A Preschooler’s Fall Around UCF: Parks, Markets, and Game Days

October around UCF still looks a lot like summer from a distance. The oaks stay green and the afternoons run warm, but the mornings finally cool off enough for a long walk, and pumpkins start popping up on porches from Alafaya Trail to Oviedo. For a preschooler, that’s plenty of fall to work with!

East Orlando makes it easy to fill a morning with little ones, and most of the stops below cost little or nothing. Here are four of them, from a riverside trail to a Friday-night Space Game, so you can pick one for a slow weekend or string a few together before Halloween.

Jay Blanchard Park and the Little Econ Greenway in East Orlando

Start at Jay Blanchard Park, an 84-acre county park a short drive west of campus. The Little Econ River runs right through it, and so does the paved Little Econ Greenway, which stretches 7.4 miles in all. A playground, shady picnic tables, and a flat path make it an easy first stop with a stroller, and the gates open at 8 a.m. every day.

Walk a little way along the river and keep an eye out for turtles sunning on logs and wading birds in the shallows. Try asking, “What feels different about the air today?” Then go on an acorn hunt under the big oaks and see who can find one still wearing its little cap! For more green space near campus, our guide to family-friendly natural spaces around UCF has plenty more.

Read Because of an Acorn by Lola M. Schaefer and Adam Schaefer the night before your walk. Its cut-out pages follow one acorn as it grows into an oak that shelters birds and feeds the forest, so your preschooler heads to the greenway with something real to look for.

Monday Evenings at the Audubon Park Community Market

When weekday afternoons start cooling off, head to the Audubon Park Community Market. It runs every Monday from 5 to 8 p.m., rain or shine, in the Stardust parking lot in Audubon Park, an easy drive from campus after work. Florida growers, bakers, and local musicians fill the lot, and the whole scene is relaxed and stroller-friendly.

A market is a sneaky-good classroom for a preschooler. Give your child a small job, like finding three green vegetables or picking out the roundest tomato, and you’ve turned a grocery run into counting, colors, and comparing. When the live music starts, let your kiddo clap along and see if they can keep the beat.

UCF Knights Game Days at Acrisure Bounce House

Home games turn campus into one big party, and plenty of it happens outside the stadium gates. The next two home games at Acrisure Bounce House are Saturday, October 24, against BYU for Homecoming, and Friday, October 30, against Baylor at 7:30 p.m. That Baylor night is UCF’s Space Game, the tenth year in a row the Knights have honored the school’s roots in the space program, so look for rockets and astronaut gear all over campus! Check the Knights’ football schedule for kickoff times as they’re announced.

About two hours and 15 minutes before kickoff, fans line up on IOA Plaza for the Knight Walk to cheer the team on its way in. The pregame plaza also has a Kids Zone on its North Lawn with UCF inflatables and Knightro’s Kids Club, and the March to Victory brings the marching band, the cheerleaders, and Knightro down East Plaza Drive about 90 minutes before kickoff. Parking is free in most areas of campus, and you can catch the pregame fun and still head home before bedtime.

It’s loud and full of black and gold, which gives a preschooler a lot to take in. Point to the band and let your child guess what each instrument is called, or count the flags waving on the way in. If the crowd starts to feel like a lot, step back to the edge of the plaza and enjoy the drums from there. On Space Game night, see if your child can guess how a rocket gets all the way to space.

Pumpkin Patch Fun at Green Acres Farm in Oviedo

A Florida fall still deserves a pumpkin patch, and Green Acres Farm in nearby Oviedo is a longtime local pick. Past fall festivals there have brought pony rides, hayrides, a petting zoo, and rows of pumpkins in every size. Check the farm’s page for this year’s festival dates and hours before you load up the car, and go early in the day while it’s still cool.

Pumpkins are great for little hands and big questions. See if your child can find a short round one, a tall skinny one, and one with a curly stem, and talk about what makes each one different. Back home, scoop out the seeds together and let your preschooler count them into small piles. Our list of spring outings near UCF has more spots to save for later in the year.

Schedule a Preschool Tour Near UCF in Orlando

Every “Why is this pumpkin so bumpy?” and “Where did the turtle go?” is a question we’d happily build a whole morning around at Creative World School near UCF. Our iSTEAM curriculum starts with inquiry, the “i,” and lets the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math grow out of those questions, like racing two pumpkins down a ramp. Our hands-on Exploratorium™ has stations like Scientific Thinking and Sensory Sensation where your child gets to test ideas and figure things out.

If you want a preschool that treats your child’s questions as the starting point, we’d love to meet you. Bring your own questions too!