Virtual Field Trips for Kids
1. Recycling Simplified
Go green! Recycling Simplified virtual field trips allow parents and teachers to take kids on a virtual field trip to see how a recycling center and a modern landfill works. The community resource provides 10 to 20-minute videos, flashcards, quizzes and handouts for kindergarteners through 12th graders, with specific offerings for Pre-K through second grade, third through fifth grades, sixth through eighth grades and ninth through 12th grades.
2. Escape to New York Virtual Tour Game
Escape to New York Virtual Tour Game reveals many of New York’s treasures including Central Park, Grand Central Terminal, Greenwich Village, American Museum of Natural History and more.
3. Escape to Boston Virtual Tour Game
Escape to Boston Virtual Tour Gamemakes stops at the Freedom Trail, Museum of Fine Arts, Harvard Campus, New England Aquarium and more.
4. Escape to Chicago Virtual Tour Game
Escape to Chicago Virtual Tour Game explores the Windy City and such sites as the Loop, Millennium Park, the giant train set at the Museum of Science & Industry and more.
5. Escape to Los Angeles Virtual Tour Game
Escape to Los Angeles Virtual Tour Gameshowcases quirky art at the Getty Center, landmarks such as the Santa Monica Pier and Hollywood Boulevard and much more.
6. Escape to Philadelphia Virtual Tour Game
Escape to Philadelphia Virtual Tour Game explores Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, Reading Terminal Market, Al Capone’s cell at the Eastern State Penitentiary (for older kids, of course!) and more.
7. Escape to San Francisco Virtual Tour Game
Escape to San Francisco Virtual Tour Gamelets your little smartypants explore San Francisco and San Jose, California, with stops at Alcatraz, the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, the Rosicrucian Museum and more.
8. Escape to Texas Virtual Tour Game
In the Escape to Texas Virtual Tour Game visit five cities in the state and iconic locations such as The Alamo, the Dallas Museum of Art and more.
9. Escape to Washington, D.C. Virtual Tour Game
The Escape to Washington DC Virtual Tour Game explores the Air & Space Museum, Lincoln Memorial, National Gallery of Art and more historic sites in the nation’s capital.
10. Go Canada Virtual Scavenger Hunt
Head to the Great White North without worrying about passports or planes! Go Canada Virtual Scavenger Hunt takes teams across Canada, including a virtual stroll through Old Quebec, galleries of the Royal Ontario Museum, an online invasion of Craigdarroch Castle in historic British Columbia and more.
11. The Forgery Museum
The Forgery Museumtakes students on a virtual art museum scavenger hunt around the country at locations including the American Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago and more. Just make sure no one gets any funny ideas!
12. Escape to the Museum Virtual Scavenger Hunt
The Escape to the Museum Virtual Scavenger Hunt explores hidden treasures at 18 museums around the United States. A special STEM edition of this game visits 12 museums focused on science, technology, engineering and math.
13. Around the World Scavenger Hunt
Go globetrotting with the Around the World Scavenger Hunt. This virtual field trip takes you around the world in just an hour, making stops to explore the ancient streets of Pompeii, a centuries-old pagoda in Japan, an artist’s haunting studio in Mexico and more.
14. Best of the US: Virtual Tour of America Scavenger Hunt
The Best of the US: Virtual Tour of America Scavenger Hunt takes players on a virtual road trip making stops at Hollywood’s Chinese Theater, New York’s Grand Central Terminal, the Alamo in San Antonio and more.
15. Escape to MIT Virtual Tour Game
Escape to MIT Virtual Tour Game brings teams on a tour of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, highlighting the best student hacks, murals, the infamous “Smoot” and more.
16. The Skydeck Chicago at Willis Tower
Though the actual attraction may be closed right now, you can still explore The Skydeck Chicago at Willis Towerwith a virtual tour. In addition, parents or teachers can reference Skydeck Chicago’s Teacher’s Guide, which includes topics related to the history, design and construction of Willis Tower, environmental efforts at the building, and lesson plans and worksheets for subjects including physics, social studies and middle school science. Skydeck coloring sheets are also available for kids (or, let’s be real, parents who need a break).
17. Heal the Bay Aquarium
Heal the Bay Aquarium in Los Angeles hosts a STEM-based Virtual Field Trip. The trip incorporates 45-minute online lessons that allow students to connect with local marine life and their habitat through engaging live virtual programs and science activities, including tank exploration. The lessons are customizable with an array of topics including habitats, food webs, careers in science and more. The virtual field trip is $150 for a classroom (50 students maximum), with grant funding available for Title 1 schools.
18. Seek Education
Seek Educationprovides interactive learning through augmented reality. Their virtual field trips include ancient Egypt, the Louvre, a journey through space and an UNESCO World Heritage Sites experience.
19. Singapore Zoo
The Singapore Zoooffers interactive virtual field trip experiences to get close to all their critters while safely social distancing.
20. Calaveras Big Trees State Park
Kids can take a virtual field trip to Calaveras Big Trees State Parkin Arnold, California, to see giant sequoias from the safety of their own homes.
