15 Interactive Virtual Field Trips for All Ages – The TPT Blog

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Virtual field trips are a valuable classroom resource for many reasons: Accessibility, independent work, interdisciplinary instruction, distance learning, and cost effectiveness are just a few! It’s also helpful that you won’t need to pile into a school bus for these trips. From slideshows to interactive websites and guided WebQuests, these virtual field trips for kids and teens bring unforgettable experiences right to your students’ desks.

Virtual Field Trips for Kids in Elementary School

For classroom teachers who’d like to expand upon their teaching without organizing a full field trip, virtual field trips are an excellent option. Use them as winter activities for kids when travel is difficult, or add them to your curriculum any time of the year.

Start with STEM virtual field trips

Have you ever considered a scientific field trip for your students, but cost, safety, and convenience got in the way? That’s not the case for STEM-based virtual field trips, where students can learn more about other countries or geological features (including volcanoes!) without feeling unsafe.

Virtual Field Trip BEACH DAY | Google Slides | End of the Year Activities
By Teacher’s Brain – Cindy Martin
Grades: K-2nd
Subjects: Math, Science, Writing
Standards: CCSS K.CC.A.1, A.3; K.CC.B.5; K.G.A.2; 1.G.A.2; W.1.3, 1.7, 2.3, 2.6; MP1; CCRA.W.4, W.5, W.6 

Take a trip to the beach that doesn’t involve sand, water safety, or bus travel! This CCSS-aligned virtual field trip resource lets younger students experience the beach with activities on sequencing events and counting objects, as well as a fun beach song and writing prompts.

Virtual Field Trip to a Volcano Digital Resource Activity Types of Volcanoes
By MagiCore
Grades: 2nd-5th
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geography, Reading
Standards: CCSS.RI.2.1, 2.5, 10, 3.1, 10, 4.1, 5.7, 9, 10; NGSS 2-ESS1-1

Bring students up close and personal (virtually) to a volcano with a field trip that lets them stay in their classroom. Aligned to NGSS standards on the Earth’s place in the universe, this elementary earth sciences unit includes an educational video, reading comprehension activities, and multiple opportunities for students to apply their geological understanding.

Passport Template Activities Kids Printable Virtual Field Trip Country Research
By Miss Tech Queen STEM
Grades: 2nd-5th
Subjects: Computer Science-Technology, Geography

Take elementary students around the world with a printable passport and virtual field trip activity. This thorough resource includes 20 editable slides for students to use as they tour different parts of the world virtually, either as part of a larger country research project or a focus on world cultures.

Make musical field trips a priority this year

You can invite musical groups to perform and teach your students, or you can use multi-faceted musical field trips to elevate their understanding! Use these virtual field trips to teach about instruments, vocal techniques, music history, and more.

Peter and the Wolf Virtual Field Trip for Elementary Music – Google Slides Music
By Beth’s Music Classroom
Grades: K-3rd
Subjects: Instrumental Music, Music, Music Composition

After listening to and learning about Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, young musicians put the story in order, discover the instruments used in the composition, try vocal exploration and a rhythmic game, and write sentences and activities for each character represented by an instrument.

Share social studies and current issues

Your students don’t need to travel to another country to learn how other cultures live. Use literature, research, and virtual field trips to give them valuable insight into current issues around the world.

THE WATER PRINCESS VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP [DIGITAL LINK]
By Love4Learning
Grades: 2nd-5th
Subjects: African History, Close Reading, Writing

After elementary students read The Water Princess by Susan Verde, they can take a virtual field trip to Burkina Faso to learn more about the need for clean water access around the world. The interdisciplinary resource includes 22 interactive Google Slides, informational videos, opinion writing prompts, and resources needed for students to learn more about how they can help. 

Middle and High School Virtual Field Trips

When it comes to fun field trips for high school students and middle schoolers, the options are endless, even when time and finances aren’t. Substitute a few of your field trip plans for these virtual field trips, or use them to facilitate independent learning for older students.

Take a scientific look at the world around you

Middle and high school students make important connections and form valuable insights when they can see scientific concepts outside the classroom. Bring that experience to their individualized learning with virtual field trips, which provide all of the insight at a fraction of the effort and cost.

Volcanoes Virtual Field Trip – Worksheets, Presentation, No Prep, Real World
By Spectacular Science
Grades: 6th-9th
Subjects: Earth Sciences, General Science

Standards: NGSS MS-ESS2-2, MS-ESS3-2; HS-ESS3-1, HS-ESS2-2

How do volcanoes affect the environment around them? Help middle schoolers answer this question with an NGSS-aligned virtual field trip to Mount Saint Helens in Washington state. After studying historic volcanic eruptions, students use a simulation and additional resources included in the activity to come to their own conclusion.

Biomes Field Trip: Virtual Reality
By IslandScienceTeacher
Grades: 6th-12th
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environment
Standards: NGSS HS-LS2-7, HS-ESS3-1, HS-ESS3-6, HS-ESS3-4, HS-LS2-8

Explore five biomes around the world with a virtual reality resource. Students use the interactive resource to answer comprehension questions and complete a digital scavenger hunt to find different organisms in each biome, all while learning more about the interconnectedness of ecosystems around them.

The Big Bang Theory WebQuest | Virtual Field Trip | Astronomy | Space Science
By Physics Burns
Grades: 9th-12th
Subjects: Astronomy, Physical Science
Standards: NGSS HS-ESS1-2

Take high schoolers on an astronomical field trip to explore the universe and learn more about the Big Bang Theory. They’ll watch videos on the history and alternative theories of the Big Bang, then work independently or as a class to complete comprehension questions.

