Fall Science
This green pigment hides away in leaves during the spring and summer, but breaks down in the fall to reveal bright red, orange, and yellow colors.
What is chlorophyll?
This large, orange gourd is actually a fruit, not a vegetable, and it belongs to the exact same plant family as cucumbers and watermelons.
What is a pumpkin?
What is shaking life a leaf?
A synonym for "spooky" or "scary" that starts with the letter "F" and describes how you might feel during a thunderstorm.
What is frightening (or fearful)?
This warm, sweet drink is made by pressing fresh apples, and it tastes extra delicious when served hot with a cinnamon stick.
What is apple cider?
Trees that shed all of their leaves every autumn to prepare for winter are known by this scientific "D" word.
What is deciduous?
In the Southern Hemisphere (like in Australia), autumn doesn't start in September—it actually begins during this calendar month.
What is March?
Named after a favorite crisp fall fruit, this phrase describes someone who is incredibly loved and special to you.
What is apple of my eye?
If a house gives you the chills, you might use this 5-letter "E" word to describe the strange, unsettling feeling it gives you.
What is eerie?
A very popular fall spice mixture, this flavor combination actually doesn't contain any real gourd—just cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves
What is pumpkin spice?
When the sun shines directly over the equator in September, it creates this special day where daytime and nighttime are exactly equal in length.
What is the Autumn Equinox?
This bright full moon, which happens closest to the autumn equinox, got its name because it gave farmers extra light to gather crops late into the night.
What is Harvest Moon?
This idiom means to hide or save something for later, mimicking a furry backyard animal burying acorns for the winter.
What is to squirrel away?
Instead of calling a ghost a ghost, a storyteller might use this 7-letter word that sounds like a glowing image or a movie illusion.
What is phantom (or specter)?
This sticky, sweet, gooey coating is often drizzled over fresh apples on a stick, sometimes topped with nuts or sprinkles.
What is caramel or toffee?
This is the process where plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to make their own food, which slows down significantly as days get shorter in the fall.
What is photosynthesis?
Monarch butterflies are famous for traveling up to 3,000 miles every autumn to spend their winter in the forests of this warm country.
Even though it sounds like an autumn tree shedding, this phrase actually means to turn the page and make a fresh, better start.
What is to turn over a new leaf?
This word means something is hard to explain or completely hidden, like a secret door in a castle or a disappearing pumpkin.
What is mysterious?
This classic, three-colored triangular candy is shaped like a tiny kernel of corn and has been a Halloween staple for over a hundred years.
What is candy corn?
Rather than sleeping all winter, some animals prepare for the cold by doing this—moving to a warmer climate or a completely different region to find food.
What is migration?
Before the 16th century, the season of autumn was simply called this in the English language, named after the action of gathering ripe crops.
What is Harvest?
This phrase uses a crunchy tree seed to describe making someone feel incredibly annoyed or frustrated.
What is to drive someone nuts?
Derived from an old word for a trick or a scary spirit, this word means to startle or suddenly surprise someone out of fear.
What is to startly (or terrify)?
This sweet, golden liquid is made by boiling down the sap of specific trees tapped in the early spring, but it becomes a massive favorite for fall baking and pancakes.
What is maple syrup?