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.
The Arizona SciTech Festival is a multi-week, colorful showcase of more than 1,000 science, engineering, technology (STEM) and innovation events in over 50 Arizona cities featuring exhibits, hands-on activities, colorful shows, tours and discussions. Dates coming soon!
The Arizona Diamondbacks are the Major League Baseball team in Arizona. Since its inception as an expansion franchise in 1998, the team has won a world championship (2001) and made six postseason appearances. The club has played in front of 32 million fans at Chase Field, which features a signature swimming pool, retractable roof and a kids play area called the Phoenix Children’s Hospital Sandlot. For more information about the D-backs, or to purchase game tickets, visit dbacks.com
Nestled in the heart of downtown Mesa, the Arizona Museum of Natural History is Arizona’s premier natural history museum. A must-see for dinosaur lovers, the main attraction is Dinosaur Mountain, with animatronic dinosaurs, a 3–story indoor waterfall and a flash flood that happens every 30 minutes. If dinosaurs are not your interest, pan for gold, learn about volcanoes or discover Arizona’s connections to civilizations like the Maya.
We are proud to host interactive educational opportunities for public, private, charter, and home school groups. Field trips are FREE for all participants – both students and adult chaperones, and include a curriculum aligned to the Arizona Department of Education State Standards for English, Math, Science and Social Studies. Registration deadline is October 1, 2023.
The School of Earth and Space Exploration has field trips for grades K–12. These field trips encourage STEM education. Students interact in a positive motivational experience with college students who are working toward a degree in a STEM field.
The ASU Earth & Space Exploration day is a free family event presented by SESE. The event includes talks with scientists, interactive exhibits, 3D planetarium shows, and student science exhibits. Check the website in the fall for date and time.
Act Now. Build a Better Tomorrow. Join the movement for a sustainable earth. Where people and the planet thrive. Discover the small daily changes you can make to live more sustainably, find classroom activities, student games, or take action with one of our sustainable Explainable video series on YouTube and more across our social media channels.
Common Core Worksheets: Free standards-based fun sheets for classrooms to use in conjunction with the current issue of Bear Essential News.
Free Young Reporters Program: Students in grades 3–8 develop as young writers by writing news stories for Bear Essential News.
Young Reporters can attend monthly Zoom meetings and interview important people from our community.
Free Presentations: Five dynamic topics are available from a Bear editor.
Project: Educate. Educators receive a 20% discount on all purchases. To receive your
Project: Educate card, you need to sign up online at www.bookmans.com. You will receive a
confirmation email, which you need to bring to your nearest Bookmans location, along with a
valid ID and proof of educator status.
Kids Club: From birth to age 12 kids receive a 10% discount and a $10 gift certificate on
their birthday.
1317: Kids 13-17 receive a 15% discount and a $15 gift certificate on their birthday.
Visit Bookmans.com and click on the JOIN tab to sign up.
CAP offers an Arizona-specific water education program including free downloadable lesson plans for K–3, 4–6, middle and high school students that are standards-based. Lesson plans supported by mixed media tools like videos, posters and activity books! Visit www.cap-az.com/education or call 623-869-2176 for more information.
East Valley Children’s Theatre continues with 27 years of theatre opportunities for youth ages 8–18. Adventures await the whole family. Join us for our upcoming season at Mesa Art Center. See The Three Musketeers Sept. 21–Oct. 1, Anastasia: The Musical (Youth Edition) Nov. 30–Dec. 10, A Tale of Bravery of a Zebra, a Lioness, and a Very Very Small Bird Feb. 8–18, Xanadu JR. June 13–23. (Daytime matinee shows are available for large groups of school age children.)
Girl Scouts is the best girl leadership experience in the world! Girls of all backgrounds and abilities can be unapologetically themselves as they discover their strengths and rise to meet new challenges. Supported by trusted adult volunteers, Girl Scouts lead the way as they find their voices and make changes that affect the issues most important to them. Program activities center around STEM, entrepreneurial skills, financial literacy, outdoor and environmental awareness.
Discover your path! Scouting in the Grand Canyon Council provides boys and girls with outdoor adventures and activities that allow them to try new things, learn life skills, provide service to others, and build self-confidence. The Scouting experience is divided into programs according to age and activities.
Cub Scouts: Grades K-5
Scouts, BSA: Grades 6-12
Venturing: 14-20 years old
Sea Scouting: 14-20 years old
The world’s largest museum of firefighting has many award-winning educational programs, from guided tours to exciting hands-on workshops. Phoenix Magazine named our program the “Best Field Trip.” Teachers love our kid-friendly approach to fire safety, history and science. 35,000 square feet of air conditioned galleries. Reservations are required. Ages: 4 and up.
With up to 45,000 square feet of wall-to-wall active play area, there is plenty of room for events of ALL shapes and sizes. Bring a large group, reserve private party rooms or rent the full facility. Customizable to fit your needs. Visit on of the four locations in Chandler, Glendale, Mesa or Scottsdale.
