Celebrating the Autumn Equinox

Autumn officially begins around the 22nd of September, the Autumn Equinox, when day and night sit in perfect balance. From here, the days shorten and the nights lengthen, all the way through to the shortest day of the year at the Winter Solstice in December. It’s a lovely natural moment to engage the senses, have some fun outdoors, and build a few family rituals of your own.

Have fun with your children during the Autumn Equinox

Find the trees near you, and collect and identify the leaves you find along the way. Bring them home to make leaf people, leaf collages, or use them for printing. A leaf headdress is another lovely one, an old idea, but genuinely still fun for children of almost any age.

A few more ideas to try together: set your child a simple scavenger hunt, a red leaf, a conker, an acorn, something spiky, something soft, and see what they find. Press a few favourite leaves between the pages of a heavy book, they’ll flatten and dry over a couple of weeks, ready for a collage or a homemade bookmark later. If you fancy something in the kitchen, a simple apple crumble or roasted squash uses exactly what’s in season right now, and gets your child genuinely involved if they help with the peeling or stirring.

Have a sensory table full of Autumn riches

A little history

The equinox, can be a lovely, gentle opportunity to talk with your child about endings and beginnings, without it needing to feel heavy or abstract. Trees don’t lose their leaves because something’s gone wrong. They let go on purpose, to rest and conserve energy through the colder months, ready to grow again in spring. That’s a genuinely useful, simple idea for children to sit with, that letting go, and slowing down, isn’t a loss, it’s part of a natural cycle that comes round again.

For younger children, this can be as simple as noticing together, “look, the tree is getting ready for its rest now.” For older children, it can open into something a little deeper, that our own lives have seasons too, busier times and quieter times. Both are genuinely needed.

A seasonal transition, felt in the body

Autumn is, in its own quiet way, a transition, just as real as any other your child goes through, even if it moves more slowly than starting school or a house move. The body genuinely feels this shift. As the light changes, our internal rhythm changes with it, and it’s completely normal for sleep to shift a little too, energy dipping earlier in the evening, mornings feeling harder to greet, everyone a touch more tired than the height of summer.

We’ve largely lost the rituals earlier generations once used to mark this passage, but the body doesn’t know that. It still moves through the same seasonal pull, whether we consciously honour it or not. This is really the beginning of a slow move into wintering. The season for turning gently inward, for more rest, more warmth, a little less energy asked of everyone. Rather than pushing against that shift, it can help to lean into it a little. Try an earlier bedtime, a softer pace, permission for everyone in the family to simply need a bit more rest as the year turns.

A gentle family tradition

None of this needs to be elaborate. A walk to collect leaves, a simple craft together, a moment to notice the changing light. That’s genuinely enough to mark the season and build something your family looks forward to each year.

Host a light parade through your street

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Free resources

Understanding Your Child’s Guard Dog Brain explains what is happening in your child’s nervous system when big feelings take over.

Holding in the Storm is about staying steady as a parent in the hard moments.

When Darkness Comes includes specific support for sleep difficulties and anxiety at night.

All free to download.