Living where we do in California, we don’t experience snow days or any other days that force us to stay at home. With the “shelter in place” directive our governor has put into place in the wake of COVID-19 however, we are now forced to hunker down. Though we are allowed to be outside for walks, I know the kids are going to be itching to go other places before too long. With that in mind, I have compiled a list of must-see virtual field trips for kids of all ages to explore.
Aquariums, zoos, museums, and more
From aquariums to zoos, to museums and more, Popusugar.com has a great round-up of kid friendly places. All the links for the following can be found in that post:
Aquariums
Georgia Aquarium (If you’ve never been to this aquarium, it’s incredible!)
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Zoos
San Diego Zoo
Atlanta Zoo
Houston Zoo
Museums
Le Louvre
Boston Children’s Museum
More
Yosemite National Park
Polar bears exploring the Canadian tundra
Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX (a joint effort of Boeing and Discovery Education)
US Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, AL (you can see the Saturn 5 rocket)
Farm and Food tours – tour 11 different Canadian farms and food processing plants. Among others, you can see a pig farm, sheep farm, egg farm, an apple orchard, and an egg processing facility.
The surface of Mars via NASA’s Curiosity Rover
National Parks
Have you ever wanted to explore a volcano or climb down a crevasse on a glacier? Now is your opportunity to do so safely and virtually. You can visit:
Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico
Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah
Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida
The New Seven Wonders of the World
Millions of people voted in 2007 to select these “new” wonders of the world. The sites are all huge tourist attractions and architectural masterpieces. I’ve only been to one of them, twice. For two adoption trips, I went to the Great Wall of China. The first time I went it was really hot and ridiculously crowded. You can tour it crowd-free on Panorama.dk in addition to these other marvels:
The Roman Colosseum in Italy
Petra in Jordan
Machu Picchu in Peru
Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil
Chichen Itza in Mexico
United States Landmarks
Get a tour of the Statue of Liberty from this government website. Be forewarned, once you get to the site, it will take a teeny bit of time before you can actually do something. It’ll scroll through some artsy pictures of the statue first. You can choose between 18 different views or slides. Some of the slides will have a little movie camera icon on the bottom. Click on the icon and you’ll get a short video showing the statue from a particular vantage point. One of the slides is a poignant pre-9/11 aerial view.
The White House
On tripsavvy.com you can find a link to a 360 degree tour of the White House narrated by Barack Obama. It’s not on the White House website anymore, but if you scroll down to where it says “360 video,” you’ll find the Facebook link.
The Liberty Bell
The Lincoln Memorial
When I was looking for a link to the Liberty Bell and Lincoln Memorial virtual tours, I came across Historyview.org. It offers a huge listing of virtual tours. You can search for a tour by subject matter (like geography, history) or location (North America, Africa, etc.) by choosing a place on the world map. I went to Antarctica from the warmth of my own home!
Theme Parks
Okay, I realize this will not satisfy your child’s desire to visit one of these parks in person. However, it may buy you a little time as you save up for a trip, or help you reminisce about a past trip.
You can tour Disneyworld on the “Visit Orlando” website. From the aerial view, select a section of the park you would like to explore. I went to the “Magic Kingdom Park.” Once in the park, from where you are “standing,” you’ll see a blue balloon shape marking out a particular place. If you click on the balloon, you will start moving (as if you were driving in the park) toward that destination. You can hit the pause button along the way and get a panoramic view from anywhere along the route. For instance, I was on Main Street. The blue balloon shape said “Cinderella’s Castle.” I clicked on it and started moving down Main Street toward the castle, stopping a few times along the way.
You can even experience a few rides virtually. I agree with the author of the blog that hosts the links, you have to end your trip with “It’s a Small World.” Have fun moving along with these rides:
Frozen
Alice in Wonderland
Pirates of the Caribbean
Peter Pan
Indiana Jones
Little Mermaid
It’s a Small World
Disneyland and Disney World
In “Google Maps,” (from the Google search bar, type in Google maps) if you search for Disneyland or Disney World, you can tour both these parks through street view. Once you see the map of the park, choose where you want to explore. In the bottom right corner of your screen you will see a little yellow man. You can drag and drop him into your chosen destination. At all times you can get a 360 degree view, in some locations you can venture around by following arrows.
Legoland (in Orlando, Florida) Take a tour of Legoland and even go on a ride!
Lego Mini land (inside of Legoland) Here you can get a panoramic view of the many replicas designers have made.
Lord willing, it won’t be long before it’s safe to travel and move about as normal. Until then, be sure to try out these must-see virtual field trips!