21. Marys Peak
Marys Peak near Corvallis, Oregon, is the highest peak in the Coast Range Mountains in Oregon. You can explore Marys Peak with their virtual field trip and take in the spectacular views, including nearby volcanoes.
22. Kennedy Space Center Virtual Camp
Space and astronomy lovers will enjoy Virtual Camp KSC, the virtual leg of Kennedy Space Center’s learning platform. During the three-day online camp, campers will connect in real-time via Zoom video conference to a member of the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex education staff. Campers will complete STEM learning activities hosted from a variety of locations at the visitor complex., including learning to build and launch your own rocket, exploring deep space, and performing experiments and design challenges.
23. Brevard Zoo
Brevard Zoolocated on Florida’s Space Coast gives at-home learners and animal lovers interactive virtualfieldtrip experiences, lagoon quests, zoo school and virtual tours of animal encounters.
24. KidPass’ Virtual Astronomy & Space Academy
Kids ages four to 17 can enjoy KidPass’ Virtual Astronomy & Space Academy “Look Up to the Stars” Online Experience.
25. Allegion
Allegionoffers virtual field trips for older kids and teens to learn about careers in manufacturing.
26. The Nature Conservancy’s Nature Lab
Nature Labfrom The Nature Conservancy offers digital experiences and virtual field trips for kids ages 8 to 14.
27. Scholastic Global Trek
Scholastic Global Trektakes kids on a virtual field trip around the world, with different experiences for students in third through fifth and sixth through eighth grades.
28. Boulevard AR
Art students will love Boulevard AR. The app guides users through an immersive experience narrated by curators from the National Portrait Gallery featuring music and layered effects. Elizabeth Reede, alum of Apple Entrepreneur Camp, founded Boulevard Arts and created the Boulevard AR app—partnering with the world’s leading museums and cultural sites—to develop dynamic arts-based educational content and experiences shared through augmented, virtual and mixed reality technologies.
29. Airbnb Online Experiences
Airbnb Online Experiencesinclude virtual field trips and hands-on experiences like a leopard safari in Sri Lanka, exploring the Pink City of Jaipur, discovering Bueno Aires street art and sketching, making a traditional Mexican piñata, uncovering Pompeii with an archaeologist, learning about origami and the essence of Japan, diving under the sea with a shark scientist, spending a day in Paris with a Parisian, learning about space with an astronomer, discovering the science of swimming with an Olympic Medalist, enjoying a K-pop concert and dance class for beginners, making vegan brownies with the family, experimenting with colored pasta and chocolate volcanos and learning sign language through games.
30. Seaworld’s Saving a Species
In Seaworld’s Saving a Speciesseries, kids can take a virtual field trip to the native habitats of cheetahs, penguins, polar bears, sea turtles, wolves, elephants and marine life.
31. Colombia Virtual Field Trips
Explore Colombia without the hassle of a passport or translator! There are virtual field trips to Cartagena, Medellín(including virtual routes that take you through Plaza Botero, the Orquideorama, the Museum of Modern Art and other sites), Museums of the Banco de la República, the National Museum of Colombiaand even a virtual birdwatching tour.
32. Shedd Aquarium
Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium offers a variety of animal encounters and virtualfield trips. At the cost of $49.95 (per computer screen), families can enjoy a virtual visit with one of Shedd’s penguins, sea otters or sea lions. Other age-focused programs include Zzz’s Under the Seas Virtual Slumber Party(for families with children ages 4–12, $125 per household); Virtual Aquarium Mini-Camp for Kids(grades K-5, $39.95 per child); Virtual Field Trip Programs (grades K–8, $125 for one group, $95 for an additional group in the same program) and Stay Home with Shedd (grades 3-5, free).
33. Lincoln Park Zoo
Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo offers Live Virtual Zoo Tours (starting at $15), allowing animal lovers to explore buildings across zoo grounds with a zoo staff member. Get an insider’s look at the fascinating habitat design elements and learn more about the zoo’s commitment to animal care and global conservation efforts. These virtual sessions will start with a short introduction followed by a 30-minute guided tour of an animal building and a 10-minute Q&A session. The Lincoln Park Zoo also offers Virtual Animal Experiences (two per month, starting at $15), where you can join an animal expert to learn more about a specific animal group through one of four unique formats: Meet-and-Greet, Cognition and Care, Enrichment, or Feeding.
34. Field Museum
Dino-lovers, rejoice! The Field Museumin Chicago offers a virtual guided tour and meet and greet with T-rex Sue. You can submit questions in advance for your docent to answer, too!
35. Chicago History Museum
Learn about history in and about the Windy City without leaving home! The Chicago History Museum offers fee-based virtual student workshops or free gallery tour videos. Current virtual student workshops ($50 per session; max 35 students) engage students (grades 3-5) in a close reading experience with Julia Lemos’s painting Memories of the Chicago Fire and her written account of the disaster and encourage students (grades 6-12) to think critically about freedom and issues of social justice, particularly in the areas of workers’ rights, armed conflict, public protest, and race and citizenship, as they consider the museum’s Facing Freedom in America exhibition. Current free gallery tours address lessons from the Great Chicago Fire and the Impacts of the Stockyard and Meatpacking, respectively. Next, fun things to do with kids when boredom hits.
