The Ultimate List of Free & Low Cost Field Trips

Field Trips for Learning

Field trips are an important aspect of education as kids get to see, hear, and do as you explore your community. Oral histories and hands-on experiences lead to discovery learning, and this kind of learning really sticks. Kids recall things they’ve heard from the people who experienced them much more than from simply reading about them.

From perspectives of World War II as a young Jewish girl or as a young American soldier, to walking around in Shoeless Joe Jackson’s house, these real experiences leave a lasting impression on kids.

Seeing Life First-Hand

As a public school classroom teacher, I ventured out to a museum with my classes to see a Holocaust exhibit. Not only was it the first time most of them had even been in a museum, but the artifacts and displays immersed them in the history we had been reading about. They got to see first-hand that history is real. Those kids will never forget that. I’ve learned that all you have to do is ask, and people are more than willing to provide a field trip for you. (Don’t forget to send them a Thank You note!)

The Ultimate Homeschool List of Free & Low Cost Field Trips:

• Airport
• Alpaca farm
• American Legion museum
• Amusement park
• Animal rescue facility
• Apple orchard
• Aquarium
• Art gallery
• Art museum
• Artist studio
• Athletic complex
• Automobile manufacturing facility
• Automobile mechanic
• Bakery
• Bank
• Barrier island
• Baseball museum
• Beach
• Blacksmith
• Book printer
• Botanical garden
• Bowling alley
• Car wash
• Carpenter
• Cemetery
• Ceramic shop
• Children’s concerts given by the local symphony
• Children’s theater performances
• Church
• Circus
• City Hall (meet the mayor)
• Civic center
• College/University (campus library and historical buildings, sports complex, campus tour)
• Construction site
• Courthouse
• Dairy farm
• Dam
• Dental clinic
• Electric company
• Exotic animal farm
• Eye doctor
• Farm
• Farmer’s market
• Fire station
• Fish hatchery
• Fishing pond
• Food processing facility
• Gem mine
• Geocaching
• Golf course
• Grain mill
• Grocery Store (behind-the-scenes tours)
• Gun range (gun safety classes)
• Historical battlefield
• Historical home
• Historical monument
• Historical reenactment
• History museum
• Home improvement store (many offer free craft classes)
• Horse stable
• Hospital
• Hotel
• House builder
• Ice skating
• Jeweler
• Lake
• Lawn & Garden shop
• Library tour/talk/classes
• Lighthouse
• Local food or music festival
• Lumber mill
• Manufacturing plant
• Military base
• Mosque
• Movie theater
• National park
• Nature trail
• Newspaper office
• Nuclear power plant
• Nursing home
• Organic farm
• Paper mill
• Pet store
• Photography studio
• Planetarium
• Plant nursery
• Police station
• Post office
• Pottery studio
• Print shop
• Professional sports team training camp
• Pumpkin patch
• Radio station
• Real estate office
• Recycling center
• Renaissance fair
• Restaurant (cost of food only, usually w/ a group discount and educational talk/tour included)
• Rock and Gem shop
• Roller skating
• Science museum
• Skateboard park
• Snake farm
• Space museum
• Sporting events
• State capital building
• State park
• Synagogue
• Television station
• Temple
• Town historical society
• Train station
• Travel agency
• U-pick farm
• Veterinary clinic
• Vocational school
• War memorial
• Waste-water treatment facility
• Wildlife sanctuary
• Woodworker/cabinet shop
• Zoo (membership saves money if you go often or have a large family, and is often reciprocal)

 

Click here to take a look at how I keep records of our field trips for school credit and printable field trip form.

Have any ideas to add to the list? Add them in the comments and help grow this list!

Share this: