For most kids, field trips are the best days of the school year! I loved them as a student, and as a teacher, I loved watching my students' excitement as we boarded a bus or loaded up in vans to go do something different for a day. However, due to Covid, geographical restrictions, and cost, many parents and teachers find it difficult to make field trips happen. This is where virtual field trips come in to save the day! Virtual field trips give your students the chance to experience zoos, museums, farms, national parks, and even outer space from the comfort of their own classrooms; all you need is an internet connection! Try a virtual field trip from the list below and enjoy learning differently with your students!
1. Visit the Zoo
Have an animal expert visit your classroom to introduce a variety of animals to your students. Depending on the program you choose, your students can see animals in their natural habitats, ask questions of zoo experts, or learn how animals are taken care of at the zoo. The San Antonio Zoo is one of many zoos that are providing virtual programs for classes.
Learn more: San Antonio Zoo
2. Check out the Aquarium
The Monterey Bay Aquarium has several options for field trips and lives cams. If you want to narrate your own field trip, use the live feeds to have a lively class discussion on an animal you are studying. You can also schedule a presentation from an aquarium educator on a variety of topics. Check out their educator page for online courses and other activities.
Learn more: Monterey Bay Aquarium
3. Take a trip to the White House
Even if you live nowhere near Washington D.C., you and your students can tour the White House via Google Arts and Culture! This virtual reality tour allows you to explore different parts of the White House and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, zooming in on paintings, furniture, and other artifacts.
Learn More: The White House
4. Blast off into Space
The Goddard Center is offering free virtual field trips for different age groups. Each program provides prior learning activities, a live presentation in which students can ask questions, and activities to complete afterward to reinforce what students learned.
Learn More: Goddard Space Flight Center
5. See one of the new 7 Wonders of the World
Take your students to the Great Wall of China without leaving the building! For a small fee, you can do a self-guided virtual tour. For a bit more, you can schedule a live guide to answer questions and explain important features of the Great Wall.
Learn More: The China Guide
6. Go green in the Amazon
Teach your students about conservation and the importance of the rain forests with this beautiful 360-degree video from Conservation International. See the Amazon River, hear the sounds of the rain forest and witness creatures in their natural habitats.
Learn More: Under the Canopy
7. Say hello to the Queen at Buckingham Palace
This virtual tour of the Queen of England's residence lets students visit multiple rooms in the palace, including the throne room and several drawing rooms. Students can learn more by clicking on different artifacts within the castle.
Learn More: Buckingham Palace Tour
8. See a piece of American History
Incorporate this virtual tour of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania into a social studies unit. Make history come alive as you zoom in on the details of the bell.
Learn More: HistoryView
9. View the museum exhibits at Boston Children's Museum
You can take a virtual tour of all three floors of the Boston Children's Museum, which contains exhibits and attractions to teach kids about subjects from bubbles to dinosaurs. You can even sign up for weekly activity emails to learn new ways to get your students to play.
Learn More: Boston Children's Museum
10. Take off at the Museum of Flight
The Museum of Flight in Washington State provides virtual tours and activities for students from K-12. Students can tour the museum, engage in a virtual planetarium, or work together to go on a successful space mission!
Learn More: Museum of Flight
11. Spend time writing with Roald Dahl
Let your students see where Roald Dahl wrote all of his children's books, from Willy Wonka to the BFG! You can also find activities to do at home or school that connect with Dahl's life and stories.
Learn More: Roald Dahl Museum
12. Fly over the Grand Canyon
Google Earth provides another stunning virtual field trip with this tour of the Grand Canyon. Students can see gorgeous panoramas of this Arizona national park and explore the ins and outs of this beautiful landscape.
Learn More: Google Earth
13. Learn about farm life
Take your students of any age on a farm tour to see what life on a farm is like. The American Dairy Association has online farm field trips available for different ages where they can learn what a farmer does and how a farm produces so many of the things we need.
