Field Trips & Family Outings

For unforgettable fun and learning, few things are as fabulous as a field trip! Here are Bear Essential’s 2023–24 Guides for Field Trips and Fun Family Destinations.

Educators are always looking for creative ways to keep their students excited and engaged while learning. Taking a classroom or combined classrooms on a field trip is a perfect way to lead the students on a fun adventure that can be full of animals, marine life, history, art, farming, nature, government, STEM and STEAM. Field trips give students a chance to get away from tablets and screens and do hands-on activities.

 

For some students a field trip might be their first adventure traveling on a bus to another city without their parents. This helps a child with a feeling of independence. Learning about dinosaurs in a classroom is one thing, but going to a museum to see actual dinosaur skeletons up-close or digging for fossils helps students to connect the dots about what they have learned in the classroom and put it together with what they can see, touch and explore during a field trip.

 

In Tucson students can learn more about art, music, culture, nature, animals, history and geology with field trips to various places around the Old Pueblo. The Fox Tucson Theatre offers free tours where students will learn history of the theatre, see the unique architecture of the venue or attend a school matinee. Hands-on learning happens at the Mini Time Machine Museum and Children’s Museum Tucson. At Tucson Museum of Art and the UA Museum of Art special exhibits and collections educate students about history, culture, art techniques and more with self-guided or docent-led tours.

 

Are your students interested in learning about animals, reptiles, wildlife and bugs? The Humane Society of Southern Arizona, Reid Park Zoo, Tucson Reptile & Amphibian Show, Arizona Insect Festival and International Wildlife Museum has animals and critters of various species. These educational field trips have hands-on activities (some with a petting zoo) and give insight of how to care for, protect and understand domestic pets, exotic reptiles, wildlife and bugs from Arizona and around the world.

 

Camp Cooper, Tohono Chul, Presidio Museum, The Tucson Gem & Mineral Show and The Tucson Rodeo Parade Museum are great places to learn about history, culture, nature and geology.

If you are looking for a field trip that keeps kids active and has hands-on activities, you might want to check out Golf N’ Stuff, Rock Solid Climbing + Fitness, Tucson Parks & Rec Kidco, Wild Katz Children’s Adventure Playground or the Crayola Experience in Chandler.

 

Apple Annie’s in Wilcox has a 600,000-stalk corn maze that is a great adventure for students or scout groups. For city kids who want to learn more about what it’s like to work on a farm, Shamrock Farms has educational tours that teach about farm-to-table.

In The Phoenix area a field trip to the Phoenix Zoo or Sea Life Arizona is a fun way to learn about animals and marine life. The Arizona Museum of Natural History, Mesa Grande Cultural Park and Sky Harbor International Airport provide historical displays, exhibits and activities.

 

Matinees are available at East Valley Children’s Theatre with discounted rates for classrooms. Want to learn about trains and fire engines? A visit to Hall of Flame and McCormick–Stillman Railroad Park teaches the history about firefighting and transportation. And speaking about transportation, Valley Metro offers a free ride to your field trip destination.

 

Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona, Girl Scouts–Arizona Cactus-Pine, Boy Scouts of America–Catalina Council and Boy Scouts of America–Grand Canyon Council all have programs for students. Scouts learn skills, earn badges, awards, go on field trips, go camping and help their local community.

 

If you want to stay in your classroom, the Central Arizona Project (CAP) offers educators lessons plans and Bear Essential News provides free classroom presentations. Choose from five topics that cover reading, writing and journalism skills and students in grades 3–8 can sign up to be Young Reporters and write for Bear Essential News.

 

Visit www.bearessentialnews.com and click on Teacher Grants & Field Trip Funding under the teacher tab to see a list of places that help with field trips, classroom projects and teacher resources.

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