more useful than they look.
READ: MAKE SPACE FOR SOMEONE SMALL, HELPING WILDLIFE THIS AUTUMN →
Enjoy October
Pick a pumpkin. Watch the sunset. Eat something warm. Stay outside after dark.
You certainly don't need to do all ten, choose the things that feel right for your family and leave plenty of space between them; because the best thing about October isn't really how much there is to do.
It's how different the ordinary things suddenly feel.
