I love this time of year. The start of October, to me, means that it is now perfectly acceptable to get out the winter coats and put the sandpit back into the shed. No more hoping for a late summer - it's gone people, gone!

I also like autumn weather - blustery, windy days when all the kids seem to go a little bit crazy, bright sunny days to wrap up and go and kick some leaves and even the cold, rainy days are the prefect excuse to dig those neglected jigsaws out of the back of the toy box and spend some quality time with the kids.

In fact, autumn is a fantastic time of year for doing lots of indoor things, and one of our favourite things to do it make things from the autumnal things we collect outside. It's really simple and keeps everyone occupied for ages. First, pick a dry, (preferably sunny) afternoon, give the kids a bag each and go off collecting different coloured and shaped leaves, fallen twigs, pine cones, conkers, beech nuts, chestnuts - whatever takes your fancy - and take them all back to the house for some creative fun (get plenty while the weather is dry - you can keep a bag of stuff to use on other days).

We then use all our autumnal things to make things, such as a simple collage (give the kids some glue and a big piece of plain paper and leave them to it!), or, if you're feeling creative, why not make a Leaf Owl picture (draw the outline of an owl on a piece of coloured paper and use the leaves, nuts etc as the owls eyes, beak and feathers), or Leaf People (empty toilet roll holders with leaves stuck around the top for hair, googly eyes, or drawn on eyes, and stick arms). Leaf rubbing is another great activity (place the leaf under a piece of paper and rub over the paper with a crayon or pencil - the outline of the leaf will appear magically on the paper!). There are endless amounts of things you can create - with a bit of imagination and a healthy dose of patience, of course!

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