40+ Free Virtual Field Trips Your Family Will Love
Free virtual field trips bring educational excitement right into your home or classroom. These free learning opportunities provide a wealth of experience without the time and expense of traveling! I've also created a free field trip log and journal for you to keep track of all of the fun experiences you encounter both virtually and in real life. Let me know which of these experiences is your favorite!
Kids will Love These Space Exploration Virtual Field Trips:
Take advantage of opportunities that are not available for normal field trips and expand the horizons of your learners with these space adventures!
- Go onboard the Orion Spacecraft with a 50-minute virtual tour to inspire future astronauts from Amazon’s Future Engineers
- Find all of the letters of the alphabet on the landscapes of Earth from space with NASA’s satellite imagery
- Look inside a supersonic wind tunnel at the NASA Glenn Research Center’s facilities in Cleveland, Ohio
- Go on a quest with Mark Rober as he attempts an Egg Drop From Space
- Explore over 60,000 stars, planets, and constellations through the Stellarium Web Online Star Map
- See what happens when astronauts launch slime in space!
- Discover more about your favorite night light with this 4k Tour of the Moon
- Get curious about the red planet with this all-access to Mars featuring NASA’s Curiosity rover
How About These History Museums?
We have loved visiting the Presidential Libraries or the Holocaust Museum in Dallas because it expands our horizons of human existence. They are such rich storehouses of history that bring you into the world of people who have gone before you. These free virtual field trips can do the same from home while whetting your appetite for seeing more in real life!
- Explore the vast exhibits of the Natural Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
- Have fun with some interactive exhibits from American Centuries at Memorial Hall in Deerfield, MA
- Walk with some trailblazing women through the National Women’s History Museum in Alexandria, VA.
- Discover the mysteries of video game history in the online exhibit of The Strong National Museum of Play
- Take a tour of the Battleship New Jersey
- Follow in the immigrants' footsteps by taking the Ellis Island Interactive Tour
- Go beyond the battlefield with this virtual field trip to the Museum of the American Revolution hosted by I Survived author Lauren Tarshis
Virtual Field Trips to Art Museums:
There really is nothing like the real thing, and if you haven't been to an art museum with your kids, it should go on your bucket list. However, there are some magical things you can do with these free virtual field trips that make exploring from afar worth it!
- Look into Mona Lisa’s eyes at The Louvre in Paris, France
- Gaze up at Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican Museums, Rome
- Find some mind-bending surrealist art by Salvador Dali at The Dali in St. Petersburg, Florida.
- Zoom in to Van Gough’s Starry Night at the MoMA in New York City, NY.
- Check out Vermeer’s The Milkmaid hanging in the galleries of the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- Explore the works of Impressionist painters like Monet and Cézanne displayed in the gallery of the Musée d’Orsay
Take a Free Trip to Far Off Places
I want my kids to see other places and learn about different cultures and biomes. Andy had the opportunity to go to Israel with his school this year, and it changed his life. We've used free virtual field trips to inspire future travel.
- Get a 360° view of the Holy Lands
- Tour the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France
- Walk through the Winter Palace of Peter the Great at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia
- Take a virtual field trip through the Amazon jungle
- Discover the wildlife of Washington, D.C.
- Or even wilder, take a virtual tour of the White House!
- Get lost in Buckingham Palace
- And walk along the Great Wall of China
- Explore the world’s largest cave: Son Doong Cave in Vietnam
- Follow the journey of water from Colombia’s Paramo to the kitchen sink
- Or check out 360° views of thousands of cities like this Acacia tree and the Milky Way in Tanzania
- Hike Mount Everest
- Get up close and personal with the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum in London.
Get Insider Information with These Virtual Field Trips
My favorite field trips when I was young involved getting a glimpse behind the curtain to see how things really work.
- Get a behind-the-scenes look at an Amazon Fulfilment center with a 45 min virtual tour highlighting robotics and engineering innovations that make the magic happen for Amazon
- See how Taylor guitars are made with this behind-the-scenes access to the Taylor Guitar Factory
- Or go inside a fire station with the Memphis Fire Department virtual field trip
- Get a close-up view of the pickle manufacturing process at the Mount Olive Pickles Tour
- Tour a recycling center or modern landfill, and learn more with the curriculum to go with it
- Join The National WWII Museum for a cross-country virtual expedition to discover the science, sites, and stories of the creation of the atomic bomb.
- Compare the inner workings of several different egg farms and how they’re working to operate more sustainably.
Virtual Experiences for animal lovers:
The zoo is one of my favorite educational destinations unless the weather is not too extreme. In those cases, I prefer the webcam! Here are some fun ways to get up close and personal with some of your favorite creatures...or even some you may not know of yet!
- Check out the live webcams from the San Diego Zoo or watch one of their many wildlife explorer educational videos to enjoy your favorite animals in action
- Hang out with the gorillas in the Gorilla Forrest Corridor with their live webcam highlights streaming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Swim with the manatees at Homosassa Springs Underwater Manatees in Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, Fl
- What Can You Learn from a Polar Bear? Virtual Field Trip to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada
- Take a virtual Field trip to the Marineland Dolphin Adventure in Florida
- Meet all of the animals on the Purina Farms tour in Gary Summit, Missouri
- Check out the symphony of the rainforest in this Virtual Field Trip to Borneo
Free Field Trip Log and Experience Journal
Keep track of your field trip adventures and journal about your experiences with this free printable!
So which are you most looking forward to trying, or what was your favorite? Have you found any other great free virtual field trips? I always love a good recommendation!
Betsy Strauss is an unexpected homeschooler, mother of three, who is in a relationship with a sweet man for life. She loves reading books, drinking coffee, and learning anything with her kids.