Educational Field Trip Ideas

There are so many ways to enhance your child's learning than through books. Many experts are right in believing that children should explore and ask questions. Field trips offer so many opportunities for children to do that. Whether you follow a Charlotte Mason approach to education or whether you follow a Classical approach, all children can benefit from having field trips incorporated into their lesson plans or learning objectives. Here are some great ideas for education field trips. For a list of Corpus Christi and surrounding area educational resources, please click here. For resources throughout Texas or other states, please click here. If you have an educational field trip idea, please let us know. We'll be happy to add it on our pages.

Art Museums: Offer incredible opportunities for children to explore their creative side. Everything from kids art classes, to studying the masters, to learning about the different art forms, whether visual or performance art, can be found at most art museums not to mention the incredible array of local artists usually on display.  

Aquariums: Offer a great opportunity for children to explore the living creatures under the sea, lakes, and marshes. Most aquariums have great education programs or self study guides that allow teachers the opportunity to incorporate lessons for their children. A lot of them do most of the work for you by offering structured lessons and arranging an aquarium guide to lead your class. In addition to the education about Sea Life, many aquariums have great conservation programs which provide invaluable lessons for the children; such as the one here in Corpus Christi. 

Children's Museums: Children's Museums are such fun because they not only offer so many wonderful entertainment ideas for families, but most importantly, the displays are interactive, informative, educational, and just awe inspiring. There are so many ways to incorporate lessons at a children's museum and many of them offer plenty of information to the teacher or parent wanting to include their displays in their lessons. Subjects are varied and can include everything from simple machines, storybook characters, science, music, etc.

History Museums: Offer a plethora of information on the historical nature of the museum. Some history museums cover wars and battles while others cover inventions and presidents.They offer an insight into the past and offer explanations for our current environment, our society, and even pop culture. You can get everything from viewing artifacts, retelling of important historical events, interactive displays as well as displays of our oldest historical documents. The point is, that depending on where you live, there is most likely a museum in that area that can add a nice and hands on supplement to what you are learning in your books.

Science Museums: Science Museums are great in that they offer hand-on, exploratory learning. They can cover everything from how electricity works, to what's in our atmosphere. Subjects such as space, time, technology, scientific phenomena, machines, and nature plus more can be found on display or in interactive programs at a science museum. Science Museums tend to offer excellent learning opportunities for children as they tend to allow children to explore the scientific method by being inquisitive, participating in experiments, and getting results. They cannot teach all of science to children, but they can most definitely be an incredible source for an enrichment lesson on a certain topic.

Cultural Museums:Offer many ways to incorporate cultural lessons to your history or geography lessons. They cover a myriad of information regarding different cultures, their history, and why they are important part of our demographics. 

Sports Museums: Not only offer examples of great feats in sports history, but can also a great glimpse into the history of our times and our culture. Baseball museums are a great example of that as well as a Cowgirl Museum for that matter. 

Other Museums:Other museums such as Industrial Museums offer a distinct window and perspective on history. Some examples include The Crayola Facotry, The Hershey Museum, and the Automotive Hall of Fame. They help explain how things work or how things are made and usually have fun interactive things for children to do.

Zoos: Offer animal, wildlife, and conservation issues that can be incorporated into your homeschooling lessons. They may also offer hands-on classes or specialized tours which can be a great way to find out in depth information regarding the animals at the zoo.

Working Ranches, Farms, Animal, and Wildlife Centers: Like the zoos, these places offer information regarding animals, conservation, history, and ecology. Many of these centers not only offer tours and demonstrations, but usually have hands on activities that have educational value.

City Resources: Places like the Fire Station, Police Department, City Hall or even specific City Departments or Committees like the Emergency Planning Committee can be a great way to introduce your children to community resources, civics classes, etc. Additionally, Associations or Organizations that enhance the city environment may offer ways to incorporate a lesson. One such organization here is the Beautify Corpus Christi Association which strives to teach the community about keeping Corpus Christi beautiful and not trash it and additionally by educating youth on plant care and techniques that will enhance the local landscape.

Libraries: Need I say more. Not only can you find great resources in the library in the form of books, audio, references, interactive displays, but most if not all libraries, offer storytime for your younger students, plus they usually put on additional educational sessions throughout the year. 

Nature Centers and Botanical Gardens: Offer programs for plant conservation, research, beautification programs, native habitat, and nature walks. These resources may also offer Maser Gardener programs, Wildlife Camps, and Birding classes.

Beach, Bays, and Estuaries:Offering marine life studies, conservation, nature studies, Fresh and Salt Water ecology, aquatic plant life, beach studies, and other environmental studies opportunities. 

State and National Parks:Offer nature resources for studies in conservation, animal, birding, and the ecosystems. They may offer opportunities for fishing, hiking, and other outdoor recreation activities.