10 Top Field Trips on a Budget
Field trips give students an opportunity to venture outside of normal classroom activities and learn in a more interactive, engaging environment. We all know field trips are great learning experiences, but decreasing budgets sometimes makes planning them a hard task. What if we told you that you could plan a meaningful field trip for your class for little to no cost? Here is a list of fun field trips ideas that will fit within your tight budget.
Ten Top Field Trips on a Budget
1. Virtual Field Trips: Take advantage of the technology in your classroom with virtual field trips and tap into the unlimited capabilities of the Internet. No bus rides necessary!
2. Volunteer: Help students learn and give back to the community by organizing a local field trip with a service organization. When kids are exposed to volunteering at a young age, they learn to appreciate the feeling of pride, satisfaction and accomplishment that comes with doing something for someone else.
3. Tour Local Businesses: Restaurants are a great place to tour. Kids love to go out to eat, so getting to see how their favorite eatery works is so much fun! Students can get a behind the scenes look at the prep kitchen and how their food is prepared.
4. Visit Government Buildings: Learn about what goes on in a local courthouse and enjoy the beautiful architecture. It also provides a good look at the inner workings of the legal system.
5. Wildlife Parks: Most communities feature a zone of land appointed for ecological conservation efforts, and exploring this area is often free of charge. Learn all about plants and animals native to the area.
6. Local Farms: Explore a local farm, where students can learn the importance of nutrition, sustainability and locally grown food. This makes for a fun day of getting hands-on in the dirt and fields.
7. College or University: Many times, colleges and universities often have special events for the public, such as free movies, tours, and lectures.
8. Bring in Experts: Ask community members, such as architects, mechanics, doctors, and reporters, to visit your classroom for a period or the day. They can discuss their job and how the things they learned in school helped prepare them for the work they currently do.
9. Fire Department: Learn a bit about fire safety, how firemen fight fires, the gear they wear, and how they live.
10. Police Station: Learn about the duties of a police officer, including when he is on patrol and in the station. Students will learn about personal safety; how to call 911 in an emergency, ways to protect themselves and how to avoid dangerous situations.
Field trips do not always have to just be a “tie-in” to what they students are learning in the classroom. They can be anything that fosters new knowledge, sparks curiosity, explores real-life learning, inspires personal growth, and fuels passion about a subject. We hope these ideas make your next field trips as affordable as they are inspirational and exciting.
- SBD, Inc.