Home Daycare Field Trip Ideas
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Home daycare field trip ideas are not only fun, but they help kids develop skills such as social and emotional skills, motor skills, safety skills, and more. They are a great part of running a quality home daycare. Check out these ideas and the free printable permission slip!
Coming up with home daycare field trip ideas is easy to do if you use a little creativity with what’s in your area. Field trips teach kids many things and they are fun.
Home daycare field trips
You don’t have to have a big group to take a field trip. It can just be you and 2 or 3 kids. Or you can take 20 or 30 kids somewhere by getting together with a group of friends and planning a trip. We have done field trips all over the place, but these days I don’t have a vehicle with enough seats to take the number of kids I keep.
A safe alternative would be to ask 2-3 parents to attend the field trip and drive their own kids so you’d have enough room in your vehicle for the rest of the kid’s car seats. Be creative and you’ll think of fun and safe ways of getting kids to an activity outside the home daycare.
Home daycare field trips add even more learning for kids if you plan them to coordinate with your lesson plans or themes you are working on at the time.
Some field trips are free and some cost. If admission has a price, you can ask parents to pay the fees and you can collect them in advance.
Field trip ideas
Think about where your daycare parents work and if some of them might have something the kids could learn about.
Here are some great ideas of field trips that you may enjoy or may spark your imagination for something else:
- Zoo
- Park
- Museum
- Orchard
- Pumpkin patch
- Pool
- Waterpark
- Ball game
- Hardware store
- Dairy
- Ice skating
- Roller skating
- Bowling
Daycare field trips
- Circus
- Science museum
- Beach or lake
- Farm
- Aquarium
- Rodeo
- Planetarium
- Fire station
- Police station
- Nursing home
- Library
- Grocery store
- Florist
- Pet store
- Theatre
- Airport
- Grocery store
- Factory
- Nature trail
- Radio/tv station
Field trips that come to daycare
If you’re unable to travel out for a field trip, there are many people that will bring things to the kids to explore. More of them have a cost and some are quite substantial, but they can be just as fun.
- Dental health professional (we have this available through our health department)
- Farmer (to bring an animal or two or a piece of equipment)
- Ambulance
- Police car
- Firetruck
- Animal shelter
- Animal refuge
- Petting zoo
Daycare field trip permission slip
The first step in planning a field trip is to look at your calendar and find out what is available for the kids to do. Call around to the field trips you are interested in. Once you book a date and time, then you can plan out the trip.
Figure out how much time you’ll need to get there and back and how long you’ll spend there. Then make a time frame and notify your parents of the trip, the time and date, and the price they need to send.
Then plan what meals you’ll need to cover and how you’ll feed the kids those meals.
Get parents to pay for the entry fees if there are any and sign permission slips.
Click here for a free printable permission slip you can use. Home Daycare Field Trip Permission Slip
Pack a bag with drinks and snacks for all the kids, plus the permission slips and with a photo of each child attached for extra safety. I’m a what-if safety girl, so I think of those things. For more ways to teach kids to stay safe, click here.
Also, pack extra clothes and all the diapering supplies you’ll need for the kids.
Remember after the field trip to send a thank you note to the venue for allowing you to come. People work hard to give us a place to come and it’s nice to be thanked for your efforts.
For more ideas for activities for your home daycare, click here.
