Family Fun Ideas in September

Here is my inspiration list for family fun ideas in September. This also includes a bit of what we’re planning on learning in September. I hope it inspires you. 

Holidays and Special Dates 

• Labor Day is September 5
• Full moon is September 10 (Harvest)
• Grandparents Days is September 11
• Hispanic Heritage Month begins September 15
• First day of Fall (fall equinox) is September 22  

For family friendly ongoing and annual events to check out in the Seattle area, ParentMap has a great event calendar:  Family Fun Calendar | Seattle + Puget Sound Activities for Kids | ParentMap

Tip: check out your local library system for free events for the whole family. 

Make (food)

I’m a big fan of routine and having themed food days during the week takes a lot of guesswork out of the question “what are we eating?” Here are some of the ones that have worked for us:

• Food themed days of the week
  • Sunday: special treats for breakfast – pancakes, waffles, French toast
  • Monday: Mac & Cheese for lunch
  • Tuesday: picnic lunches – great for co-op and field trip days
    • We’ll be making these for grab and go breakfasts: Nutty chocolate banana breakfast cookies – My Inspired Homeschool
  • Wednesday: oatmeal with various mix-ins for breakfast
  • Thursday: teatime treats for poetry teatime
    • Sweet and spicy tea, cookies, chocolate-orange biscotti, banana bread and chocolate cake
  • Friday: homemade pizza with popcorn for dinner + family movie night
    • Other treats: popped sorghum, apple cider donuts, apple butter, apple pie ice cream
    • Tip: head to Trader Joe’s to find unique snacks and treats for the season
  • Saturday: date night fun (kids get special treat like pasta, grownups order delivery)

Make (crafts)

I’ve never considered myself to be “crafty” in the make things with my hands sense, but I do research things for the kids to work on. Most of my inspiration comes from the season and what we’re learning about.

• Seasonal nature table: just search “fall nature table” on Pinterest and you’ll get some great ideas
• Minecraft: I’m adding it to this category because the kids pretty much make everything in this game (from pyramids to dance floors to horseback riding).
  • I’ve been thinking about checking out Minecraft’s Education edition Download | Minecraft Education Edition.
  • I also heard about Fun-schooling books and am planning on checking them out as well: Fun-Schooling Math Mysteries & Practice Problems with Minecraft: Math Stories and Practice Problems 2nd, 3rd and 4th Grade (Homeschooling with Minecraft): Brown, Estera Janisse, Brown, Sarah Janisse, Tree LLC, The Thinking, Zubrytskyy, Feodor, Hobbs, Sarah: 9781544650951: Amazon.com: Books
• Marble run and chain reaction machine out of toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls
• Learning how to draw with Art for Kids Hub – YouTube
• Family tree
• Finger knitting and crochet hat
• Making felt dolls, felt mice and felt toadstools inspired by this book:

Explore

I get a lot of family fun ideas from my “fun squad” aka the kids. They are such an inspiration to me every day. Sometimes following their lead is a great way to build connection as a family.

• At home:
  • Football games
  • Corn hole, playing catch, sidewalk chalk, hammock time
  • Roasting marshmallows over our firepit
• Out of the house:
  • Bike rides at one of our local parks or trail systems
  • Family hikes
  • Apple picking
    • 8 Farms Where Your Family Can Enjoy Apple Picking (Seattle area)
  • Harvest moon watch

Watch

We don’t watch TV during the day. After dinner some nights we settle in to watch a show. And of course, a movie on Fridays for family fun night.

Some of our current favorite shows:

• Master Chef Junior (Hulu)
• Blown Away (Netflix)
• Brain Games (Disney+)
• The World According to Jeff Goldblum (Disney+)
• Iron Chef: Quest for an Iron Legend (Netflix)

A few movies we’ve watched this last month or are looking forward to seeing soon:

• Father of the Bride (Disney+)
• The Parent Trap, 1961 version (Disney+)
• Lightyear (Disney+)
• Encanto (Disney+) – we’ve watched this a bunch
• The Wizard of Oz (bought it on Google Play)
• Star Wars (episodes 4-6)
• 101 Dalmatians
• Pinocchio | Disney+ Originals
• Hocus Pocus 2 (Disney+ on 9/30/2022)

Here are a couple of articles on the latest and greatest coming from Netflix and Disney+ this month.

• New Kids’ Movies & Shows On Netflix In September 2022: ‘Pokémon’ & More (scarymommy.com)
• What’s Coming To Disney+ In September 2022 (US) – What’s On Disney Plus (whatsondisneyplus.com)

Play

Board games are a great alternative to screentime in the evenings. Here are some of our family favorites:

• Do You Really Know Your Family?
• The Scrambled States of America
• Catan Family Edition
• Dragonwood
• Chess, Checkers or Backgammon
• Uno – Minecraft edition

These are some of family fun ideas in September we’ll be up to. I hope you find the list inspiring, and you try some of these ideas out. Even trying one new thing can totally change up the energy in a positive way. And we can all use positive energy! Don’t feel like you have to do too much. These lists are simply there to help stir things up when life seems a little monotonous. I’ve learned a lot the last several years about what works for our family and having variety and fun experiences through food, routine, creativity benefits all of us.

More inspiration

Family Fun Inspiration for September 2019 – My Inspired Homeschool

Daily and Weekly Homeschool Rhythm – My Inspired Homeschool

50 quotes to inspire your homeschool – My Inspired Homeschool

Advice to a Beginning Homeschooler – My Inspired Homeschool