Best Virtual Field Trips for Homeschool Families

Field trips are a favorite activity for homeschoolers, but they can be expensive. With the current events going on in our world, some families are unable to travel and lots of places are closed. This is where virtual field trips can be a great alternative. If you are looking for a fun learning experience from the comfort of home you will enjoy these virtual field trip ideas.

Virtual Field Trips

If you have never taken a virtual trip with your kids you are in for a treat. Virtual field trips can take you anywhere in the world. With all of the technological advancements now, you can get an amazing virtual field trip experience right in your living room or school room. It’s so convenient if an in-person homeschool field trip is not an option. 

Some virtual experiences are so amazing with the 360 degree cameras and views that make you feel like you are right there. They are great educational activities to accompany whatever you are learning about in your homeschool. 

Although your field trip is virtual, be sure to use a field trip log so you can keep record of it and add it to your homeschool portfolio. 

What is a Virtual Field Trip?

A virtual field trip is one that you can do from the comfort of your own home. If you have a Smart TV, you can open up YouTube and explore places all over the world. You can learn about geography by taking a virtual trip to another country. You can explore art history and learn about artists by viewing tours of galleries and museums. If you are studying animals in your homeschool, you could tour a large zoo. The opportunities are endless!

There are so many to choose from and places to see. We have compiled some of our favorite virtual field trips and virtual tours for kids that everyone will love. Take a look at some popular destinations for virtual field trips for kids. 

Virtual Tours for Kids

United States Air Force Museum – If your kids love aviation and flying, they will enjoy this 360 degree tour of the Air Force Museum. Go through the different exhibits and see all the cool aircrafts.

M&M Factory Tour  – Take a tour of an M&M factory and watch the sorting and processing in action. It is very fascinating and a lot of fun for kids to watch.

Virtual Field Trip to the Zoo

The zoo is such a fun place to visit to see animals you normally wouldn’t see in your area. There are some amazing virtual zoo trips, webcams of animals and tons of of information for your kids to learn more. 

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Explorers – See live cams and videos of some of your favorite animals at the San Diego zoo.

The London Zoo – The London Zoo is an amazing zoo that you will never get to see if you don’t plan on visiting London. Their website has webcams and live streams. zookeeper videos and behind-the scenes updates and animal antics at the zoo.

Cincinnati Zoo Live – This zoo did such an amazing job of connecting people during many of the shut downs. They would have daily Facebook live videos that my kids enjoyed logging on to interact with. They still do these videos because they were so popular.

Aquarium Virtual Field Trip

Aquariums are a great way to get up close with marine life that you would normally never be able to see up close. Aquariums have an expensive upkeep and there are not many of them. It seems like many of the good ones can be far away and it is expensive to travel to. If you are studying ocean habitats in your homeschool, this is a great way to make it come alive. 

Monterey Bay Aquarium – This is one of the most famous aquariums you can now watch live webcams in real time. See jellyfish, sea otters, penguins, sharks and more. Some of these are so relaxing and calming for kids.

Ocean Voyager Georgia Aquarium – View some amazing ocean scenes from the aquarium. There are many different webcams including ocean voyager, puffins, piranhas and more. 

Google Virtual Field Trips

UNESCO World Heritage Sites – Visit 30 historic landmarks with this Google Earth tour. 

Google Arts and Culture Virtual Reality Tours – Step inside famous museums with these amazing virtual reality tours. You can view them with a VR headset or even the cardboard ones. It is really neat.

The National Gallery of Art  – Thanks to Google Arts and Google Street View you can enjoy panoramic views of the gallery in 360° .

Virtual Museum Tours for Students

Some of the best museums and museum exhibits are on the other side of the country or the world. If you are studying art and art history in your homeschool you will want to add some of these virtual tours to your lesson plans.

Van Gogh Museum – This museum in Amsterdam houses the largest collection of Van Gogh artworks. There are over 200 paintings here to see virtually.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History – These virtual tours will take you through each and every exhibit in 360°. Travel through the different levels checking out each exhibit in the most popular museum in the world.

The Met 360° Project – This project consists of 6 videos that take you inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art and in the middle of some fabulous exhibits and designs.

The Louvre in Paris – See the original Mona Lisa and many other famous masterpieces with these virtual tours.

NASA Virtual Field Trip

If you are studying space or astronomy this year, these NASA virtual field trips are a must do. Your kids will feel like they are doing their own space exploration with these amazing videos and tours.

Access Mars – Take a look at the real surface of Mars recorded by NASA’s curiosity rover. You will feel like you are really there on the surface of Mars.

NASA’s Commercial Crew Program VR 360 – Learn about the crew at the International Space Station and see videos and virtual tours in VR mode.

Virtual Science Field trips

Dig into Mining – Learn all about copper mines and how they work with this fascinating field trip that takes you to Freeport-McMoran. Take a look inside a real, working copper mine  and hear from the professionals on copper mining.

How Nature Inspires 3M Science – This new virtual field trip takes your children to the 3M World Headquarters. You will learn about how the 3M scientists are using biomimicry to create and invent new products for the health care and food science industries.

Virtual Science Museum Tours

Check out some cool science museums with these free online tours.

History of Science Musuem –  Check out these awesome virtual exhibits from past years at the museum.

The National Musuem of Computing – Computer and tech nerds will really enjoy these 3D virtual tours of the world’s largest collection of working computers.

Social Studies Virtual Field Trips

These virtual field trips are perfect to accompany any social studies or history curriculum you are using in your homeschool.

American Ideals Virtual Field Trip – Take your students on a civics and social studies-centered field trip and learn about democracy in action. You will get to see the inside of The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and learn about the values our nation was founded on.

Interactive Constitution – Learn about the constitution with this interactive constitution tour and website.

Anne Frank’s Secret Annex – Go inside the annex where Anne Frank was hidden and wrote her diary entries in.

Interactive Tour of Ellis Island – Learn about the more than 12 million immigrants that came to America by coming to Ellis Island as their first stop.

Discovery Education Virtual Field Trips

Discovery Education is a treasure trove of virtual experiences and interactive virtual tours that are free. Each virtual field trip comes with a companion guide for teachers with learning activities and discussion questions. You can even search by subject category. 

Your Heart Virtual Field Trip – Learn about the structure and function of the heart with scientists, doctors and an Olympic athlete. There is an educator guide and lots of videos, family activities and even heart healthy recipes.

Virtual Field Trip to a Farm

Farms are iconic field trip destinations. It seems like they are harder to visit and many have closed down or become huge commercial operations. Kids have great memories and learn about food that we eat when they visit a farm. If you would like your children to learn more about farm animals or how farms work, then a consider a virtual field trip!

Virtual Farm Trips – Visit different farms from all over the country. You can register for live online field trips that you can connect with through Zoom for interactive programs during your field trip. The virtual trips can take you to a dairy farm, pig farm, learn about chickens, how to care for cows and more.

Virtual Egg Farm Field Trips – Visit multiple egg farms to see the operations, and hear from the farmers on how they bring eggs from the farm to the table.

Farm Food 360 – There are lots of different field trips to learn where your food comes from.

Math Virtual Field Trips

Do you have math nerds in your home? There are interesting math movies for kids, but there are also virtual math field trips that can pique an interest in mathematics. Check out some of these fascinating virtual field trips.

Fibonacci Numbers and Nature – Learn about fibonacci numbers and what that looks like in nature with these cool virtual photographs and 3D images.

Virtual Math Museum – This virtual math museum has some really cool art and online math galleries.

Virtual Trips Around the World

Kids will love these amazing sites that can be found around the world that you may never get a chance to visit.

Stonehenge Virtual Tour – Visit the mysterious Stonehenge and feel like you are standing right there in the middle of the stones circle. Click on the dots on the interactive map to learn more about the area.

The Tower of London – Take a visit through the Tower of London and learn about the history of the tour as you are taken through with a real guide.

Windsor Castle Virtual Tours – You will be fascinated by these tours of the Windsor Castle.

Great Wall of China – Go through 14 different scenes of the Great Wall as if you are there walking on it yourself.

National Parks Virtual Field Trips

National Parks are amazing places to see and visit. If you are unable to visit due to how far away they are, these virtual tours will be a great hit with the whole family.

The Grand Canyon Virtual Tour – See an up close and personal look at the Grand Canyon with the 360 cameras, and viewing stations all over the park.

Yellowstone National Park Virtual Tours – Take video tours of the park and virtual hikes. There are even lots of videos with the National Park Service park rangers and wildlife webcams.

Recommended Resource: National Parks Notebook – A Notebook Companion™ for National Parks of the U.S.A. Take a trip around the national parks of the U.S.A with our publisher-approved Notebook Companion™. Using the notebook alongside the popular book book National Parks of the U.S.A. will help you squeeze all the amazing content out of it and use it for your homeschool.

Disney World Virtual Field Trip

Disney World is a dream vacation for many field trips. Did you know you can visit it virtually?

Virtual Tours of Disney World Resort – This website has an interactive map that you can click on to explore the different parks at Disney World.

How to Take a Disney Virtual Tour – This ultimate Disney virtual tour tells you how to visit each park virtually with links and step by step directions using Google maps and other fun things.

Interactive Virtual Field Trips

Interactive virtual field trips are usually live interactive programs. You will have the opportunity to interact with the people at the factory or business that you are virtually visiting.

Education Through Imagination – Sign up to take a live interactive virtual field trip to an animatronic factory.

Amazon Fulfillment Center Tours – Visit the Amazon fulfillment center with an interactive tour that you can sign up to attend virtually.

Virtual Field Trip Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon Rainforest is a fascinating spot that many people will never get a chance to visit. Your kids can still have the best experience with a virtual tour.

Amazon Rainforest Virtual Tour – Launch a video tour that will take you directly into the rainforest.

Grades 5-9 Amazon Rainforest Tour – Learn about the different layers of the rainforest and the animals that live there. There are even discussion questions and activities for kids to do with the videos.

In Conclusion

As you can see, the limits are endless with going on virtual field trips. You can create your entire lesson plans for different school subjects around these fun field trips. So, when you’re unable to go on a real-life excursion for a homeschool field trip, consider taking a virtual one!