The Scottsdale Railroad Museum captures generations of railroad history into a unique, one-of-a-kind attraction.The museum consists of the historic Peoria Depot, the Roald Amundsen Pullman Car and a number of other railroad artifacts and memorabilia that’s sure to bring the history of railroads to life. Admission to the museum is free for all park visitors.
We offer discounted prices on tickets for the train and carousel rides for field trips. A discount of 40% is applied to the ticket price when an advanced reservation is made for school groups.
Reservations are required in advance to receive the discount. Please contact us at 480-312-2312 or mccormickreservation@scottsdaleaz.gov
The O’odham people have lived in the Valley for time immoral. The ancient mound that sits within what we call Mesa Grande Cultural Park was built by their ancestors over a thousand years ago as a public and ceremonial center for one of the largest communities in the Salt River Valley. Students learn about these people, and the mound, through a guided experiential field trip. We target the science and social studies standards of 4th-6th grade. However, all ages welcome.
Visit the Phoenix Zoo to enhance your STEM-related curriculum content! The Zoo is a unique destination offering guided field trips on a variety of topics that support classroom-based learning and are designed for multiple learning styles.
Grades : Pre-K–College
Monday–Sunday, year-round.
We would like to invite students, their teachers, and chaperones to enjoy this educational experience on Friday, February 9, from 9:00 a.m. until noon. All eligible persons from your school, including chaperones and bus drivers, will be admitted without charge.
The Show will be open to the general public during this time, so only a limited number of students, teachers and supervising adults can be admitted to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show®. State law requires that there be one (1) adult chaperone for every four to six (4-6) students.
We will attempt to accommodate the needs of the individual schools, but arrival time assignments are prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis. Therefore, it is very important that the “School Visits Application” form be filled in completely and returned to us as soon as possible, no later than January 31, 2024. Notification of eligibility will be E-mailed to you shortly after you have applied. Coloring books, plus teacher instructions verifying your scheduled arrival time, entrance and exit points, parking instructions and a floor plan showing exhibit location, will be delivered to your school as soon as possible before the Show. Allow at least one hour to see the exhibits, and an additional hour to visit Dealer booths.
This year the Show will have some extraordinary educational exhibits of minerals, gems, fossils, and other related objects from worldwide museums and collections, many of which have never been publicly displayed. Among these exhibits are world-class examples of “PEGMATITES- Crystal BIG and Beautiful!,” the 69th Show theme for the 2024 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show®.
We hope that you will join us at the Show in February and share with your students this unique educational opportunity. Please contact me at the snail-mail address, phone number, or email address listed below if you have any questions or concerns.
We look forward to seeing you there!
https://show.hub.tgms.org/friday-morning-school-visits-program/
Introduce students to a range of scientific topics and encourage excitement and curiosity about marine phenomena in the natural world. Ignite imagination and wonder in your class as students come face-to-fin with thousands of creatures and get closer than ever before! Tickets are $8 per person, minimum of 10 students to qualify for school rate. Advanced pre-paid reservations are required a minimum of 14 days in advance.
Group visits are available on select dates as early as 9 a.m. and must conclude by 11a.m.
Shamrock Farms offers a fun and educational field trip through its working dairy farm that will show your students their pure, fresh farm-to-table story. View the cows being milked, let your students play on Roxie’s Outdoor Adventure on your hour-long guided tour. Shamrock Farms is happy to offer in-person tours as well as our recently launched virtual tours. Please visit shamrockfarmstour.com today to reserve an in-person or virtual tour!
How would you like to watch airplanes land and take off and experience a major commercial hub airport in action? Or perhaps you are just curious to see the new airport amenities and terminal renovations that have been in the news, or looking for a fun activity to do with family or friends. Tours of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport take approximately 90 minutes and help provide a better understanding of airport operations–they include a ride on the PHX Sky Train®, seeing the airport musuem, visiting airport terminal area, and watching airplanes. Tours are free and in cool air–conditioning to escape the heat. For fun avaition activities visit www.skyharbor.com/beforetraveling/traveling-with-children/ActivitiesEduc....
On our guided farm tours every child will get to harvest produce to take home and experience educational farm activities. Children will gain valuable hands-on experience and they will benefit when they know where their food is coming from in the process of bringing food from the farm to their table. Cost: Varies. All ages welcome.
60,000 square feet of reptiles and amphibians from around the world. Petting zoo with tortoises, alligators, snakes and other reptiles. Captive bred reptiles for sale. Cost: Adults: $15; Ages 6–12: $5; Ages 5 and under are Free.
Valley Metro’s School Outreach Program makes learning fun. We provide the know-how for students and teachers to learn about their transit system.
Free field trip travel on Valley Metro bus and light rail! Learn to use the public transit system while going to fun and educational places.
Free Field Trip Pass
Preschool and elementary groups traveling weekdays 8:30 am – 2:30 pm
35 people per group
2 week notice required
We offer free classroom presentations
Your field trip will complement any biology curriculum at any grade level. Students can feed Lory parrots, learn about animal ambassadors and see some display natural behaviors during a Wildlife Encounter Show. Meet baby animals in our children’s play area and petting zoo! Cost: $8/student, $20/adult, one adult admission free with every 10 paid students (10 student min.)
