5 Field Trip Ideas for Elementary School

Field trips are a wonderful way for children to connect what they are learning in class to the outside world. For instance, if you are teaching your students about dinosaurs, the best way to wrap up the unit is to bring the class on a field trip to your local dinosaur exhibit at the museum. This way they can get a hands-on view of everything they learned and help them connect what they learned to what they are seeing at the exhibit. Here are 5 fun and exciting educational field trip ideas for your elementary school class. Post Office A field trip to your local Post Office is a great way for students to compare the history of the postal service with the technology they use today. Students will leave the Post Office with a better understanding of how the mail connects everyone in the world. Pick Your Own Farms A unique field trip idea is to take students on a trip to pick their own fruits and vegetables. Children will be exposed to agricultural topics and experience nature and how food grows. A hands-on trip to your local farm is the perfect way to end your nutrition unit. Bank What child isnt fascinated with money? If you want to see your students participate in class and really be engaged, then take them on a field trip to your local bank. Children are always asking, Why do I have to learn math? and When I am really going to use these math skills? Well, a trip to the bank will show your students how the math skills they are learning in school can be applied to everyday life when they grow up. Bank tellers can show students how to write a personal check and withdrawal slips, and how to open a bank account and use a debit card. The information they learn on this trip will help them realize how important paying attention in math really is. A fun idea beforehand is to teach students about PayPal and how with technology today you can send money online. Grocery Store With the child obesity rate as high as it is today, the local grocery store is a great place for a field trip. There are a variety of topics that can be focused on at the grocery store, like nutrition, math, health and wellness, and home economics. Children can learn about healthy food choices and go on a food scavenger hunt. They can study measurements and, on the day of the trip,  buy appropriate ingredients for a specific recipe you give them. They can learn how to budget their money, group foods into food groups, and learn important life skills. Amusement Park How is a field trip to an amusement park educational? Students can determine the speed of roller-coasters or see behind the scenes of how a stage show works. Students can learn about the animals in the on-site zoo, or see how the actors transform into characters. A field trip to an amusement park can take some of the concepts students are learning in school into a real-world experience. Additional Field Trip Ideas Worth Considering Here are a few more field trip ideas that are worth thinking about it. Any of the following ideas would make for a perfect field trip with your students: Water parkBakerySkating RinkLocal HospitalMoviesCollegeTV StationNewspaperAquariumZooBotanical GardensTrain RideSoup KitchenLocal FestivalNursing HomeLocal MonumentFarmers MarketMuseumA Virtual Field Trip