10 autumn tracing and nature activities for October

October is a gift for little learners: everything outside is changing and begging to be collected. Here are ten ideas, most needing nothing more than a walk and a pencil.

1. Leaf outlines. Lay a leaf on paper, trace round it, then trace the outline again in a different colour.
2. Conker counting. Count conkers into egg-box cups and trace the number on each cup.
3. Rubbings. Bark and leaf rubbings with the side of a crayon build grip strength.
4. The letter L hunt. How many things beginning with "l" can you find? Leaf, log, ladybird, lane.
5. Wavy wind lines. On a breezy day, watch the trees and trace wavy lines across a page.
6. Seed sorting. Sort acorns, sycamore helicopters and beech nuts by size.
7. Autumn name art. Write your child's name in dotted letters and decorate it with tiny torn leaves.
8. Pumpkin shapes. Spot circles, triangles and curves in a carved pumpkin, then draw them.
9. Weather chart. Draw a symbol each morning and count the rainy days at the end of the month.
10. Bedtime shadow tracing. With darker evenings, shine a torch on a toy and trace its shadow.

Try our free tracing sheet maker to print a dotted-letter page with your child's name, and look out for next month's ideas in November.