Educational Virtual Field Trips for Middle School

Explore the world through educational virtual field trips for middle school. There are a bunch of virtual tours available online and many of them have fun activities you can use in your own classroom or home school.

As a homeschooling family, we understand that the world is our classroom. Even if your family loves to travel, it’s not always practical. That’s why I love virtual field trips. With the help of technology, you can visit the places you’re learning about without having to leave your home.

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For this list, I’ve decided to focus on sites where kids could expand their school lessons by learning more about art, history, science, and geography.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but a jumping-off point for you and your teens to start to discover all the locations and collections available to view remotely.

You can easily add some of these locations to your homeschool lessons or just to have fun as a family. To go on a virtual field trip, log on to one of these sites and take a tour from your the comfort of your own home.

Virtual Field Trips for Middle School Science

Expand your science lesson plans by visiting these sites that cover different science topics.

African Wildlife Cams

See all kinds of African animals, both day and night, with these wildlife cams located all across Africa.

Clearwater Aquarium

Visit Winter and Hope along with the other animals at the Clearwater Aquarium. Throughout the week they host virtual field trips that kids can participate in and you can always watch their webcams.

Bahamian Coral Reef

Take a trip to the Bahamas to view the coral reefs. You’ll find various films along with a teacher guide to help your older kids learn about coral reefs and their importance to the Bahamian people. 

Georgia Aquarium

Not only can you watch animals all day through the Georgia Aquarium webcams, but they also host a variety of live streaming events to learn about the animals in their care.

Nature Lab

Visit the Nature Lab and choose from a wide variety of nature-based field trips for middle schoolers. Your kids can tour places like the rainforest in Borneo, the Coral Reefs of Palau, and China’s great forests.

Volcanoes

Visit the volcanoes within the United States through live webcams, videos, and pictures.

History Virtual Field Trips

Bring this subject to life by visiting the actual sites where history took place. Learn about the people, events, and locations around the globe that shaped our world.

Washington D.C.

There are a ton of field trips available for Washington DC that will make excellent additions to your American history curriculum.

Learn about our government by touring the Supreme Court and US Capitol. You can also check out famous landmarks like the Lincoln Memorial and the White House.

Anne Frank’s Hiding Place

This website brings Anne Frank’s Diary to life. Virtually tour Anne Frank’s Hiding Place in Amsterdam and learn about the eight people living there during WWII.

They have a narrative 3D tour of their secret hiding place available.

Colonial Williamsburg

When you’re studying early American History, make sure to tour Colonial Williamsburg by taking some of the amazing electronic field trips they offer.

There are also videos students can watch and podcasts they can listen to in order to learn more about the Colonial era.

Gettysburg

Take a virtual tour of Gettysburg and learn about this important Civil War battle site. Virtual Gettysburg is another site that has additional distance tours available for students.

Mount Vernon

Visit George Washington’s beloved estate, Mount Vernon, and learn more about this founding father and first president.

The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

See The Statue of Liberty through virtual tours and webcams. Learn Lady Liberty’s history and let your kids become a WebRanger. While you’re there, take some time to tour Ellis Island as well.

They’re just two of the awesome virtual field trips to New York City available.

World Wonders

Let students tour some of the modern and ancient wonders of the world from home. There are a wide variety of sites for older kids to choose from.

National WWII Museum

See the artifacts, maps, listen to speeches, and more to learn about this part of history in the National WWII Museum.

National Park Service’s Museum Management Program

The National Park Service’s Museum Management Program boasts an impressive collection of virtual museum exhibits dedicated to American historical treasures.

Art Virtual Field Trips

Encourage your tweens to check out some of the most famous works of art from their computer.

Google Art Project

The Google Art Project is an enormous collection of world art that can be sorted by artist, museum, or artwork.

From their computer, students will be able to get up close to the artwork as well as take virtual tours of hundreds of art collections/museums.

Louvre

Tweens can see the famous galleries of the Louvre and the collections located within them, including the iconic Mona Lisa thanks to a variety of virtual tours.

Museum of Modern Art

Students can view the almost 200,000 works of art housed in the famous Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Van Gogh Museum

Virtually tour the Van Gogh Museum and get up close and personal with the largest collection of this famous artist’s work.

Geography Virtual Field Trips

For your geography studies, let your tween tour these world sites from home. Some are so detailed, they’ll feel like they’re really there. While we love playing geography board games, virtual tours are some of our favorite world geography activities.

Eiffel Tower

If your tweens dream of visiting Paris and climbing the Eiffel Tower, now they can view this famous landmark and the stunning city from a variety of angles.

The Grand Canyon

Learn about the Grand Canyon through virtual tours, interactive programs, history, archaeology, and more.

Great Wall of China

Have your older kids walk along the Great Wall of China, China’s greatest tourist attraction from the comfort of your couch.

Redwood National Park

Take a virtual trip to the Redwood National Park and check out the Ranger videos, scientific research, and historical information on the American Indians who made the redwoods their home.

Niagra Falls

Different virtual tours will let you see the wonder of Niagra Falls from a variety of angles.

Denali National Park

This site shows viewers interactive panoramas from various places within Denali National Park.

It also has virtual tours, videos, podcasts, multimedia presentations, and webcams that tweens will love.

Yellowstone National Park

When you’re learning about our country’s natural wonders like Yellowstone, head to this site to view photos, watch videos, and listen to podcasts all related to this beautiful place.

As you can see, there are so many educational sites out there that older kids can access from home.

These are great learning tools and I hope that you add some of them to your homeschool lesson plans. Not only will they help kids learn, but they’re also cool places to visit.

More Educational Virtual Tours for Tweens

• For a wide variety of virtual tours, here are over 300 sites that offer remote visits. Kids can view museums, exhibits, and points of interest.
• Check out the wonder of Alaska with 20+ online offerings.
• When you’re studying geography, take a trip to see our national parks. See their raw, natural beauty and learn why they’re treasured spots in our country.
• Take a virtual tour of the Alamo and then add some suggested activities and resources to your history lessons.

Resources for Virtual Field Trips

• One of my favorite tools for field trips and distance learning is Discovery Education. They have all kinds of videos, tours, and programs that bring the world right into your home. They also host regular virtual events that tweens can join.
• Take your virtual learning to the next level with a VR headset.

What are your favorite educational virtual field trips for middle school?