Learn how to make virtual tours for kids more interactive and fun, plus a list of over 35 destinations for virtual tours and virtual field trips with links to get you started.
People often use virtual tours to help prepare for an upcoming vacation or field trip.
But if you aren’t able to go somewhere in real life, virtual tours can also be used to plan a virtual vacation.
Of course, just doing a virtual walk through a destination isn’t going to be too much fun for kids. Can you imagine taking your child to Disney World, and only letting them look at the rides?
That’s why planning interactive virtual vacations and field trips needs to involve more than just the virtual tour.
By adding in videos of rides or animals, live camera feeds, educational webpages, and planning fun at-home activities, your kids will stay engaged and have fun.
Whether you’re a teacher trying to plan an interactive virtual field trip for students, or a parent looking for something fun to do with your kids while stuck at home, these ideas will help you turn a boring virtual tour into a day of fun.
Planning Your Interactive Virtual Tour
The first step in planning an interactive field trip or virtual tour for kids is to choose where to go. Pick a destination you know your kids will enjoy, or let them help pick the place you will visit virtually.
Read How to Take a Virtual Vacation to learn how to find places with virtual tours, how to plan out your day, and how to organize the activities you plan to do along with the tour.
If you aren’t familiar with Google Street View, read this article to learn how to navigate.
Once you have your destination picked out and have started on your virtual vacation plan, it’s time to start coming up with activities to make this virtual field trip more interesting.
Start by getting to know what your destination has to offer by doing a virtual walkthrough of the destination. Then check out their website and other travel blogs about the destination too.
Look at the activities they offer to come up with creative ways to do similar activities at home.
Virtual Field Trips for Kindergarten and Younger
While some of the activities listed below for each type of attraction will be fun for younger kids too, most are geared towards school-age kids. Here are some ideas to make virtual field trips for preschool and kindergarten aged kids more interactive too.
Dramatic Play Centers
Set up dramatic play centers in your house that are based on your virtual vacation destination.
Planning a virtual vacation to another country?
Set up an airport area using some of these ideas from Pinterest.
Want to make virtual aquarium tours more interactive?
Set up an aquarium dramatic play center like this one from Pocket of Preschool .
Whatever destination you are visiting, you should be able to find some related dramatic play area ideas on Pinterest or Google.
Playsets
Another play-based activity idea is to use playsets, or make your own playsets, related to the destination.
If you’re planning a virtual zoo trip, use a set of zoo animals to make a zoo sensory table like this one from Pondering Parenthood.
Need ideas for an amusement park virtual tour?
Use Knex roller coasters or Lego amusement park sets.
Don’t have anything at home that would work?
Search Pinterest for the attraction and “DIY”. Here is an example of what you can find for “DIY amusement park”
Scavenger Hunts
To help keep younger, and older, kids engaged during the virtual tour create your own scavenger hunt.
Do a virtual walkthrough of the destination ahead of time. Look around and type out some of the objects you see. Print off your list and have your kids find the objects when you do the tour together.
Here is an example of a scavenger hunt for a Canada’s Wonderland virtual tour.
Arts and Crafts
Another great way to make a virtual tour for kids more interactive is to take breaks during the tour to do some crafts.
Pinterest, of course, is also a great place to search for crafts related to your attraction or destination.
Here are some ideas for crafts and other activities you can find for zoos or museums, or even for countries like Egypt or France.
Amusement and Theme Park Virtual Tours
Amusement parks, like Canada’s Wonderland or Disney parks, are the easiest virtual vacations to plan because there are lots of virtual ride videos for them.
To plan virtual tours for kids to an amusement park, start by looking at the park’s website to see all the rides they have.
Then search for them on YouTube with the term “POV. You can also search for 360° rides if you want to be able to look around during the virtual ride (which is great for some Disney rides).
Don’t forget to check out some of the shows, parades, and other entertainment at the parks too. Look at their website for entertainment information, then search on YouTube to find videos for any you are interested in seeing.
Read this article on at-home activities for amusement parks, for ideas on how to set up your own carnival games and other off-screen activities for amusement park virtual tours.
Don’t forget to plan some food for your vacation day too.
Planning your meals around foods that your virtual vacation destination serves is another way to make the trip more fun. Check out the menus on the theme park’s website to see what you could make (or order in) at home that is similar.
Some theme parks have been releasing the recipes for their famous foods too. Like Disney with their Dole Whip and Canada’s Wonderland with their funnel cakes. If you can’t find an official recipe for the treat you want to try, there are lots of copycat ones too.
Need an example of how to plan a virtual theme park or amusement park virtual vacation day?
See my Canada’s Wonderland Virtual Tour Guide for a step-by step plan, with links for all of the virtual rides and shows.
Virtual Field Trips: Zoos and Aquariums
Several zoos are offering virtual zoo tours for kids, and there are a few aquariums with virtual tours too.
The first place to look for ideas to make these virtual tours for kids more interactive, and a bit more educational, is the zoo or aquarium’s website. Many of them will have online resources and other educational materials.
Many zoos and aquariums also have live cameras of some of the animals. If they zoo you chose to tour doesn’t have videos of an animal you would like to see, you can find other live camera animal videos on earthcam.com
Some other things you may find on the zoo/aquarium’s website are:
- Information pages for the animals or habitats (sometimes with videos)
- Animal videos
- Educational videos
- Podcasts
- Webinars
- Virtual courses
- Online games
- Videos or blog posts with instructions for activities you can do at home
- Printable coloring pages, activity books and worksheets
You can also check out the zoo/aquariums Facebook and other social media pages for more videos and resources. Many of them have been posting special videos of the animals, like the Penguins at the Shedd Aquarium exploring the closed aquarium.
