Lets talk about Field trips and educational travel:
I’ve had several requests to find out about how we do field trips lately so in this post I will share a few tips about making field trips & educational travel memorable and I compiled a list of over 160 ideas for you to parouse or earmark for future reference. This post will include the first half of the list and the second half will be in the next post. I will also go more into depth about how we include field trips/learning/educational lessons when we travel, what we pack, how I plan our adventures and how I map out our to do’s in another post so check back for those soon :)
When we started homeschooling one of my first thoughts was that we would have so many more options for field trips, and so much more flexibility and freedom to include them into our routine! As a family we love taking new adventures together and we have absolutely loved all the memories we have been able to make through our field trips/family adventures together over the years. If your kiddos love to get outside and are hands on learners, field trips/adventures can help to ignite their interest in a subject and have the ability to really sink in some practical learning or skills you have been studying. :)
My kids love exploring, trying new things & experiences and the best way we have been able to do that has been to incorporate learning and fun into an activity or adventure. Some of the best ways we have done that have been to take a topic we are studying about and go somewhere specifically relating to that topic such as taking a trip to a location you are learning about. One of our favorite trips we were able to incorporate multiple field trips on was when we traveled 6 ½ years ago to the east coast. We had just began our home-school journey and had the opportunity to take a family trip to Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. It was so special to show the kids the birthplace of our country and to share in their excitement and awe as we walked all over the city of D.C. and visited most of the famous historical cites and museums. It was such a delight to see their joy, enthusiasm to learn and how much they had fun exploring and seeing everything in person. It made the experience so much richer to have the adventure together as a family and so special to create all the memories together.
While we were in Washington D.C. we were able to see the White House, Lincoln’s Memorial, the WWII and Vietnam war memorial’s, Washington memorial, visit Union station, take a guided tour of the capitol building and tour the Library of Congress. During our tour of the Library of Congress it sparked a deep appreciation and love of books in my son and an interest in perhaps pursing becoming a librarian. He absolutely loved learning about and seeing first hand Thomas Jefferson’s library, as well as seeing the Gutenberg bible on display. While we were on our trip we also visited all the Smithsonian museums: air and space museum, American History and Natural History museums. We all loved seeing the mars rover, the wright brothers original aircraft, air crafts from WWII at the Space museum, and we all were impressed by the height of the woolly mammoth and the size of some gems we saw at the museum of Natural History. We also enjoyed learning more about the stages of transportation, seeing the original American Flag, and all the former first ladies at the American History museum. Seeing these things in person really made for some fun questions with the kids and a chance to discover new things/information together.
While we visited Colonial Williamsburg both of our kids were fascinated by the
traditional lifestyles of the colonists, the clothing that they wore, typical jobs and learning more in depth about life back then. We visited an apothecary shop, the blacksmith and a tailor. The kids loved seeing first hand how people of the past would have used these trade skills. One of our favorite memories was going into the George Wythe home and opening the door with the handle that Thomas Jefferson and George Washington used to enter the home, seeing the room that Thomas Jefferson slept in while he visited and seeing where George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Wythe and several other men met to discuss writing the Declaration of Independence and military tactics in the back yard. It was quite impressive to see how well the home has been preserved and to learn that George Washington was about the same height as my hubby (6’2) (the reenactor at the home asked my hubby to stand in as Washington in a presentation they gave because he was the closest in height comparison ;) ). On this trip we were able to immerse ourselves in our Nations history & help bring it to life as we discovered, explored and learned things that will resonate with us for the rest of our lives. It was amazing to see my children’s minds grasp new facts, absorb info and their little light bulbs go off as they were able to see history in a way that they hadn’t had the chance to before. It is my experience that it’s so much more impactful when you are able to immerse yourself into an environment, activity, a place or time in history than it is to only read about it. There is something about seeing a place with your own eyes or experiencing a culture, an event, having a chance to step back in time by visiting a historical site and reliving history with your own interpretations & emotions attached to the events/places that will sit with and resonate with you perhaps for the rest of your life. These are the kinds of experiences that I as a parent truly enjoy the most and cherish that I am able to create them with my kids. :) If you haven’t been to Washington D.C. or Williamsburg they are truly fascinating places to visit and I highly recommend they go on your to see list! :)
If you are looking for ways to include more field trips into your homeschooling routines try looking for events, local historical sites, national parks, state parks, library events/activities for kids, museums, national monuments, potential job shadowing opportunities, or a chance to try something in a potential career path that might interest your kids and add them to your list. I always have list running of new things I learn about, places I hear or learn about and fun opportunities or events that are happening in our community. I suggest looking on local sites, magazines or checking with family/friends for other possible ideas & suggestions too. There is a wealth of opportunities out there and as a homeschooling family the world gets to be your classroom! So I encourage you to get out and enjoy it! :)
A few pointers:
*Some of the most memorable field trips we have been on were last minute, spur of the moment trips so don’t be afraid to pack up the kids and go where your heart leads you
*Bring extra snacks, water, baby wipes/wet wipes and a change of clothes or a some towels if you plan to go anywhere your kids may get wet (helps make for a more enjoyable ride home if the kiddos aren’t soaking wet or freezing and no one is starving or thirsty, cause one of these is bound to happen with kids of any age ;) )
*Some planning ahead usually saves yourself time and headaches (such as calling to check business days/hours of a museum/business, check costs, parking info, tour info etc. at least a day or two before you plan to a visit as it will help to iron out all the details and minimize the major disappointments of driving somewhere only to learn they are closed.
