Field Trips: Make Them Count

Field Trips are being planned for the new school year, and the kids are all excited!  Fall is probably the most fun season for outdoor field trips.  We have taken so many field trips, and have great memories of the time spent together.  For some of these field trips, I let some great learning opportunities slip by us.  

Here are my favorite ideas for fall field trips: 

Farms – Fall Festivals, Hayrides, Corn Mazes, Pick Pumpkins, extra Activities for kids

Nature Hunt – Choose various habitats (field, woods, around pond/lake)

      Hunt for variety of leaves, acorns, cones, animals, feathers, seeds

Museums

National Parks

Hikes

Virtual Field trips

Apple orchards

Historical Park

Living History museums

Field trips can be for fun, only.  But, if you’re going to spend the time, money, and energy, you should take the time to do more than just go through the motions.  Field trips can be tied to your curriculum.

Planning is necessary if you’re going to tie a field-trip to your content.  If you are able to tie the field trip to your curriculum, the kids will get so much more out of it.  When you’re studying plants, it’s much more interesting to do a field trip to see plants.  The kids will remember the content more, too.

If you take a field trip that doesn’t connect to your content, it’s a good idea to do a little pre-planning.  You can easily find an online lesson plan or worksheet that corresponds to something age appropriate.  Education World is an easy place to look for specific lesson plans.  Here is a list of lesson plans that would work with a trip to pick Pumpkins.

If you venture out to the nearest Apple Orchard, you can find over 90 great ideas to supplement your learning about Apples HERE.

Tons of lesson plans and ideas can be found HERE if you’re planning a Hike.  This site allows you to search for all types of lesson plans for free.

How do you plan field trips?  Have you found any ways to add amazing learning experiences to your field trips?  I hope you’ll share your best ones!

@2017, copyright Lisa Ehrman