10 Fall Family Fun Things To Do in Lancaster County

I recently shared a guest post over on the Veritas Academy blog on 5 Fun Fall Family Things To Do in Lancaster County. I love the idea of encouraging families to get outside and stay unplugged from electronics at this beautiful time of year, so I wanted to share some with you too!

1. Take a Family Bike Ride

Our family loves to visit the various rails to trails in the area. Riding with kids can feel like a nuissance or too difficult to attempt, but if you take the leap, you’ll create memories that will last! Last year we rode the Lebanon Valley Rails to Trails, starting at the Root Beer Barrel. We began the ride strong and I was astonished at how well my four-year-old even kept up with us on her training wheels. This year we have been enjoying riding the Ephrata Rail Trail and are excited for it to open completely in 2018 when we can ride the entire trail to Lititz!

2. Paint a Pumpkin with Friends

Stop at a local roadside stand and buy a few pumpkins to paint. Invite your neighbors over and enjoy some hot cider while you paint. Or if you’re not a super-crafty person and don’t like messes, check out your local garden center to see if they have a special pumpkin painting event you can sign up for!

3. Attend a Fair or Festival

In Lancaster County you’ll find a fair happening every week from August through mid-October, whether its in Ephrata, Manheim, Elizabethtown, Denver, York or Solanco! Check out this list of all the Lancaster County’s fairs and many fall festivals.

4. Pick Your Own Pumpkins

Visit a pumpkin field and go pumpkin picking! You can use this map and pricing guide to help you find the best pumpkin patch for your family.

5. Pick Your Own Apples

You can find almost a dozen orchards within an hour’s drive of Lancaster County, where you can pick your own apples. And many of them feature weekend festivals, special hay rides, corn mazes and other fun events for your family to enjoy! This Pick Your Own Apples Map and Pricing Guide will help you choose which is best for your family.

6. Challenge Yourself in a Corn Maze

Despite this lack of cool fall weather this year, it is still autumn in Lancaster County which means tons of fall weather fun like corn mazes. Here’s a map of the corn mazes in Lancaster County, and a pricing guide for the fall excitement you’ll find at each location like pumpkin launching, tractor rides, pedal cars, petting zoos and more!

7. Visit a Petting Zoo

Lancaster County is definitely the place to live if you love visiting petting zoos. Here is a list of several free petting zoos in the Lancaster County area—some are permanent locations and others are traveling zoos that visit the county every year.

8. Go on a Picnic and Check Out a New Playground

It might not seem quite like fall yet this year with this unusually warm weather, so take advantage of it! Check out a Lancaster County Playground and pack a picnic. Depending where you go, remember to take some food to feed the ducks—that was our favorite thing to do on picnics when we were little! P.S. A really neat park to consider (for all ages) is the Amos Herr Park—it even includes a zip line!

9. Visit a National Park

Did you know that National Parks offer several FREE entry days each year? Go on a family adventure and explore the Eisenhower National Historic Site, Gettysburg, Philadelphia, Harpers Ferry in Maryland or Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland.

Every September, there is also FREE Museum Day sponsored by Smithsonian, that allows access to local museums for free! Learn more about Smithsonian FREE Museum Day and the new locations included for 2019.

10. Take Your Kids Trunk or Treating

A few years ago this trunk or treating thing began and its still going pretty strong—just by seeing how full our Events Calendar is of all the Trunk or Treating events in October! If this is something your family would enjoy, you’ll find plenty of opportunity in Lancaster County for trunk or treating that’s for sure!