Fun things to do during fall

By: Cleo Newton           

Image created with Wonder

There are plenty of things to do during fall like, bake, make art, go camping and more. Here are some activities I think would be fun to do.

Have you ever been in a corn maze before? If not, then here are some mazes in Minnesota you could visit.

One maze, from an article from ‘Family Fun Twin Cities’, that stood out to me was Afton Apple Orchard’s Corn Maze. The main maze here is 15 acres, and for each year, they incorporate a different theme into the maze. If the big maze is too hard for you, or if you want to do a maze that’s better for kids, they have a couple smaller mazes. They have a straw-bale maze, a “No Left Turn” maze, and a Garden hose maze too.

For those who are 2 years old and under, the admission fee is free, kids ages 3-10 cost $10 and must be accompanied by an adult, 11-year-olds and adults cost $12.00.

A few other corn mazes available in Minnesota are, Sever’s Corn Maze, Fresh Acres Corn Maze, and one at Pearson Family Farm.

If you like arts and crafts, here are some fun and easy crafts you can do. One way to make a splatter paint tree is to drop a drop of paint onto the paper then blow on it to create branches. Take an old or unused toothbrush and dip it in tempera paint, then flick onto the branches of the tree to create leaves.

Another craft you can make is the leaf lamp.  It’s really simple and easy, you use mod podge to glue leaves to the outside of a glass jar, then you put a small candle on the inside of the jar and light it.

One last fun thing you can do during fall is baking. A few fall foods from Southernliving.com include: pumpkin bread, apple pie, apple bread, corn bread, and apple cinnamon bread.

After reading this, I hope you guys found some new things you can do this fall. Of course, if you can’t do some of these, you can always rake up some leaves in your yard and jump in it, or take a walk around your neighborhood to admire the falling leaves and trees. I hope you guys have a great fall!

‘New Horizons’, quarantine, and Joe Biden

By: M. Ahmadad

My own current avatar in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

On March 20, 2020, ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ was released on the Nintendo Switch, allowing for one island to be shared on multiple accounts per console. The game revolves around building and enjoying your own customized community and life on a deserted island. You can have homes with your friends or family, or invite humanoid animal villagers to live and participate in daily activities with.

The game was not meant to be released during the COVID crisis, and the Nintendo developers for ‘New Horizons’ stated that it was quite disappointing, but hoped that it could help as an escape for the mundane and isolated feeling that came with the stay-at-home requests. People were a little under 2 months into practicing social distancing, so the game was very well received.

‘New Horizons’ was not only the best selling game in the Animal Crossing series, but the best selling game of all time in Japan. It is also the best selling Nintendo Switch game, and the 14th best selling video game ever.

The 2020 quarantine is generally perceived as a major playing factor as to why so many people joined the Animal Crossing fanbase. The idea of creating your own dream town, and decorating a community, was extremely appealing for those feeling down because of COVID creating a shift of what social interactions were okay, and what weren’t.

The creativity of ‘New Horizons’ allowed players to have digital social events, such as going fishing with friends, having picnics, going to watch shows or meteor showers, building together, gardening, and more.

The game also served as a temporary replacement for events that were canceled due to COVID, like couples throwing wedding ceremonies in Animal Crossing, or having a graduation party in the game instead of in real life.

The game was also used as political marketing by Joe Biden, having his campaign team create an island that people could visit using his Island’s code. Both him and Kamala Harris were living on that island, and you could visit them and see “their version” of Animal Crossing America.

I liked ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ a lot when it came out; it was a fun way to pass the time during online school. I mostly only gardened and covered all my villagers’ houses with flowers everywhere, but I later moved on to terraforming cliffs and rivers and placing bridges to make an actual structured town.

I named my island Akkala, after the ‘Legend of Zelda’ region.