Have middle and high schoolers step into history

Nothing inspires students like experiencing something themselves, which can be a difficult task in history class. Bring history to life with virtual field trips that blend an area’s past and present with interactive maps and digital museums for older learners to explore.

Salem Witch Trials Virtual Field Trip Webquest for Middle and High School
By TeachWithBri
Grades: 6th-12th
Subjects: European History, Social Studies

You don’t need a time machine to study the Salem Witch Trials. A virtual walking tour, educational video, 360-degree website tour, and online exploration of the Salem Witch Trial PEM Museum allow students to explore this period in history in a more personal and in-depth way than ever before.

Connect ELA skills to older students’ lives

Whether it’s writing a reflection, citing their sources, or learning the historical context of a piece of literature, virtual field trips give middle and high schoolers the opportunity to use their ELA skills every day. These no-prep resources include interdisciplinary ways for students to expand upon what they learn in ELA and to draw important conclusions about the time periods in which literature was written.

Citing Text Evidence Digital ESCAPE ROOM! Virtual Field Trip Game & ELA Review
By Howes in the Middle
Grades: 5th-9th
Subjects: ELA Test Prep, English Language Arts, Informational Text
Standards: CCSS.RL.5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, 9-10.1; RI.5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, 9-10.1

Combine ELA skills for narrative and informational text with the fun of an escape room! This virtual field trip game takes middle schoolers through an engaging activity in which they use text citation skills to navigate their way through a digital escape room. 

National Parks Music Virtual Field Trip for Google Slides
By Joyful Noise Teaching
Grades: 3rd-12th
Subjects: English Language Arts, Music, Writing

Plan an all-inclusive trip to multiple National Parks across the United States with a fun virtual field trip activity. The resource connects ELA skills and musical concepts as students review American music and literature, all with the backdrop of some of the most spectacular geographical sites in the world.

William Shakespeare Virtual Field Trip & Webquest Activity – Print & Digital
By Books and Bloom Teaching
Grades: 8th-12th
Subjects: English Language Arts, Literature, Reading
Standards: CCSS RL.8.1-8.4; RL.9-10.1-10.9, 11-12.1-12.5

If you’re starting a unit on Shakespeare and need to give students background information, this virtual field trip resource is a must-add to your ELA curriculum. Students use Google Arts & Culture to tour 10 significant locations in William Shakespeare’s life, answer background questions, and reflect on what they learned about the legendary writer.

Walk world language classes through cultural landmarks

Immersion is one of the best ways to learn a language, so it’s only natural that middle and high school language teachers would want to take their classes to a country that speaks the language they’re teaching. If international travel isn’t in your district’s budget, find the next best thing with virtual field trips that you can assign at a moment’s notice (no passport needed).

FRENCH Virtual Field Trip to Les CATACOMBES de Paris! Excursion Virtuelle!
By French with Elise
Grades: 5th-7th
Subjects: French

If you’ve always wanted to take your French class to Paris, now’s your chance! Have middle school French students virtually explore les Catacombes de Paris with a resource that includes a 27-slide PowerPoint presentation, teacher directions, student questions, and informational videos and reading to provide important background information.

Puerto Rico Project Virtual Field Trip | Spanish 1-2 Culture Project Carnaval
By La Libre Language Learning
Grades: 8th-11th
Subjects: Spanish

Take a virtual trip to Puerto Rico this semester with your Spanish class! This thorough Spanish language resource takes students through necessary travel vocabulary, cultural context, and information on significant tourist destinations throughout this beautiful country.

Inspire music and theater students with unforgettable performances

If a field trip to Broadway isn’t feasible, you can bring Broadway to your classroom! Use musical and theatrical virtual field trips to reinforce the power of the stage, the importance of stagecraft, and the most significant performances of a generation.

MUSIC Field Trip | New York City Virtual Musical Field Trip | Digital SUB PLANS
By Sarah Stockton Resources
Grades: 6th-12th
Subjects: Instrumental Music, Vocal Music

There’s nowhere like New York for live performances, but you don’t need to live there to experience the ultimate musical field trip. Use a virtual field trip resource that includes a Google Slides deck, interactive links for students to tour, engaging musical videos with 360-degree views of the stage, and a Google Form exit ticket for students to reflect on their learning.

Types of Virtual Field Trips for the Classroom

No matter the grade or subject you’re teaching, it’s easy to find the right type of virtual field trip for your classroom setting. 

From virtual reality to video tours, you can take your students from the depths of the ocean to the peaks of the mountaintops, and even farther than that!

• Interactive maps and websites: Use interactive maps from the National Park Service and other organizations to explore a large area with distinctive landmarks.
• Virtual tours: Take a self-guided tour through the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History or other museums.
• 360-degree tours: Explore panoramic views of incredible places and works of art with 360-degree tours on sites like Google Arts & Culture.
• Virtual reality: Enhance your lesson with educational technology like Nearpod to give students a unique VR experience for their next field trip.
• Multimedia trips: Enjoy a rare look at locations like the International Space Station with virtual tours that use slideshows, videos, and other multimedia tools to bring an exciting experience to the classroom.

Open the world to your students without leaving the school

Twenty-first-century learning affords teachers a myriad of unique opportunities, including virtual field trips with previously unthinkable features and resources. Use these virtual field trip activities, games, and resources to replace more expensive field trips, as sub day activities, or to strengthen independent learning during a yearly unit. After all, education is about expanding your students’ minds, and you don’t need a school bus to do that!

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