Check Out These 21 Virtual Field Trips To Start An Educational Journey With Your Kids

For the moment, travel isn’t as easy as it used to be. With COVID-19 and the environmental impact of travel playing on our minds, many of us are sticking closer to home. But that needn’t prevent you and your children from venturing beyond your local neighborhood.

Head online and you’ll find a wealth of incredible virtual field trips for kids — free to access and full of exciting discoveries. Learning has never been so interactive, so international, and so eye-opening.

Whether your kids are into animals, history, nature, or the depths of outer space, there’s sure to be a virtual field trip they’ll just love to embark on.

The following are our all-time favorites…

The best virtual field trips to start a free educational journey with your kids

Museum and galleries

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The kids’ section of the Met website is sure to spark young imaginations. Hop in the time machine and discover the museum’s treasures from the comfort of your own home or classroom.

Bigger kids might also like to check out online exhibits here.

The Louvre

From Ancient Egypt to the present day, there are a number of virtual gallery tours available at The Louvre. You can even get a look at one of the museum’s most famous residents, the Mona Lisa. Visitors usually stand and queue for hours to see her, but you’ll have a front-row seat immediately!

Vatican Museum

Skip the queues (and the flights) and get a glimpse of the Sistine Chapel on a virtual tour of the Vatican Museum. Kids and grownups will be wowed by the ornate décor and impressive artwork, collected by popes throughout the ages. 

The British Museum

This beautifully designed, interactive museum tour allows kids to travel through time! They can pick a time period and a continent of interest, and then explore the historic artifacts belonging to them.

Museum of Science

Boston’s Museum of Science provides a daily live stream, where resident experts share family-friendly presentations on everything from lightning strikes to dinosaurs. Little scientists will love it!

National parks and nature

Yosemite

Explore the waterfalls, ancient Sequoias, and clifftops of Yosemite. Hear the sounds and see the sights of this world-famous National Park like never before.

Sơn Đoòng Cave

Sơn Đoòng in Vietnam is the world’s largest natural cave. Since it was discovered in 1991, it’s only been open to scientists and explorers. Until now.

This National Geographic tour lets kids go exploring, discovering the canyons and caverns of this huge cave complex.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

Kids get to travel down lava tubes and visit an active volcano on a virtual field trip of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. (Explore the site further to discover more natural world adventures, including trips to the fjords of Alaska and Florida’s coral reef.)

Yellowstone

The geysers and hot springs of Yellowstone await! Hike along walkways with your guide and discover breathtaking natural beauty.

Borneo Rainforest

The Nature Conservancy has some amazing virtual field trips, including this one — an educational journey to a Borneo rainforest, one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth!

American history

Ellis Island

More than 40% of Americans can trace their family history back to Ellis Island. On a virtual tour of this historic location, you’ll discover the stories, people, and fascinating facts through original footage and first-hand accounts.

Colonial Williamsburg

Head back to 18^th-century America on a virtual tour of Colonial Williamsburg. Kids can wander the Governor’s Palace and the Capitol, and even go on a virtual scavenger hunt around the Art Museums.

The White House

On this tour, kids get to discover the art, artifacts, and history associated with America’s most famous building: the White House. And with every president since John Adams having lived here, there’s a lot of history to discover!

Animal adventures

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Pick from 10 live cams and experience the wonder of the oceans at Monterey Bay Aquarium. From sea otters to penguins, and sharks to jellyfish, there’s tons to see.

There are also narrated feeding sessions every weekday so tune in to learn more about the amazing underwater world.

San Diego Zoo

No permissions slips needed for this trip to the zoo! Take a virtual field trip to San Diego, where kids will find live cams and videos of all their favorite animals. Get an insight into the lives of pandas, tigers, orangutans, and more!

Polar Bears of the Tundra

Join Discovery Education on a field trip to the tundra. Here you’ll find out about the Arctic ecosystem and the polar bears who call this place home.

The site also provides some great ideas for pre- and post-field trip activities for your kids — ideal to use alongside our worksheets.

Farm Food 360⁰

Teach children where their food comes from with these 360⁰ farm tours. Pigs, apples, milk, and cheese — each tour gives you a new insight into life on the farm.

Outer space

Access Mars

Aspiring astronauts will love navigating across the surface of Mars, knowing that all of the images they see were recorded by NASA’s Curiosity rover. The key points of interest are clearly highlighted, so there is lots for everyone to learn about the Red Planet along the way.

International Space Station

Escape gravity up at the International Space Station. Here, a real-life astronaut will take kids on a tour around the station, from the lab to the observation deck to the cozy sleeping pods.

Stellarium

Kids will love exploring the night sky with this interactive star map. They can look up to the sky from anywhere in the world and find out about each and every star and constellation. This virtual field trip is truly out of this world!

And one just for fun…

M&Ms Factory Tour

Food Network’s virtual field trip to the factory where they make M&Ms is a treat in itself. Kids get to learn how the delicious candy is made in this short but sweet behind the scenes tour.