Virtual field trips allow us to take our students to see even one of the seven wonders of the world up close.
Virtual field trips help your students see amazing sights, connect their learning to real-world experiences and expand their horizons. They are fun, very engaging and best of all most virtual field trips are absolutely free!
Virtual field trips allow us to take our students on adventures we never could before.
What is a virtual tour and how does it work?
Virtual tours allow you and your students to explore places around the world during your online sessions.
These tours give your learners the opportunity to explore and enhance their learning experiences. While they’re exploring, they can get up close to nature or artifacts from the comfort and safety of their own home.
Virtual tours can be many different things, including:
A video
A live webcam of a zoo or animal habitat
A 360 degree view of a location you can manipulate
Pictures enriched with helpful information and diagrams
Best Virtual Field Trips for your lessons
1. Take a trip to the zoo
Zoos all over the world offer ways for animal antics to delight and entertain your students. Most zoos have live webcams in some of their most popular exhibits. Not to mention that some zoos offer a more in-depth look!
Some of our favourite virtual field trips to zoos include:
Edinburgh Zoo’s Live Penguin Cam
Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute's Webinars
San Diego Zoo's Videos
Live feed of African river wildlife in Laikipia County, Kenya
2. Visit National Parks
You have tons of options here. Check out everything our favourite virtual visits to national parks have to offer:
Yellowstone's Video Walks
Experience the national parks in 360° with Google Arts & Culture
3. Have some under the sea fun
Here's what is most popular with our learners:
Watch Sea Otters in HD at Monterey Bay Aquarium
Watch Open Sea in HD at Monterey Bay Aquarium
Livestream sharks with Georgia Aquarium
Get a more traditional, “self-guided” virtual tour of the National Aquarium
Swim through Palau coral reefs through a virtual adventure and then take learning to the next level with the Nature Lab’s Teacher’s Guide
Scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef
4. Explore space
Visit the surface of Mars Created by Google and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Take the International Space Station Tour
Through Stellarium Web, kids can explore over 60,000 stars, locate planets, and watch sunrises and solar eclipse
Check Out This Amazing Nickelodeon Slime in Space Virtual Field Trip
5. Take a walk at famous places
Walk the Great Wall of China
Visit the White House
Take a virtual field trip to Ellis Island
Enter the different buildings of George Washington’s home during this virtual experience
See stunning panoramas across the globe
6. Tour museums
Get students excited about learning.
The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History has a variety of virtual tours to choose from
Wander through the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City
Explore history in the British Museum
Explore the architecture and art of the Louvre with their online tours
Visit the the Benaki Museum in Greece
Travel through time—starting with 2,000,000 BC with The Museum of the World interactive projects
One of Germany’s largest museums, Pergamon is home to a variety of ancient artifacts
Try The Rijksmuseum's “stories” in the Netherlands
“Walk” through all three floors of the Boston Children’s Museum on this virtual tour.
7. Discover the world and nature
Take the Living with Polar Bears Virtual Field Trip
Travel through Vietnam’s Son Doong, the world’s largest cave
Explore the latest engineering, technology, and manufacturing at Boeing with these Virtual Field Trips
Discover ancient Egypt
How to turn virtual tours into learning activities
Virtual field trips are a great way to get students excited about learning and get real-world experience without leaving the house!
To get the most out of the experience, keep these tips in mind:
Look for virtual experiences that fit into your lesson plan for maximum impact
Search for supplementary resources like teacher guides and discussion questions or create your own
Try out the virtual tour first to make sure everything will go smoothly during the lesson
Use virtual field trips anytime you'd like to make your lessons more interesting and fun for your learners.
Follow up with your students and see what they liked the most. Then, harness that excitement for your next lesson or activity!