In this virtual learning world, we find ourselves in today, there are many things that we cannot experience in person. None find this more true than students as they learn how to do school in a completely different way than anyone has had to before.
Field trips are something that we all looked forward to as children. On a field trip, students can leave the confines of the classroom to experience something they don’t get to see every day. With the current state of education in the pandemic, field trips are hard to do in person. Luckily, there are many options for virtual field trips for elementary schoolers that you and your students can experience right at the touch of a button.
Zoos
Many zoo websites have different ways for you and your students to experience the zoo through the magic of the internet. There are many zoos with live cameras to their animal exhibits and interactive classroom-centered activities for students to experience the world of animals.
https://kids.sandiegozoo.org/videos
https://www.worldwildlife.org/pages/wild-classroom-daily-activity-plans
https://www.houstonzoo.org/explore/webcams/
Aquariums
Just like zoos, aquariums are making use of their websites to engage student learning and exploration through webcams of their animal exhibits and activities for students to explore the world underwater.
https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals
https://education.ocean.org/oceanlitelem/assignments/folder/521
https://aqua.org/media/virtualtours/baltimore/index.html
Farms
For many students, the place they call home is in the middle of an urban jungle with the foods they can be exposed to coming from grocery stores or a lone tomato plant in their backyard. Some farms have made their everyday lives available for students to peruse through their websites to learn more about the animals that help us and the food that we eat.
https://www.aeb.org/eggs-in-schools/classroom/farm-to-table-virtual-field-trips
Space
One of the best field trips for students is a field trip where they experience things they do not get to see on our earth. The stars, planets, and space activity always pique interest as we can study the heavenly bodies that make up the night sky. There are virtual field trips that you can access that will allow your students to explore the world beyond our atmosphere.
https://accessmars.withgoogle.com
Museums
There are many different types of museums from natural history museums, art and culture museums, and children’s museums with hands-on exhibits. Explore what all of these museums have to offer on your next virtual field trip with your students.
https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour
https://artsandculture.google.com
https://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/museum-virtual-tour
https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne#tabs
https://www.bayut.com/mybayut/explore-dubai-museums-home/
Enviromental Sciences
Although it is difficult to get your students to a wetland or prairie to explore the environments that make up the world around us right now, you can allow your students to study The Nature Conservatory. They will have fun learning about the differences between the different ecosystems through their interactive platform.
Discovery Education
Throughout the Discovery Education website, you will find many different virtual field trip ideas for your students. There are field trips to learn about animals, people, history, art, and culture, exploring the world around us.
Travel Around The World
When considering options of virtual field trips for elementary schools, we as educators can feel a little bit sad that our students can’t experience field trips in the usual way. Some websites are making things possible that haven’t been before. Previously, when scheduling a bus for a field trip, you were limited geographically. Today, we have the option of allowing our students to experience different field trips from all over the world.
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/photosmultimedia/virtualtours.htm
https://www.thechinaguide.com/destination/great-wall-of-china
https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/webcams/
https://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/webcast.htm
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/easter/
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news-features/son-doong-cave/2/#s=pano60
There are so many great options for taking your students on virtual field trips during this time. Some of the local spots you would visit with your students are places they can explore online and become experts on when they can visit again with family and friends. The pandemic has brought us some good things with virtual field trips in elementary schools. Virtual field trips allow students to learn and explore on their own in certain places that would never be available to them, like space or other countries entirely. We have so many great options for our students to satisfy their curiosity. Check out these Virtual Field Trip Resources. Plan a virtual field trip today!
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