Field Trip Ideas
Field Trip ideas are easier to come up with than you might think. This section contains great suggestions for field trips of interest to children.
Field trips offer some benefits for children, such as:
- New experiences
- Increased motivation for learning
- The ability to acquire new knowledge and skills
Field Trips can be planned for anytime, but the knowledge gained from the trip will be more ingrained if the trip coincides with lesson plans or weekly themes.
A midweek trip to a farm during a week of learning about barnyard animals will have more of an impact. The same goes for trips to the Police/Fire Departments during Safety week.
The most important word when thinking about a field trip with your day care is PLAN. Think out everything in advance to make the trip go more smoothly. Use my field trip planning guide to make sure you have remembered everything.
Some places will charge a fee, while others will not. The field trip permission slip includes an area to fill in the fee (if needed) for a child to attend. For whatever reason, there may be a parent who is unable to pay the fee, no matter how small. It's then your option to plan a less costly field trip, or pay the fee yourself.
Here are some child-friendly field trip ideas:
| Zoo | Museums | Orchard |
| Parks | Dairy | Library |
| Pumpkin Patch | Water Park | Hardware Store |
| Circus | Ball Game | Butterfly Garden |
| Military Base | Bakery | Sod Farm |
| Aquarium | Airport | Lumberyard |
| Horse Farm | Planetarium | Police/Fire Station |
| Grocery Store | I-Max Theatre | TV/Radio Station |
| Florist/Greenhouse | Factory | Post Office |
| Pet Shop | Photography Studio | Nature Hikes |
| Fruit/Vegetable Picking | Animal Shelters | Local Theatre Production |
Local businesses are typically very good about offering help to daycare providers.
Our local bakery for example, put on quite a demonstration. The kids all got paper baking hats. They learned about doughnut making, cake decorating, and saw cookies being made by the dozens.
On the way out the door, they each received a helium balloon with the bakery name on it and the cupcake of their choice. Not only did the field trip cost me absolutely nothing as a provider, but the kids played "bakery" for weeks afterward.
Do not feel that you need a large group to go on field trips. The bakery trip involved only four children and the bakery was every bit as gracious as they would have been for a larger group.
Another way to come up with field trip ideas is to think about where the parents of your daycare children work. Do any of them have jobs that would be conducive to a field trip?
Make sure before you leave that ALL parents have signed the field trip permission slips. If you take the children anywhere away from your residence, you need the parents permission in writing.
Here's a great field trip idea: One daycare provider bought over-sized T-Shirts in a bright color and had the name of her daycare emblazoned across the front of the shirts in big white letters.
The children slipped them on over their regular clothes on field trip days. Her daycare got exposure and she had no trouble spotting those bright T-shirts, even in a large group of people.
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Another great idea? Consider field trip alternatives.
If you have a hard time getting away, think about bringing the field trip experience "into" your daycare.
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A special reminder: Always make sure to send a thank you note after the trip. You may also send along pictures the children have drawn or short written notes of the fun they had.
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Looking for step-by-step instructions to start your own successful home-based daycare?
Check out my START A DAYCARE section. An all-free list of articles to guide you every step of the way.
For even more helpful hints, take a peek into the DAYCARE TIPS area.
For some fun kids activities, go to ART PROJECTS FOR KIDS for:
- Art ideas using crayons, markers or paint
- Super Simple Art
- Easy Toys to Make and more…
OR… hop on over to the FREE PRINTABLES section to make planning activities for your daycare practically effortless.
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