7 Free Virtual Field Trips to Take Your Kids on During Quarantine
After over a month of social distancing, your children might be getting a little stir crazy, and we don’t blame them! If they need an escape without actually leaving the house, virtual field trips might be the perfect solution.
Like real field trips, virtual field trips give kids a chance to explore different places and topics. Not only that, but virtual field trips can also give your kids something fun and educational to do when you don’t have time to give them one-on-one instruction.
These seven virtual field trips can help your kids learn more about the amazing world around them!
Johnson Space Center
Boeing and Discovery Education put together this exciting virtual field trip to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The field trip includes six chapters that explore topics related to space exploration, like space mission simulation and life in space.
Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens
The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens hosts a Home Safari series on Facebook Live every day at 3 p.m. EDT. But if you can’t make it at that time, don’t worry! The videos are also posted on YouTube and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens website. Each video focuses on one of the zoo’s residents. The zoo website even suggests an activity to go along with each video!
San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Zoo is one of the most renowned zoos in the world. While you can’t take a trip there right now, your kid can still see animals up close with the San Diego Zoo’s live cams. Your child can watch baboons, penguins, polar bears, koalas, giraffes, elephants, tigers, and more! To make it more educational, kids could also take notes on the behavior of each animal.
The Nature Conservancy
Exploring the great outdoors can be a fun adventure. But if your kid has already spent enough time in the backyard, The Nature Conservancy has field trips that can take them to more diverse environments, including coral reefs, rainforests, deserts, and more.
National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History has self-guided virtual tours that allow kids to examine exhibits at their own pace. This tour is so detailed that you can even zoom in to read the signs. And since you can change the angle and move in virtually any direction, the tour feels so real that your child might forget they’re still at home.
Louvre
The world-famous Louvre Museum houses art and historic artifacts, and your child can visit some of the collection from the comfort of home! The Louvre has several online tours that allow you to look around and click on the pieces you’re interested in for more information.
Google Arts & Culture
Google Arts & Culture has a large collection of cultural materials, including images of art collections, looks inside important sites, and so much more. A wide array of topics are covered, so you might be able to find something relevant to your child’s current lessons or interests. Not sure where to start? Why not dive in with a tour of Tikal, the ruin of an ancient Mayan city?
Have your kids taken any virtual field trips during quarantine? If so, which was their favorite? Let us know in the comments section below!
