Free virtual field trips can turn an ordinary day into an extraordinary day. With all that is going on in the world right now, taking an online field trip may be the only option. Whether it is with your virtual classmates, as part of a distance learning curriculum, a homeschool adventure or just for fun…we can’t wait to hear which virtual reality field trip was your favorite!
The learning shouldn’t stop just because school is closed or doesn’t look like it did last year. In fact, we are finding more online opportunities than ever! Let’s take a free field trip!
Ask me if it is still an “opportunity” two weeks from now when I’m staring longingly out the window wearing my coronavirus earrings.
We shared a list of education companies offering free subscriptions to keep your kids learning at home. But if your kids are like mine, they’ll be coming down with cabin fever at any second.
So in between choruses of the Baby Shark handwashing song, let’s take our children out of the house (digitally, I mean) and head out on a virtual field trip!
Below is a list of more than 40 different places you can explore online with your kids.
This is going to be fun.
Free Virtual Field Trips for Kids
Virtual field trips for elementary, kindergarten or even preschool kids that will be filled with adventure! In fact, our first group of educational virtual tours are dream trips for my family!
- Go on an expedition to the Galapagos Islands on the ship Endeavor II with National Geographic.
- Stand on the Great Wall of China from your computer screen.
- Explore Yellowstone National Park with virtual tours of some of their famous sites, like Mammoth Springs.
- Go for a swim and explore a coral reef in the Bahamas!
- Ever wondered what it’s like to be president? Visit the White House to see where he lives! <–really fun white house virtual tour for kids!
- Walk among the Moai monolithic statues carved more than 500 years ago by the people who lived on Easter Island.
- My kiddo is obsessed with Ancient Greece — I can’t wait to show him this virtual field trip!
- This virtual field trip of Ellis Island comes with tons of educational resources.
- Learn more about the Amazon Rainforest with an educational tour that shows all the sites and sounds.
- How about an adventure sailing through Antarctica?
- What was life like in a 17th century English village? Now you can see for yourself.
- Climb through the world’s largest cave, Hang S?n ?oòng, in Vietnam.
- Take a trip to Jerusalem and see the Dome of the Rock, the Damascus Gate, and learn about the history of the city. There’s even a version for older grades.
- Visit the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to see some of their current, past, and permanent exhibits.
- Get a view of the Grand Canyon from above and see just how big it really is.
- See all of Galileo’s cool inventions at the Museo Galileo.
Interactive and Fun Virtual Field Trips
Digital field trips are extra fun because you can take more than one in a day. Children can check out the Amazon rainforest in the morning, stop by the Grand Canyon while eating lunch and then…visit Mars?
- You don’t need a spaceship to visit Mars virtually, thanks to this awesome website where you can walk alongside a rover on the surface of the planet.
- Walk through Egyptian pyramids and learn about their excavation.
- Tour the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama with this video.
- Go behind the scenes of the Space Launch System program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
- Stroll through the home of the Royal Family with this tour of Buckingham Palace.
- Get a live look at the Mount St. Helens volcano.
- Observe polar bears in the tundra of Canada on this Discovery Education virtual field trip.
- Take an african safari to the Etosha National Park in Namibia, Africa.
- Visit the baboons at the San Diego Zoo with their live camera feeds!
- Have sports fans at home? Take a look around Yankees Stadium, then go to see where the Dallas Cowboys play.
- Oh, and don’t miss the Hockey Hall of Fame to see the Stanley Cup!
- Get up-close and personal with a shark at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
- Learn about the U.S. Civil War by visiting important locations and people.
- The panda cam at Zoo Atlanta is too cute to miss.
- Enjoy the view from the top deck of the Empire State Building.
- Turn your computer into a planetarium with this virtual view of the stars and constellations.
A Free Virtual Field Trip Can Take You Anywhere!
Learning geography, sociology, science while virtually meeting people within their different societies can help kids understand their rituals and everyday lives while fostering a feeling of connection and understanding of a wide range of cultures.
- Check out giraffes, elephants, rhinos, and even ants at the Houston Zoo.
- Visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore to see even more sea life.
- Here’s another virtual African safari — this time with elephants and hyenas in the wild!
- Learn about the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing.
- You can see beluga whales, sea lions, and explore the Ocean Voyager at the Georgia Aquarium.
- This virtual farm tour will let kids visit minks and learn how milk and cheese are processed.
Explore the World for Free
Some of my kids favorite field trip ideas for middle schoolers and high schoolers revolve around animals. I know we often think of zoos and animal parks as younger kid activities — preschool, kindergarten and elementary school — but they are appropriate virtual field trips for all ages (even my advanced age!).
- Go inside the Alamo to see where frontiersman Davy Crockett made his final stand.
- Check out exhibits from the Louvre via one of their educational virtual museum tours.
- Visit Aurthur and friends in a kid-friendly exhibit at the Boston Children’s museum.
- Download the Google Expeditions app for more than 900 different virtual reality experiences, including a NASA mission to Jupiter and a look at Mount Everest!
MORE FUN THINGS TO DO WHILE YOU’RE STUCK AT HOME:
- Check out these kids education websites offering free subscriptions.
- Help your kids learn how to make bubbles at home!
- My kids are obsessed with these active indoor games.
- 5 minute crafts are so fun and easy!
- Coloring is fun! Especially with Easter coloring pages.
- You won’t believe why parents are gluing pennies on shoes.
- Rawr! Here are some of our favorite dinosaur crafts.
- Get kids off technology and back to basics with learning worksheets you can print at home.
- Make being stuck at home fun with our favorite indoor games for kids.
- Have fun coloring our awesome Fortnite coloring pages.
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