Learn More: American Dairy Association
14. Experience the change of seasons
Tour New England in the fall to see the breathtaking fall leaves in all their glory. This would be especially interesting for students who live in locations where the change of seasons is not as drastic.
Learn More: YouTube
15. View famous artwork
Bring famous art museums directly to your classroom! One example of this is the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands. Google provides a tour with online exhibits sharing details of Van Gogh's life as well as examples of his most famous works.
Learn More: Google Arts and Culture
16. Travel the tundra
Not only is there a whole channel dedicated to polar bears with activities and presentations, there are also virtual field trips to Canada for different age groups to see the bears in their natural habitat.
Learn More: Discovery Education
17. Go underground at Carlsbad Caverns National Park
This Google field trip takes you into the Carlsbad Caverns of New Mexico and lets your students experience life as a bat! They will also see mineral formations and textures as they explore the insides of the caves.
Learn More: Google Arts and Culture
18. Explore Hawaiian volcanoes up close
A park ranger will give you a tour of some of Earth's most active volcanoes on this virtual trip to Hawaii. Go inside a lava tube or "fly" over an active volcano!
Learn More: Google Arts and Culture
19. Drive through a redwood forest
Even if you can't get to California, take your students on a tour of the Redwood National Park, home of the world's tallest trees. You can even drive straight through one of these majestic trees!
Learn More: Google Earth
20. Take your students out to the ballgame
Yankee Stadium provides a virtual venue visit where you can see different parts of the park up close and personal. Use the Yankees kids section of the website for extension activity ideas and a guided tour.
Learn More: New York Yankees
21. Escape the Smithsonian
Tour the Smithsonian while working as a class to escape the Smithsonian before the bus leaves. You and your class will tour the Smithsonian while looking for clues and answering questions to get out in time!
Learn More: The Escape Game
22. Explore an Egyptian tomb
The Giza Project is the place to find everything your students have ever wanted to know about the Egyptian pyramids. Explore the tomb of Queen Merasankh III, learning about the construction of and artifacts in the pyramid.
Learn More: The Giza Project at Harvard University
23. See Mars up close
Thanks to NASA's Curiosity rover, you can take your students directly to the surface of Mars! You can learn about the red planet and about the rover itself by clicking on points of interest and moving around the interactive map.
Learn More: Access Mars
24. Explore the ancient city of Petra
This Google Street View Trek would be fascinating for a unit on ancient civilizations or world history. Explore more than a dozen sights while learning about the history and culture of Petra.
Learn More: Google
25. Go back in time to Colonial Williamsburg
From virtual tours to live webcams to conversations with "People of the Past," Colonial Williamsburg provides tons of educational resources for parents and teachers to utilize.
Learn More: Colonial Williamsburg
26. Make history come alive
Help your students see the importance of the Constitution, its amendments, and the processes the document has gone through to become what it is today.
Learn More: Constitution Center
27. See where computers come from
Students can see how the devices they use every day came to be as they stroll through the museum's collection of historic working computers and learn about those who helped create them.
Learn More: The National Museum of Computing
28. Take a yummy trip to the M&Ms factory
Students will learn how this yummy treat gets made in this 360-Degree Tour of the M&Ms Factory in New Jersey. The plant director leads the tour, which also lets students zoom in on different machines and parts of the factory.
Learn More: YouTube
29. Go under the sea
These virtual field trips from The Nature Conservancy come with a video, a handy teacher guide, and a Kahoot review for afterward- everything you need to make your field trip effective!
Learn More: The Nature Conservancy
30. Explore the Met
The Met, as this famous art museum is known, has a fabulous interactive map to let students of any age explore the country's largest art museum. The map even provides extension activities for students to try on their own!
Learn More: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
How cool is it that our students can experience so much of the world from their own desks?! Thanks to technology and creativity, we can bring the world to them even when we can't get out. Enjoy trying these virtual field trips with your students and see how much you ALL learn.
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