You found our list of the best virtual field trips.
Virtual field trips are class outings that take place online, via platforms like Zoom, Google Street View or websites. While some of these activities consist of pre-recorded tours and videos, the best options tend to involve live video feed and student interaction with guides. Examples activities include digital walks along The Great Wall of China and a scrollable deep sea dive. These activities are also known as “online field trips” and “digital field trips”.
These adventures are an example of online classroom activities and often include virtual tours.
This articles includes:
- interactive virtual field trips
- virtual field trips for students
- the best virtual field trip ideas
- free virtual field trips for kids
- live virtual field trips
Here is the list!
List of virtual field trip ideas
From virtual cockpit tours to online historical sites to do-it-yourself options, here is a list of ideas for virtual field trips to captivate and educate students.
1. Online Zoo (Behind the Scenes)
A digital zoo tour is one of the best virtual field trips for kids. While virtual trips may not let students see otters float, elephants play, and lions strut up close, a digital tour allows for more intimate behind-the-scenes access.
Your class can get close with the animals and walk paths usually reserved for zookeepers. While you may not be able to fit 30 squirming first graders into a baby animal nursery or an operating room, the guide can easily broadcast from these venues. Also, since the visit takes place entirely online, you can visit a zoo that is otherwise far from you.
Here is a starter list:
- San Antonio Zoo
- San Diego Zoo
- Cincinnati Zoo (self-guided tours, livestream safari and feeding times)
Many other zoos stream live animal webcams that you and your class can watch. You can also contact your local zoo directly to inquire about facilitated virtual tours and school group discounts.
During the online visit, your students can ask questions using the hand raising or chat features in the video conferencing platform. Once your tour concludes, your students can enjoy thematic snacks such as zebra cakes, goldfish, and of course, animal crackers.
Check our more virtual zoo tours.
2. Virtual Safari
When you do a virtual safari, your students can observe lions, elephants and other animals in their natural habitat. Wild Earth offers twice daily live safaris. Since the broadcast occurs on African time, your best bet is to tune in for the sunset safari, which live streams from 9:00am to 12:30pm Eastern Standard Time. The safari broadcasts from several nature reserves and features animals such as lions, leopards, cheetahs, and hyenas. During the tour, viewers can ask park rangers questions. The unscripted nature of the broadcast lends an element of excitement, since animal sightings are always a surprise.
Learn more at Wild Earth.
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3. Under the Sea Visit
Unless you are secretly Miss Frizzle from The Magic Schoolbus, you cannot whisk your class to the bottom of the ocean in a submarine. However, you can lead your students on an online field trip of the ocean.
The Deep Sea by Neal Agarwal shows all sorts of marine life in the ocean. Viewers can scroll deeper into the ocean, discovering the animals that dwell at each depth. For a fun pre-tour exercise, distribute a handout with the names of various species and challenge students to guess at which depth the creature lives. Then, check answers as you plunge further down into the ocean.
Journey to The Deep Sea.
4. Aquarium Webcam Livestream
The Monterey Bay Aquarium hosts live cams for animals, including sea otters, penguins, jellyfish, and sharks. Aquarium employees narrate during feeding time, so for maximum engagement consider tuning in during mealtimes. The aquarium website also offers free online classes for ages ranging from kindergarten to high school, resources for teachers, and crafts and printables.
Dive into the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s live webcams.
5. Virtual Tour of the Great Wall of China
Your students can trek the Great Wall of China from the comfort of home. For $15, The China Guide offers a guided tour through high resolution images of the Great Wall of China via Zoom. Your students can also take part in question and answer sessions with an expert and have an interactive experience.
Stroll the Great Wall of China.
6. NASA Commercial Crew Program
Until recently, space wasn’t on the list of field trip destinations. NASA decided to teleport students directly to space camp by curating a virtual field trip that highlights its commercial crew program. Teachers can transmit a series of educational videos onto virtual reality sets to create an immersive experience. The tour guide leads virtual visitors through spaceship crew pits and launching pads while explaining the process of becoming an astronaut. The tour puts a heavy emphasis on STEM education and directs teachers to resources useful for supplementary science and math lessons.
Learn more about NASA’s at-home STEM activities.
7. Disney Parks Digital Tour
Most children dream of the day the teacher announces a field trip to Disney World. While students may not be able to ride teacups or roller coasters during a digital tour of Disney, they can still experience the excitement of the happiest place on earth by touring a high resolution Google Street view of the parks.
Students who have not yet visited Disney can see what the park is like, and those that have visited can point out sites and share stories. You can also include Disney history and lessons on the inspirations behind the attractions to make the tour more educational. Consider serving Disney themed snacks during breaks, and perhaps initiating a singalong during a music lesson. With the money you save on transportation and admission, you could even hire a beloved Disney character to pay the class a visit.
Learn more about Disney Parks Digital Tour.
8. Streaming Broadway Shows
Instead of escorting your students to a Broadway show, summon a Broadway stage to your classroom. Broadway HD has a library of hundreds of productions, including rare and obscure shows. While not in real time, most filmed productions on the site are of live shows. Your students can uncover hard to find productions and learn about American theatre history too. Broadway HD offers a one week free trial, as well as monthly and yearly subscription options.
Watch a Broadway show.
