Field trips were always some of the best days of the school year. Not only did you get to go some place new and exciting, but you didn’t even have to go to school that day. There was no need for textbooks or math tests as you’d be out and about somewhere else.

Now, you might find yourself on the other side of the coin, helping plan field trips for various organizations or schools. Hopefully, you can provide the children with the same amount of joy that you had when you were a child.

But you might find that planning a field trip can be difficult. You want to find the right place and make sure the students actually learn something too.

If you’re not sure where to start, we have a quick guide on how to go about planning a field trip. Take the time to read through each step and think about the easiest way you can go about doing it!

Find a Place to Go

First, you actually have to figure out where you’re going. There might be some landmarks you can go to, such as museums or government buildings around that give tours. Here are some other ideas:

• Hospitals
• Farms
• Colleges
• Radio Stations
• TV Stations
• Firehouses
• Police Headquarters
• State or National Parks
• Farmer’s Market
• Zoos
• Water Parks

Call around and see if these places offer field trips or educational visits for groups and check on availability. Once you have the availability and options, pick a place and a date.

Transportation

Now that you have a destination, you’re going to have to make sure everyone actually gets there. Hopefully, you already have an idea of how many people (students and chaperones) are coming along, so you can have that information handy and ready.

When looking up transportation companies, find one that has worked with schools or children before. You don’t want to find one that only services older people and doesn’t have any experience with children.

Be sure to ask for quotes and compare those around in order to make sure you’re getting the best deal out there.

Plan Food

Now that you have a destination and transportation, you need to make sure that everyone has enough energy to get through the day. If your field trip is coming back before lunch time, then you’ve saved a step. If not, you’re going to have to find some other options.

Your field trip destination may have a lunch option included, making it easy for you. If not, you’ll have to look at restaurants or shopping malls in the area to see. Depending on your group size, the bigger the place the better.

Or, you could simply tell everyone to pack their own lunch away for the day, meaning you’ll just have to find a park or something similar where everyone can stop and have a place to eat.

Find Help

You’re not going to be watching over a bunch of rambunctious students by yourself, so you need to figure out who is coming with your to chaperone. Those can be fellow teachers, parent volunteers, or even older students.

They can also help you hand out permission slips for kids to get signed at home. Make sure each person has a specific role and timetable for the day, so you all are on the same page. Once everyone is working together, it will be much easier to manage the day.

Bring it All Together

Although field trips may look like standalone adventures for students, they should also be tied back into learning or the curriculum. Perhaps that was an idea before the trip and everything has already been planned out, but other times you may find inspiration while you’re out on the field trip.

Think about how you can incorporate an activity back into your lesson or what you can do to keep students interested in what they just learned. You can make a classroom activity about it or have the next day’s homework be tied into something they learned or did on their field trip. You can even plan the following field trip on the back of this one, building them up over time together!