What if you could explore the world without leaving the classroom? Imagine exploring natural wonders, famous art, or historical sites out of state. Imagine taking students to another country — or even another planet.
All this is possible with virtual field trips for students. This isn’t to say that on-site field trips don’t have benefits, but virtual field trips for kids allow you to expand students’ horizons and enhance learning in all areas of your curriculum in ways that would not be possible with live field trips.
So forget the bus. Fire up the computer and prepare for your visits.
Prepare for your virtual field trip
Here are 7 steps to prepare for your virtual field trip.
1. Choose a virtual field trip for students that complements your course of study and helps meet your standards. Know what you want students to get out of it and preview all materials. If there is a live component, speak to the site educator about what to expect.
2. Verify whether you need permission for students to take part in the experience. Notify parents about the virtual field trip as you would any other field trip, including explaining why you are doing this virtual tour.
3. Collect links you’ll need on the day of the trip. Print out any supplemental materials, such as worksheets, journal questions, or activity directions. Collect any other materials needed. For example, if students watch a science experiment video, will they need materials to try themselves? Do you need art supplies?
4. Test your equipment. Will you be showing a video projected for the class? Will students visit a museum site and explore on their own? Will small groups watch a video on an iPad together?
5. Set expectations for students for behavior. If students are exploring on their own or in groups, identify where they can and can’t go online.
6. Create an itinerary or agenda for the virtual field trip. Let students know both what part of the school day will be the field trip and what you will do during that part of the day.
7. Build excitement about the trip!
Before you go on your virtual field trip
Like any field trip, students will get the most out of it if they are prepared. Think about how you are using the virtual field trip for kids.
Will you use it as an introduction to a course of study? For example, use a virtual tour of a zoo or aquarium to kick off student projects about animal habitats. Will you use it after some study before a culminating project? For example, teach some basics about weather, then visit a weather station, and then have kids do a natural disasters project. Or use it to wrap up a unit—a way to go even deeper into something you have explored as a class.
Provide some context — for example, vocabulary or historical context — that will help students make the most of the experience. Encourage students to come up with questions they have going into the field trip or to journal about what they look forward to seeing.
Some virtual field trips have scavenger hunts, questions, or other activities to expand on video virtual tours. Identify resources you want to use and prepare other follow up activities. Some ideas for follow up:
- Have students create an ad or brochure for the tour, including highlights of what kids will see or learn. The ad can be to encourage teachers to take other kids on the virtual tour.
- Have students create their own virtual field trip, sharing what they learned about your subject on the virtual tour and through other resources.
- Hold a class discussion about what students learned, what was most interesting, what helped them understand, and what was confusing.
- Give students a list of questions or things to find (like a scavenger hunt or bingo card) to use during the virtual tour. Have students finish it as part of your follow up.
Virtual tours for kids across the curriculum
There are many amazing virtual tours out there to help support you in all parts of your curriculum, from science to history to math to music and art.
1. Shedd Aquarium would be a great virtual field trip if you are studying penguins, curious about helping animals, or want to answer some kid-driven questions about aquatic animals. Their Stay at Home program offers enhanced options in addition to video.
2. Want to tour the Australia Zoo? This video tour will get you started, but you can also follow up with videos on specific animals and protective efforts. More zoo adventures to choose from.
3. How do math and art mix? The North Carolina Museum of Art has great exhibits for students of various ages that bring together art and math in virtual tours for kids.
4. Studying volcanoes? Explore the volcanoes and other wonders of Hawaii with the U.S. National Park Service scavenger hunt — videos, 360 views, and questions. Pairs well with the Natural Disasters activity bundle.
5. Visit a Weather Station. This virtual field trip is great if you are studying weather and provides activities for kids and standards for teachers. Check out the other virtual field trips from PBS while you are there, including the science museum and the symphony, among others.
6. Art, history, science … you can cover a lot at the Met! The Metropolitan Museum of Art has created a great resource for kids #MetKids. You can choose based on time period, location or topic to explore pieces that relate to what you are studying. Blog posts and projects add to the learning.
7. Slime in Space — Bringing together ideas about space and kid-favorite slime! This Nickelodeon-sponsored virtual field trip with NASA astronauts includes videos, activities, and teacher resources.
8. NASA field trips — We couldn’t pick just one. Do you want to visit one of the Space Centers? Learn more about training astronauts. Get a view of the International Space Station? You can do all that and more to enhance your curriculum.
9. What about Story Hour in space? Astronauts read stories from space. You could use this to kickoff a study of space, to connect science and language, paired with the videos of science experiments from the same organization, or to celebrate the end of your space unit!
Make the most of your space-based field trip with solar system resources that help you expand learning to prepare for the virtual tour or to follow up from it. Check out:
- Solar System Scavenger Hunt—Engage your students with a solar system scavenger hunt that enhances reading comprehension using nonfiction reading passages about space.
- Solar System Gallery Walk—Explore key terms through physical movement and visual engagement.
- Solar System Word Wall—Transform your classroom into an interactive learning space where students actively engage with critical terminology, enhancing their understanding of the solar system. This a great way to set your students up for a space virtual field trip.
So where are you going next? You have a world of options with virtual field trips for kids!
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