Of course, some zoos and aquariums have more to offer than just walking around and looking at animals. Look through their websites to see what other attractions they have, then search for videos of them on YouTube.
You may be able to find videos of:
- Shows
- Rides
- Playgrounds
- Splash pads
- Behind the scenes tours
- Animal feedings
- Zookeeper talks
- Animal encounters
- Other special events
Want a step by step plan for a virtual aquarium tour?
Read this Monterey Bay Aquarium Virtual Tour Guide.
Art Galleries, Museums, Children’s Museums, and Science Centers
Just like with the aquariums and zoos, you will be able to find a lot of activities and online resources to make virtual museum tours more educational from their websites.
Here are some examples of what you can find
- Online exhibits
- Information and videos about the exhibits
- High-quality images and information about the objects in the exhibits
- Educational videos
- Podcasts
- Online events and webinars
- Articles for kids
- Activity and science experiment videos
- Teaching resources with activity ideas
- Coloring pages and other printable resources
- Online games
Children’s museums and science centers offer a lot of hands-on activities and play areas. Just because you aren’t visiting in real life, doesn’t mean you can’t set up your own at home.
First take a virtual walk through each play area and read about what activities there are in that area on their website. Then come up with similar activities you can make with the toys and other materials you have at home.
You can easily set up blocks and Legos for any construction activities. For museums with a mini city play area, set up your own restaurant or store. For science areas look up easy science experiments for kids.
If you get stuck for ideas, just search on google or Pinterest for the theme of the exhibit and the terms “DIY activities”, “homemade toys”, “activities for kids”, “preschool activities”, or “educational activities”.
Doing a walk through a dinosaur exhibit?
Look at everything you can find for “dinosaur activities for kids” on Pinterest.
You can also find educational videos related to the topic of the exhibits on YouTube, like these educational videos on dinosaurs.
For some exhibits you may be able to find online games (like this one on dinosaur facts) that can help your child learn more interactively too.
Want to take a trip to a children’s museum without having to create your own plan
Check out this Boston Children’s Museum Virtual Tour Guide.
Around the World
While exploring museums, zoos and theme parks is fun, the nice part about virtual travel is that you can explore places you likely won’t be visiting in real life.
Pick a country you have always wanted to visit or let your kids pick a country they would like to learn more about.
There are lots of things you can do to explore a different country (or state or city) virtually, and lots of ways to make it more fun and interactive for kids.
- Walk the streets of their most famous cities on Google Street View.
- Find the countries famous landmarks in Google Maps and look at them in Google Street View.
- See if any of their museums or other attractions have Google Street View tours or other virtual tours.
- Look on 360cities.net and see if there are any 360° pictures or videos from the country you can look at.
- Find videos of special events the country hosts.
- Listen to music that is traditionally played in the country.
- Find YouTube videos of traditional dances and other cultural traditions.
- Search for videos of people from the country talking about their culture, how they live, and their history.
- Find movies you can watch that are set in that country.
- Learn about their language and use Google Translate to learn how to say phrases you would need to know if you were traveling there.
- Do an activity that the country is known for, like having afternoon tea for England or eating Crepes for France.
- Find recipes for traditional foods from the country and make it as a family. Or look and see if there are any local restaurants near you that you could order it from.
- Look up animals that are native to that country and see if there are any live camera feeds on explore.org you can view them on.
- Find crafts your kids can make related to that country, like making a Hawaiian lei for Hawaii.
- Make a paper flag for the country.
- Have your kids make postcards, either hand-drawn or with screenshot pictures on the computer.
Educational Virtual Tours for kids
There are many ways to make virtual field trips for kids more educational too.
Look through the educational resources in the educators’ section on the destinations website to see if they have any project ideas or worksheets you can print off.
You can make the virtual vacation more educational by doing a follow-up activity or using it for research for a project. Have your child fill out a field trip research worksheet or write a journal entry about the destination.
For zoos or aquariums have your child do a zoo animal report or an animal webcam observational study.
Have your child pick their favorite piece of art, learn more about it, then recreate it at home, for an at-home activity for art galleries,
And for museums, older kids can take screenshots of their favorite exhibits and create a slideshow with them. Then have them learn more about the exhibit from the museum’s website and add some information about the exhibit to their slides.
Younger children could make a simple ad or brochure for the field trip destination.
For hands-on activities, have children build their favorite monuments from the destination with Lego or crafts supplies.
Destination Ideas for Interactive Virtual Field Trips and Tours
Theme Park Virtual Tours
- Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom Park
- Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure
- SeaWorld
- Legoland Resort
- Sesame Place
- Canada’s Wonderland
- Six Flags
Aquarium and Zoo Virtual Field Trips
- Monterey Bay Aquarium
- National Aquariums Baltimore
- Toronto Zoo
- Zoo Atlanta
- San Diego Zoo
- Kansas City Zoo
- St. Louis Zoo
Virtual Tours of Museums
- Boston Children’s Museum
- The Franklin Institute
- The Royal Tyrrell Museum
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
- Cincinnati Museum Center
- The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
- Guggenheim Museum
Educational Social Studies Virtual Field Trips
- Gogle Earth United States National Parks
- The White House
- The Liberty Bell
- Ellis Island
- Farm Tours
- Turn Back the Clock virtual exhibit from the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago.
- Anne Frank House
- Mars
Now that you have ideas for how to plan fun and interactive virtual tours for kids, plus a list of destinations with virtual tours to get you started, I hope your kids enjoy their virtual vacations as much as mine have.
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Do you know of a great destination that has virtual tours for kids?
Let me know how your virtual vacations went, and any other fun destinations you know of, in the comment below.