I am so excited to be sharing some great virtual field trip ideas with you all in this blog post today. My students have always loved going on field trips – but right now, that’s proving difficult with everything going on.
So, we’ve been busy doing virtual field trips – and they have been really popular so far! My students are excited each week to learn about where we’re ‘going’ – and there’s so many learning opportunities linked with these virtual field trips.
I know, as educators, time just disappears for us. There’s so much for us to do everyday, and it’s really difficult trying to constantly find things. So, I’ve put together a list of some of our favorite virtual field trips that we’ve been on – including links. So all you have to do is scroll and click!
Apple Orchard
This time of year is perfect for teaching all about apples. And while I had a bunch of amazing resources planned for my students, I really wanted to take them to an apple orchard. But with everything going on, and us being online, this just wasn’t possible.
Or so I thought.
I found this amazing YouTube video where Caitie goes apple picking at an apple orchard. The video isn’t too long, making it the perfect time to keep my students engaged and interested in the video. Caitie talks about the different apples that you can pick at the orchard and provides plenty of learning opportunities and opportunities for discussion throughout the video.
The Pumpkin Patch
A lot of the pumpkin patches around us this year aren’t offering pumpkin picking. So I wanted to try and find some fun ways we can still learn about pumpkins.
I was able to find some great virtual field trips over on YouTube to continue our pumpkin patch learning too.
We loved this one where we had to keep an eye out for Robo. This one is by Miss Tracey who visits a pumpkin patch in Georgia.
Marineland Dolphin Adventure
Under the sea is always a theme I look forward to teaching every year. Usually I would try and plan a field trip for us to go to some sort of aquarium, or even to the beach.
I came across this YouTube video at Marineland Dolphin Adventure. It’s a little longer than what I would normally give my students, but they actually loved it!
I have a student who loves turtles and he was fascinated finding out more about them in this video.
The Royal Family
I have a few students who love the Royal Family. So we used their website to take a virtual tour of Buckingham Palace. My students loved looking through the images, moving around, and clicking the ‘i’ dots to find out more information.
Space
Space is another popular theme with my students and luckily there are a bunch of virtual field trips that are perfect for this.
- NASA Langley Research Center Virtual Tour
- NASA Glenn Research Center Virtual Tours
- Space Center Houston App
Walt Disney World
Don’t even try to pretend that you don’t have students who love Disney. Everyone does! And a virtual field trip to Disney is sure to score you some brownie points. I like to keep this one as an end of week/month reward for my students to work towards – and they love it.
Find out more over on the Disney website here. Don’t forget you can just search on YouTube as well for different videos of parks – and there are a bunch of vloggers who like to video their day at the park and share different rollercoasters/rides.
Legoland Florida Resort Virtual Tour
As part of our construction theme, we focused a lot on Lego. It’s popular with my students and they all have some sort of Lego at home, so it worked out well.
I tied it in with a surprise virtual tour of Legoland in Florida. We even got the chance to ride the coasters in VR – something my kids REALLY enjoyed!
Zoo
Each year we like to learn about the zoo and finish off with a field trip there. I came across these live webcams on The Houston Zoo website where you can tune in and watch the animals live.
We’re going to be focusing on one animal each week and tuning into a live cam everyday. From there, we’re all going to put together a journal for what that animal is doing each day.
It’s just another way to mix up distance learning and keeping my students engaged and having fun while continuing to learn.
Fire Safety
Fire safety is always one of the most important topics that I teach each year. And I usually try to do this around October time when fires are more common around here.
I struck gold when I found this amazing virtual field trip over on YouTube at the Memphis Fire Department. My kids loved spotting Moss throughout the video. I’ve played this with my students and they LOVED it. We followed it up with these fire safety activities.
Dinosaurs
Every year, guaranteed, I have students who love dinosaurs. It’s always one of the most popular themes that I teach – and all of my students really love learning about them.
I found this virtual field trip by Caitie at a museum where she learns all about dinosaurs. My kids loved it – especially hearing the noises that the dinosaurs made.
Christmas
Let’s face it, time is flying by. And before we know it, Christmas is going to be here before we know it. If you follow me on social media, you’ll know how much I love Christmas. It’s my absolute favorite time of the year. And I’m so sad that we’re really not going to be able to do many field trips this year for Christmas.
So, I’ve been putting together some links for virtual Christmas field trips that I can use with my students, and I wanted to share them with you.
- Hunting for Christmas Trees
- Visiting the Christmas Tree Farm
- Santa’s House at the North Pole
- Italian Christmas Market
- A Snowy Adventure
Farm
In the spring, I love to teach about farms. We’re hoping that we should be able to visit a farm or two in the spring, but just in case we can’t… I found this great virtual field trip over on YouTube with Miss Penny.
You can also create your own virtual field trips using Google classroom too.
Have you been on any virtual field trips with your students? Let us know in the comments below. And check out this blog post for more distance learning ideas.
And if you found this blog post helpful for giving you virtual field trip ideas to use with your students, be sure to share it with your friends and colleagues on social media.
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