The school year is fast approaching and preschools like a childcare centre for preschool in Newmarket are facing some challenges to come up with affordable, fun, and educational learning for preschoolers while on a tight budget.
Good thing, field trips exist for your little learner!
Field trips make learning more meaningful, tangible, authentic, and joyful. It helps children connect to the world around them and allows them to develop their senses, imagination, and interpersonal skills.
If properly facilitated and planned, field trips can provide preschoolers with an avenue to have greater learning experiences, stronger academic benefits, and powerful memories. Plus, it keeps them active physically and mentally. For example, you can hire a school bus in Toronto to do educational trips within the city or within the province of Ontario.
To help you plan your next outing with your little learners, there are two things that you need to do:
- First, ensure that the pressure of the tires is just right for the trip. You can have it done from any tire shop company in St. Catherines if you are having a field trip in the Niagara Region.
- Second, refer to our recommended field trip ideas for your preschoolers to make it secure and exciting.
Before the Field Trip
Things to remember before the field trip:
- Ensure the materials, activities, and setup is appropriate to the development level of the children.
- Ensure that volunteers and educators are well-prepared to help you with the children’s learning and needs.
- Topics should be easy and familiar.
- Children should be able to discover, explore, engage, solve problems, inquire, learn about the world, and care for other living things.
- Ask about the proper outdoor clothes children should wear in case they get dirty or wet with the activities.
During the Field Trip
Things to remember during the field trip:
- Make sure you have enough chaperones to accompany children to support their safety.
- Convey specific site rules like respecting mother nature.
- Focus on what they can do instead of what they can’t do.
- Provide various ways that they can interact and experience nature.
- Always move at their pace.
- Challenge their ideas.
After The Field Trip
Things to remember after the field trip:
- Extend their learning when they’re back in their homes or even at school.
- Let them write things that interest them during the trip.
- Encourage students to practice gratitude and reflect on the trip.
- Keep their curiosity alive.
10 Secure and Exciting Field Trip Ideas for Preschool
Teach your children the fundamental things outside the walls of the classroom while staying secured and having exciting activities with one of the field trip ideas below:
- Virtual Field Trips
While the pandemic is still around, it might be difficult for some preschool learners to have field trips far from their schools or homes. However, it’s actually possible to visit places through virtual field trips. Virtual field trips allow students to explore and learn in the comforts of their homes or classrooms. And, these tours are offered by some institutions across the globe!
- The Louvre Museum – see some spectacular exhibits in Paris at The Louvre Museum, the most renowned art museum worldwide.
- The Great Wall of China – witness the world’s most famous thousand-year-old parapet in China and find out its ancient history.
- Easter Islands – discover the underlying mystery of the giant stone structures of Easter Islands.
- International Space Station – let NASA take care of your little learner’s creativity by exploring a real-life spacecraft!
- Nature Lab – allow your kiddos to explore nature and learn about the role of carbon in our environment with some educational resources in Nature Lab.
There are many virtual tours for preschoolers while there are still travel restrictions. No matter what you choose, make sure to access educational resources and keep the tour fun and exciting.
- Recycling Centres
If travel restrictions are lifted, then you can take your preschoolers to the nearest recycling centre in your town. This will show the kids how recycling and reusing things are done to reduce waste. If they’re interested, they can bring their recycling ideas home and practice them themselves.
- The Zoo
The zoo has plenty of amazing and fun things for kids. The best thing is it allows them to have first-hand experience with all sorts of animals, which increases their sense of care towards them.
- The Farm
Farms are also a great destination for field trips because there are different kinds of farms. There is a dairy farm where children can visit milk stations and cows, and crop farms where they can witness how fruits and vegetables are grown.
- Museum
Visit some museums to allow your little learners to engage and learn about art, technology, natural history, dinosaur exhibits, and the like. This will help their creativity and imagination.
- The Aquarium
Another great place to visit for a field trip is large aquariums or aqua parks to explore aquatic life. Some parks offer private tours for entertainment and educational purposes, especially for preschoolers. Visiting aquariums promotes children’s appreciation for nature, and inspires their imagination.
- The Planetarium
If you’re looking for the best way to introduce the solar system to your students, head into the nearest planetarium. Students love space and astronomy. Planetariums can showcase different and impressive exhibits about stars, constellations, solar eclipses, and the like that will cultivate their sense of imagination about real solar eclipse travel.
- The Hospital
Introduce kids to hospitals to reduce their scary thoughts about them. This will help them prepare what to expect when they become patients or when they visit someone in a hospital. Hospital tours can also give them an educational experience where they can watch how doctors and nurses treat their patients and observe how some medical equipment is being used.
- Stations
There are plenty of stations that children can visit on a field trip, however, we highly recommend the fire station and police station. Visiting fire stations allow students to watch real firefighters and learn how to turn on sirens, see an actual fire engine, and learn some fire safety and precautions.
Visiting police stations can also teach preschoolers some crime prevention tips, the function of police departments, and how patrol cars usually work. However, before you decide to visit these places, make sure to contact the stations first to ensure you will be properly accommodated.
- Universities
The last on the list is to let young learners visit some local universities or colleges. Have a guided tour for them to explore some of the most beautiful campuses and the best educational institutions in your area. This will inspire them to focus on their studies, goals, and dreams.
As an educator, it’s essential to provide field trips to young learners that would surely allow them to have ample opportunities for discoveries, exciting interactions, and most importantly, safe activities. Help them foster their curiosity and help them appreciate the environment and the community around them. And, you can do this, by conducting field trips to any of the places mentioned above.