*If you do a little homework before your outing you may find multiple things you want to focus on such as: who you will be seeing, what they will be doing, the importance of their job/company/business, a list of possible questions to ask or to get your kids thinking about, perhaps make a scavenger hunt or another game for your kids to keep them interested in the facts etc. If you will be traveling it has come in handy for us to keep a bottle of (Y.L. Thieves) hand sanitizer, some baby wipes, a bag of snacks and water bottles, a box of tissues, our fave cd’s and a playlist for our car. We also keep a pair of binoculars, a deck of cards, a road map/atlas the kids can use, some books/magazines and road games in the car at all times. This helps the kids to have something to occupy their time on a long drive and keeps things always readily available for those spur of the moment adventures ;)
A list of 100 field trip ideas:
Indoor activities:
1) Story time at your library
2) Take a tour or schedule a behind the scenes tour of your library
3) Visit a bookstore and schedule a tour if possible
4) Visit a local or popular kids museum
5) Science factory or museum
6) Space Museum
7) Visit a State or National museum and observe art, sculpture, music, science, inventions etc.
8) Take a baking lesson(s) at a bakery
9) visit a local Historical Society
10) Tour a Historic Church/Cathedral
11) Tour a Historic Building
12) Old School House Tour
13) Visit a Planetarium
14) Ceramics store/Pottery (paint or make their own)
15) Watch a performance at a children’s theater
16) Visit the Theater
17) Go to a Ballet
18) Watch a performance by a Symphony or an Orchestra
19) Watch a Musical
20) Take a tour of a factory
21) Schedule a tour of your state capitol building and schedule a visit with your senator & governor
22) Observe your state congress/house of representatives in session
23) Visit City Hall
24) Visit a courthouse and take a tour
25) Aquarium (Check to see if they have any specific programs for home-schoolers or students. Our aquarium has a special “Sleep with the sharks” event that allows students to have an immersive behind the scenes opportunity to observe the animals, animal encounters, tank feeding of the sharks, and learn how marine biologists/scientists care for the animals
26) Ice Skating or roller skating rink
27) Art Gallery
28) Visit a Wax Museum
29) Visit a Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum
30) Tour a Chocolate Factory
31) Tour an Ice Cream Shop or Factory
32) Tour a candy shop
33) Tour a Cheese Factory
34) Visit a Tractor Shop
35)Observe a working Cotton Gin
36) Take a train ride
37) Ride a Ferry
38) Go Rock Climbing (Indoors)
39) Play Laser Tag
40) Virtual Field Trips
41) Indoor Trampoline Park
42) I-fly (indoor skydiving)
43) Indoor swimming/fitness center (YMCA)
44) Indoor Inflatable/Bounce Park
45) Indoor Jungle Gym
46) Lowes or Home Depot Saturday Morning Programs
47) Visit a pet store/get a behind the scenes tour
Outdoor Activities:
48) Bird watching
49) Visit a fish hatchery
50) visit a local aviary or Wetland/nature reserve
51) Visit a wild life refuge or sanctuary
52) Bird Sanctuary
53) Tour a dairy farm
54) Visit a Horse Farm
55) Farm tour
56) Bee Farm tour
57) U Pick Farm
58) Farmers Market
59) Orchard, tour and pick some apples
60) Take a tour of a lighthouse
61) Visit the beach
62) Take a trip to the mountains
63) Take some skiing/snowboarding lessons
64) Go on a hike and observe nature
65) Take your kids outdoors: Hiking, fishing, camping,
66) Hike to a Waterfall(s)
67) Cave tour
68)Tour of a Cavern
69) Visit an arboretum
70) Geocaching
71) Stargazing
72) Visit an Observatory
73) Greenhouse tour
74) Tour a nursery (plants)
75) Visit a Chinese Garden
76) Visit a Japanese Garden
77) Visit a Rose Garden
78) Visit or tour a Botanical Garden
79) Visit a historical site that ties into your unit of study
80) Check out all the national monuments near you
81) visit a famous battlefield
82) Plan trips to State parks and historic places in your state
83) Plan trips to National Parks
84) Visit Historic homes/historic home tour
85) visit the birthplace of a famous person/president/person from history
86) Visit a military fort
87) Take a tour of a ship or boat (ie. Queen Mary ship (similar to the Titanic) located in Long Beach California, or tour the tall ships: Lady Washington & Hawaiian Chieftain ships used in Once Upon a Time, Star Trek and several films. They travel all over the pacific coast and east coast. We have seen them multiple times in Oregon.)
88) Visit a Water Park
89) Go to an Amusement park
90) Watch a Rodeo
91) Visit a Ghost Town
92)Go to a Wild Life Safari
93) Watch a Professional sporting event in person
94)Watch a College sporting event in person
95) Go to a concert
96) Watch a Shakespearean outdoor Play
97) Parouse a Craft Bazaar/Antique Fair
98) Play a round of golf or take a few lessons at your local golf course
99) Visit a Lumber Mill and learn about what they do
100) Sign your kids up for outdoor school or summer camp
I'd love to see your pics of all your fun field trips and hear any others that I should add to the list, your tips and pointers so leave me a comment and share away! :)
Happy field tripping!!
~K
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