9. Virtual Reality Rainforest Tour
Even if you had the budget to fly your class to the Amazon, a real-life tour would be too risky for a field trip. A virtual tour lets students experience panoramic views of lush rain forests while learning about indigenous communities and conservation efforts. The tour is viewable as an immersive experience via virtual reality devices, or as a 360 degree video on regular devices. By participating in the Under the Canopy tour, students come to understand the importance of the rain forest and its connection to human life as a whole.
Embark on a virtual reality rain forest tour.
10. Computerized Cockpit Tours
Livestream cockpit tours make thrilling virtual field trips for high school students. While airline regulations call for restricted cockpit access, you may be able to find a private pilot willing to give your students a Skype tour of the craft. The pilot might even broadcast a quick flight.
If you cannot find a live guide, then the following organizations provide self-guided tours with pilot-perspective views of various aircraft:
Or, you could download and run a flight simulator that gives students the chance to navigate and land a virtual plane.
11. Living Rooms Around the World
A living room might seem like an odd choice for a virtual field trip, but a living room located across the globe is as fascinating as any other destination. You can plan a tour of foreign homes so that your students can learn how everyday life differs around the world.
If you know individuals in other countries willing to Zoom with your students, then you can reach out to these acquaintances and coordinate your experience directly. If not, then you can contact a foreign exchange program or local university for help. You can also watch the Life Where I’m From channel on YouTube, though live tours with question and answer sessions are more personal and immersive.
You and your students can also check out Dollar Street for a strong visual map of how people live around the world.
12. Virtual Tour of the Louvre
The Louvre is one of the most famous museums in the world, but many people will never visit in person. By taking your class on a virtual tour of the Louvre, you save airfare and time spent waiting in line.
The Louvre offers high resolution, 360 degree tours of various exhibitions on its website. Your class can explore Egyptian antiquities, classic Italian paintings, and the remains of an underground moat, all without leaving the classroom.
The Louvre site also directs visitors towards a downloadable “VR Mona Lisa” app that provides an up close peek at the famous painting, and other video and at-home experiences.
Visit the Louvre.
13. Online Tour of the British Museum
The British Museum’s online Museum of the World exhibit lets visitors view and sort artifacts based on time period, area of origin, and themes such as religion or trade. Each point on the timeline contains pictures, descriptions, an audio file, and links to related objects.
This format lends itself well to a virtual scavenger hunt. Solving an activity helps students focus and remain more engaged, which results in students learning more from the experience.
Explore the British Museum.
14. Digital Tour of the Van Gogh Museum
While the digital tour of the Van Gogh Museum fails to capture the paintings’ texture, it does offer contextual information on the artist’s most famous images such as Almond Blossom and Self-portrait With Grey Felt Hat. This tour also provides background information about Van Gogh’s life, with several narrative timelines.
Check out the Van Gogh Museum.
15. Google Meets Visit to the Guggenheim
The Guggenheim offers an interactive virtual museum experience. Booking a tour gives your class access to a guide for one hour, and your class will view three to five famous works and participate in an ongoing Q&A session. The museum educator facilitates activities that encourage students to engage with the art. All tours take place via Zoom or Google Meet.
Though the museum gears most tours towards grade school, they also hold separate online tours for university students and adults as well.
Book a Virtual Group Visit to the Guggenheim.
16. Computerized Career Days
Career day is a staple of the school experience. Typically, parents and community professionals visit classrooms to talk to students about various jobs. Online, these professionals can actually take students along on the job. Students can go to work with firefighters, underwater welders, cake decorators, farmers, or any other interesting vocations that do not mind taking the kids along.
Career days can be an ongoing series, with a five to 15-minute tour of a different workplace every session. This approach spreads the fun across a larger span of time by hosting a mini field trip every day, instead of condensing all the excitement into a single afternoon.
You can do online career tests too, or plan a virtual take your child to work day.
17. Remote City Tours
Tour guides in many cities offer a verbal history and visual slideshow via software like Zoom and WebEx. Remote city tours are one of the easiest-to-execute virtual field trip ideas. The guides already mapped the path and prepared the presentation; you only need to book the tour and show up with your class.
The crew here at TeamBuilding recently embarked on a virtual tour of Black Broadway in Washington DC and an online Harry Potter tour of Edinburgh, Scotland. Our team thoroughly enjoyed both tours and learned a lot.
18. Online Historical Sites
Many online field trips focus on learning about history. You and your class can visit significant sites all around the world and learn how these locations shaped modern history.
Here is a short list of historical sites with online experiences:
There are many other historically significant locations you can visit online.
19. DIY Virtual Field Trips
Some schools give students options to vote on the yearly field trip. Since online field trips use minimal time and resources, every student can design a dream trip. Instead of organizing a virtual trip yourself, you can assign the planning to your students. Every participant can design an itinerary by using Google Tour Creator.
Students may choose to explore areas such as the tombs of pharaohs, or the birth cities of American jazz. Your students will become the tour guides and teach peers about the chosen topic.
Conclusion
Most of these virtual field trips are available to anyone, and are free to access, meaning your students can visit or revisit the sites anytime. To make your activity extra special, seek out guide-led, live, interactive experiences so that your students can hold conversations with an expert. You can also supplement the trip with assignments and fun games.
Next, check out our list of games to play on Zoom, this list of Google Meet games, and this one with online art classes.
That was so cool!! I am a child and I am making these things for my JK sister. This was really helpful. Thank you!!