By Jacki Wood

Editor’s note: this is the first in a series of day trip ideas you can plan for your children or grandchildren.

As the calendar turns to the fall season, and the weather becomes a bit cooler and more bearable, it’s a great time to plan a day trip with your children or grandchildren.

The Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead in Overland Park, KS, has been around for nearly 40 years but continues to grow with new features added every year.

The 1900s turn-of-the-century farm on 12 acres provides fun for all ages and features nearly 200 animals and birds of prey, vegetable and flower gardens, a one-room country schoolhouse, a fishing pond, pony rides and more.

Attractions and activities include Vic’s General Store with old-time candy and toys, Alex & Emily’s Ice Cream Parlor, Ben’s Bank, the mining camp where you can discover gems, the dairy barn where you can milk a cow, a Native American encampment with a replica of a small Kanza village, feeding baby goats, wagon rides through the woods, push pedal tractors and several play areas.

The farmstead also hosts numerous events throughout autumn.

Pumpkin Hollow, from September 30 to October 31, includes a wagon ride to the pumpkin patch where everyone gets their own pumpkin, a corn maze, a hay pyramid, a giant hay slide, a barrel train and more.

During Night of the Living Farm, October 21-22 and 28-29, guests can wear their Halloween costumes to trick-or-treat throughout the farm. The evenings also include a fairy princess party, pirate ship races, fortune teller, mad science, haunted barn, flashlight scavenger hunt, haunted horse-drawn hayride or a non-scary hayride, marshmallow roast, a Halloween dancing stage and special concessions.

Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead is open daily from April 1 to October 31 and has several affordable options: $2 per person from 9 am to 2 pm, Monday through Thursday; $2 per person from 9 am to 5 pm, Friday through Sunday; and free from 2 pm to close, Monday through Thursday. They are open until 8 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Some attractions and the special events include an additional cost.

The farm is located at 13800 Switzer Road, Overland Park, KS.

For more information, call 913.897.2360. You can also visit opkansas.org/things-to-see-and-do/deanna-rose-childrens-farmstead or Facebook.com/OPFarmstead.