Virtual Field Trip Packages
While your “field trip” to your backyard or local park may have been exciting at the beginning of the “stay at home” era, you might be ready for a change of pace. Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden now offers a dozen different virtual field trip packages that cover Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) content. If you’re looking for a new way to learn about nature and science, we have options for students in pre-K through 8th grade. The best part? They’re free!
Kids on our virtual field trips can see science up close — like this view of a spider trapped in a pitcher plant. Image by Tom Hennessy.
On virtual field trips, students are inspired to connect with nature through observation and inquiry through our programs, which are seasonal and grade-specific. We recommend our field trips for homeschoolers and classroom teachers who want to supplement their own science lessons. They even would be a good choice for parents who are looking for programming for their kids during Henrico County Public Schools’ “Wellness Wednesdays.” Students from all over Virginia and other states have taken our virtual field trips. Learners from Pakistan even visited the Garden virtually last year! Everyone can participate when the distance is no longer an issue.
We replicate a “real” trip to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden as closely as possible unless we can improve upon it. This effort differentiates our programs from other online curricula. The outdoor videography is filmed onsite professionally, courtesy of Double Take videographers, Joey Tran and Erin Adelman.
Erin Adelman films Children’s Educator Tarneshia Evans for a virtual field trip video.
New Field Trip Programs
If you’ve seen some of our field trips already, please note we are always adding new content. In fact, two brand new field trips are available this week! Amazing Adaptations is geared towards 3rd and 4th graders. Students learn about plant adaptations, making a hypothesis and collecting data, and also learn about desert and rainforest ecosystems.
Tropical Treasures is another new program that meets VDOE Foundation Blocks for Early Learning objectives. Students learn about the life processes of tropical and domestic plants. They also uncover the differences between local and tropical weather by using a globe.
What’s Included?
Children’s Program Developer Mitra Bryant looks at her notes before filming.
All field trip packages include hands-on activities, an educational video, a pre-quiz, post-quiz and other resources. Each package provides about an hour of programming. We would love you to recommend a field trip package to your child’s teacher! And your child’s teacher may appreciate a break from lesson planning.
Susan Rowe, an elementary school librarian for Chesterfield County Public Schools, takes her students on virtual field trips. “[They] have been a great way to extend our learning in the library and make connections to our curriculum,” Susan said. “My Kindergarten students explored the gardens of Lewis Ginter virtually with a tour guide and then completed a fun scavenger hunt in their own backyard! They loved sharing what they found (pinecones, flowers, leaves) over our Google Meet.”
We hope you check out all of our field trip packages! From Tropical Treasures to Tree Traits there’s always something new to learn and we keep adding new episodes each month.