Create Your Own Virtual Field Trips With

Create Your Own Virtual Field Trips With These Free Travel Resources

If you’re looking for a way to take your students somewhere outside their quarantined homes, or teach about something outside the average curriculum, look no further than these virtual field trips. There’s an escape for any subject you can think of!

NEA Member Benefits compiled the virtual lesson plans below-take a look and happy virtual travels.

Arts

The largest art museum in the U.S.—The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City—is home to paintings and sculptures from many notable European artists, as well as an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met’s lesson plans help educators integrate learning about works of art, and fun, interactive programs are great for kids of all ages and their parents and caregivers. The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., is home to one of the largest and most inclusive collections of American art in the world. Stroll through its online gallery collections. While you’ll have to wait to run up the famed Philadelphia Museum of Art stairs like Rocky did, you can explore the museum’s collection online. You can also access many teacher resources and lesson plans.

History

guides available to tour some of the most notable sites, such as Gettysburg, where Abraham Lincoln gave his memorable Gettysburg Address, as well as Antietam, Appomattox and Richmond. The National Park Service offers a host of Civil War teacher resources. The museum offers a variety of engaging resources and activities. 7,000 instruments from more than 200 countries. Sample the world of music remotely with MIM’s Educator Resources. holds the world’s largest repository of country music artifacts. The organization’s Digital Resource Portal for teachers includes curriculum materials with supports such as PowerPoints, worksheets, videos, biographies, teaching tips and more.

Natural Wonders and Wildlife

In Kentucky’s Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, a full moon, a clear night and the mists of a waterfall combine to create a “rainbow” in the night. Teach your kids how to make a rainbow with a fun physics lesson. The South Dakota peak of Mount Rushmore incorporates the faces of our four most influential presidential leaders: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. The Mount Rushmore National Memorial offers a variety of lesson plans covering topics such as math, literacy and social studies. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum teaches visitors about Kennedy’s life, legacy and leadership. The library has extensive curricular resources, as well as

The nonprofit Civil War Trust has free battle app visitor The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) displays almost The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville materials on civic education and the Civil Rights era.

Music

Chattanooga, Tennessee’s Ruby Falls, located in the deepest commercial cave in America, is the largest underground waterfall in the country. Ruby Falls has curricula that includes how to build a stalactite. Rock City, accessible by the world’s steepest passenger railway, has curriculum that teaches geology and botany. The American Museum of Natural History shares how to make “Creatures of Light,” similar to the bioluminescent glow of life on land (fireflies and glowworms) and in water (deep-sea anglerfish and vampire squid). The Smithsonian-affiliated Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, has several learning videos and other teaching materials online to bring science and history to life.

Science

Benjamin Franklin contributed a tremendous amount of innovation to our country as a Founding Father, inventor, musician, writer and more. Explore his life through lesson plans from PBS.

The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation began as the father of the assembly line’s personal collection of historic objects, which Ford started collecting in 1906. It is now home to a number of important historical collections such as Thomas Edison’s laboratory and the Wright Brothers’ bicycle shop. The museum offers a rich database of educational resources that help educators provide engaging interactive educational programs.

Students can explore the science of aerodynamics, learn about the cultural history surrounding aviation, test their knowledge of geography and more through the

Smithsonian Air & Space Museum’s interactive activities.

Sports

Celebrate the greatest baseball teams in history with resources from The National Baseball Hall of Fame to teach children about the history of the game. The Pro Football Hall of Fame’s teacher activity guides include hundreds of interdisciplinary classroom exercises aligned with common core/national standards of education in language arts, science, family and consumer sciences, social studies, visual art, technology, physical education and mathematics. Discover how hockey can be used as a tool to captivate students through the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Education Program. Available in three levels—Junior, Intermediate and

Senior–the curriculum is created by teachers, for teachers.

Don’t see your favorite attraction listed here? Most have online teacher resources. Visit the attraction’s website and look for a Learn tab on the menu bar.