Simple Fall Traditions Create Memories
Crisp, cool air. Soft, snuggly sweaters. Little faces basking in falling leaves, scampering squirrels and fascinating changes all around them. Fall is a magical time to be a toddler (and to be around one, as well). It is tempting to fill your calendar with a flurry of activity to soak in the best of the season. But, in reality, it may be the little things, slow-paced and scaled down, that will echo into memory as the most meaningful, the most special.
Take a Dawdle Walk
Embrace the cool, inviting mornings with short walks, paced by your little one and paused as needed for pint-sized curiosity. Be it your own neighborhood, a well-trodden path at your favorite park or a new patch of wilderness, there are endless things to see through the searching, sparkling eyes of a young child.
As energy or enjoyment wanes, be prepared with some snacks and a swift exit plan. You’ll likely end your adventure with a pocket full of acorns, a few pictures of your little guide in soft autumn light and a sleepy, snuggling kiddo. You may find that your child begins to ask for or anticipate these walks, creating a little ritual for you both to cherish.
Where to go:
My recommendation for a paved, brief and scenic walk would be Ray Harral Nature Center in Broken Arrow. It’s nigh impossible to get lost, it’s stroller friendly, and you really do feel surrounded by nature, if only for a short jaunt.
Sample the Season
Fall foods are often a facet of the season highly anticipated by adults and, given consideration for ages and stages, there is no reason your child should not develop their own relationship with squashes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins and all of your family’s favorites. Choose a simple item and split it over your favorite beverages. Chink your coffee mug with their sippy of milk and label what you are eating. Show pictures of the food, read a book featuring them or draw it together. You’ll end up experiencing this exciting new thing with multiple senses, sparking endless connections in your child’s tiny, fabulous brain.
And if they don’t like the food, that’s OK. Practice a new favorite word like “yucky,” “don’t like it” or “no, thank you” as you playfully put the offending edibles away. It may take multiple exposures for new food to be accepted, and that’s OK. You’ve got time.
Where to go:
My children still gleefully help me demolish a vegan pumpkin muffin from Coffee House on Cherry Street. They even call CHOCS “that place with the muffins.”
Go on the Hunt
A particular soft spot in my own heart is the noble pursuit of squirrel spotting, especially with small children. Whether from a perch by a window or out in the wild, the furry scurry of those strange friendly critters never fails to inspire a “whoa,” the point of a chubby finger or even a burst of vocabulary like “Wha dat?” You’ll never be bored watching your little critter follow the darting and jaunty comings and goings of squirrels. Naming them, describing their activity and finding them in literature at the library or in short videos online can deepen the dive and provide hours and hours of delightful, brain-building memories with your favorite snack-sized scientist.
Where to go:
Excellent parks for these pursuits include Woodward Park, Hunter Park and the Gathering Place.
Simple Gifts
Finally, an example of a fall tradition close to my heart comes from my grandmother. She would take us out and help us spot colorful leaves. When we would select one we liked best and hand it to her, she always clutched her heart and exclaimed, “My goodness! Look at that!” She described the colors and how the leaf felt in her hands. She would ask if she could keep it, and we would nearly always acquiesce, knowing she truly valued the present. Even if we were not with her at the time, all her grandchildren would collect leaves they felt she would like and present them to her, write her letters describing them or call her on the phone to chat with her about it. I don’t know what she did with them, but she treated each little gift like a precious and meaningful gesture.
How strong is this neural link in my mind? To this day, even as I approach my fourth decade of life, I still find myself looking for and collecting leaves for Grandma Pat, tucking them into my pockets or taking a photo of them as I feel her smiling in my heart. She’s not here anymore, but when I find a new specimen, she’s with me again. I hope one day that my children have a similar memory to call back when I am not with them anymore.
May these ideas inspire you as you find small pleasures, simple rituals and gentle traditions to create a legacy of love and joy for years to come.
Alicia Kobilnyk is an Early Childhood Educator who works with young toddlers. She finds joy and inspiration to write in their cheeky shenanigans, as well as those of her three daughters.
