Take Your Kids on a Virtual Field Trip to These Wonderful Places… for FREE!
By themselves, virtual tours are educational and fun. Added to Unit Studies, they're even more powerful because they help tie everything together. Think about how you remember things: when it's interactive and fun, it sticks better!
Free Virtual Field Trip Websites
No permission slips required! These virtual events let educators take students to amazing places and give them remarkable experiences, without ever leaving the classroom. — Discovery Education
Rainforest Virtual Tour: One of our daughter's favorite virtual tours by far, it's also super educational! Add to any Unit Study about the rainforest, or about weather and different climates.
Farm Tours: If your family doesn't live on a farm, your kids may not have had the chance to experience farm living yet. Best part? Virtual tours are not as stinky as the farms are!
National Park Field Trips: The NPS website is full of resources for parents and educators, including many virtual tours. Yellowstone is one of our favorites!
A virtual tour of Ellis Island is a great way to kick off a Unit Study about Immigration and how we all came to America.
Natural History Museum: Dive into history with this awesome virtual tour of the National Museum of Natural History. Don't miss the opportunity to take a tour of the Smithsonian!
San Diego Zoo Animal Cams: Many zoos are offering virtual tours now that everything is closed down. San Diego Zoo leads in innovation and zoology, they're a great zoo to learn from. The kiddos will love Zoo Atlanta's Panda Cam. The Monterey Bay Aquarium also has live animal cams. Zoo cams alone can help kick off so many studies in your homeschool!
The White House: Touring the White House is a dream for many. This virtual tour is a good way to kick off a Unit Study about the government. If you want to cover other types of governments, tour Buckingham Palace and do a compare/contrast worksheet on the two governments.
Anne Franke's House: This is a virtual tour we took several years ago. We followed it up with reading books about the Holocaust, watching The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (*sob*), and studying Anne Franke. This virtual tour is a great addition to any Unit Study about the Holocaust.
360 Cities: Visit cities worldwide and get a 360-degree view from your phone or computer!
Explore the Pyramids of Egypt with PBS' NOVA online experience. This is more in-depth than many other virtual field trips, with enough information to help outline a Unit Study or lapbook. 🙂
Colonial Williamsburg: Wonder what it was like to live during colonial times? This virtual tour is the perfect starting point.
Panoramic Tours: Virtually tour America, or anywhere else in the world with these panoramas.
Reach the World: Pick a journey, any journey! Virtually travel to France, the United Kingdom, and more … all with real people!
You can use virtual tours as part of a Unit Study, or simply use them as something fun to fill the time. The magic happens when you learn to ENJOY homeschooling, which we know can be difficult at first especially if your homeschooling journey started unexpectedly. 😉
Experience 360 Tours of:
- the 7 Wonders of the World
- the Leaning Tower of Pisa
- the Eiffel Tower
- Dubai (BEAUTIFUL!)
- Athens
- Milan
Using Google for virtual field trips
Google Earth: Visit anywhere with Google Earth. This is fun to do even outside of homeschooling. Google Street View is another fun one. 🙂
Google Arts and Culture: Explore art museums from around the world. Google is #1 for a reason! They've partnered with museums and are offering amazing virtual tours of so many of them.
Google Lit Trips: “Lit Trips are downloadable files that mark the journeys of characters from famous literature on the surface of Google Earth. Along the way, placemarks with pop-up windows contain “just in time” resources including relevant media, thought-provoking discussion starters, and links to supplementary information about “real world” references in that portion of the story. Our focus is on creating engaging and relevant literary experiences for students.”
Use Google Maps to explore the world:
Remember: You've got this! Leave a comment if you have any questions and we will answer them! 🙂
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