Digital Field Trips

While we love traveling and believe the best way to learn is through hands on, we can't visit everything. I've recently learned about digital field trips. I was given the chance to try it out for free, but all opinions are my own.



I looked at the options: The Desert, The Rainforest, and The Wetlands. I decided to start in the rainforest. After downloading the program to my computer, which was quick and easy, I started exploring. Before any trip, you need to know where you are going. You start with a map of the world and have to find the correct continent. I was headed to Central America. It narrowed it down to the country, region, and finally my destination. I know my geography loving kids will think this is awesome. It also lines up nicely with the Montessori curriculum they use a school.

Once on site, you have many different ways of exploring. I started with the field trip option. There are many markers throughout the trail with interesting things to discover and learn. You get a 360 degree view and can hear the sounds of each area. Spotting animals and interesting plants kept me interested and wanting to click on things to learn more. It builds on curiosity. When you click on an animal it tells you about it's habitat, food sources, and how interrelated everything is in the rainforest. You learn about animal defense systems, the human impact on the area and more. My favorite part is getting to climb the ladders into the trees to see everything that lives in the canopy.

There are many details thrown in that surprised me. In addition to getting to see the rainforest, this field trip also went into a cave, in the river, and in a cabin for lunch. There are games to play trying to figure out how animals and plants are interrelated. There is a map of where current rainforest are as well as a map showing where they used to be located.

For younger kids this would be fun to just let them explore. They can move around clicking on what interests them and they will certainly learn. For lower elementary kids I would create a scavenger hunt. For older elementary or even middle school students I would have them create a worksheet for me to complete. I'm sure they would listen for the most obscure facts and after I answered the questions, they would have to grade it, thus reinforcing the concept in multiple ways.

I'm looking forward to exploring the other two field trips. I highly suggest this program for anyone who is learning about any of these environments and can't take a physical trip. If you can take a trip to the rainforest, the desert, and the wetlands I would love for you to have me come along - you know to help with the educational aspects. :)

You can buy one of these digital field trips for as little as $40 (normally $65) right now through Educents (That is an affiliate link.) You could get all three for $102 (a $195 value).