This post is part of a paid campaign.

The normal fall activities that you are probably accustomed to doing with your kids are not ones I’ve ever done. The pumpkin or apple picking, hayrides, and leaf raking are things I did not grow up doing nor have I done them since becoming an adult. A couple of reasons probably contribute to this: I’ve always lived in places with tropical weather (Puerto Rico and Florida) and they are not customs traditional to the Puerto Rican culture.

Since neither Puerto Rico nor Florida have a true change of season when autumn arrives, not many trees really shed leaves for us to rake. I can’t really remember the last time I’ve had to rake leaves. It was probably many many years ago. Some of the other fall activities are ones that my family never did. Now that I have a family of my own, perhaps in the coming years we’ll participate in apple picking or browsing a pumpkin patch. I’m sure our baby girl and soon-to-be baby boy will eventually hear of these traditions and ask for them to be introduced into our families. And so, traditions and cultures evolve.

Still, even without such activities, fall does allow for more outside time in Florida. The intense heat begins to die down and we even get some days that include a nice breeze. We definitely get to enjoy more time at the park, local amusement parks, and just taking a walk by one of the many lakes nearby.

Of course, when you have a busy schedule every week, full of work and school, you sometimes have to make the time to go play and have fun. We try hard to make weekends fun. There are definitely those weekends where we need to concentrate on errands or housework, but even then, we try to make at least one fun outing in between the chores. For example, we may clean up around the house in the morning, then take the afternoon and head to the park for baby girl to run around and play on the playground.

Living in Orlando, we’re of course lucky to also live close to many amusement parks. Our family holds annual passes to one of the parks, so we can often head out for a day (or half-day) of fun – especially now that the weather will be more bearable.

We may not do traditional fall activities, yet, but we still manage to have fun and have time together as a family to play. Maybe this year we’ll check out a pumpkin patch and see how we like it.

How do you make time for play and what are some of your favorite fall activities?

Disclosure: I am a Shout Brand Ambassador through a compensated Mom Bloggers Club member program. This post was written in conjunction with the program, but all opinions and thoughts are original.

Shout wants you to know: Shout knows play is so much more than fun and games. Studies show that unstructured play helps kids build fundamental skills like problem solving, coping, and conflict resolution. In other words: play is how kids become happy, healthy adults. Fall has arrived with crisp, cool air and new reasons to go out and play. So, let your kids take that rewarding jump into a pile of leaves. Take at trip to the park and watch their imaginations run free. The one thing you won’t do is worry about their clothes; play should get messy and Shout can help.

This post is part of a paid campaign.

I am thankful for my husband for many reasons. As I’ve mentioned before, he is a great father and a supportive husband. But, one of the things I truly love about him is how creative he is – not only professionally, but also at home. He is mostly the one to come up with fun activities and games we can play with our daughter. His mind works in a manner which mine does not, allowing him to come up with lots of fun on the fly.

We all know that play is an important part of children’s lives. There are even studies that show just how important unstructured play is for helping kids developmentally. Because of that, the brand Shout is giving parents a chance to give their kids a reason to play. Through the Go Play Sweepstakes, Shout is giving away a grand prize of the Super Sunshine Castle playset from Rainbow Play Systems. Additionally, you can also enter to win one of four weekly giveaways for a $200 gift card to Growing Tree Toys. The deadline to enter is September 14, 2010.

I know a big playset in our backyard would be awesome! I can just imagine our baby girl and soon-to-be baby boy playing for hours – during our “winter” months, of course, since it would be downright wrong of me to let them play too long in the Florida summer heat. Good luck if you enter to win!

Disclosure: I am a Shout Brand Ambassador through a compensated Mom Bloggers Club member program. This post was written in conjunction with the program, but all opinions and thoughts are original. And, no playset will be received.