Double S/O: Most memorable field trips of *your* childhood?

[kubiac]

The recent best-old-threads post led me to "A gentle proposal to moms of youngers." which got me thinking in turn about some of the great field trips and non-school activities of my youth: Memories of the "Outer Peristyle" of the Getty Villa, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the fourth-grade school trip to the Renaissance Faire, and the trip to my cousin's sheep farm in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. :)

 

I'm always looking for new interesting places to take my little kid (which is the gist of the "gentle proposal" thread) and I was wondering what were the most memorable field trip(s) of your childhood? (Or if you have any kids handy to survey, what do they pick as their favorites?) :001_smile:

[Rosie_0801]

Hmm. Memorable were the camping trips with family or guides. All the field trips with school were spoiled by the page or two of questions we had to fill in afterwards. That's enough to spoil anything!

 

Your kiddo is 2, yes? It doesn't matter where you take him. He'll only sit in a puddle and play with gravel. :tongue_smilie: My dd didn't really become interested in field trips to the zoo until she was over 4, and even now she's just as happy with a trip to the supermarket as anywhere I think of as interesting. But maybe my kids are weird and other kids grow into these things sooner?

 

Rosie

[boscopup]

I hardly remember my childhood. :lol:

 

I do vaguely remember going to the zoo when I was 5. But then we went to the zoo several times during elementary school. I also vaguely remember going to Safety City and driving the little cars around the little town.

 

My family used to camp instead of staying in a motel (couldn't afford the motel), and I remember being afraid of the spiders and camel crickets in the bathrooms. Oh wait, you're wanting GOOD memories? :tongue_smilie:

 

My most memorable (in a good way) trips from childhood were the band trips in high school. :)

 

But yeah, at 2, your kid isn't going to care. My oldest at 4 would be like, "We went to <insert xyz store> a couple years ago!" when we hadn't been there in a long time. :D And yes, the zoo was way more interesting starting around age 4, though my current about-to-turn-3 year old will enjoy it when we go again. I do find that a lot of stuff we do at 2, 3, 4, 5... the kids forget within a couple years, even if it was super duper fun.

[Critterfixer]

Let's see--Most memorable field trips when I was a private school student. Ah, yes. The day we went to McMillan Park and the brakes on the bus went out. We headed down the hill right onto a busy highway--everyone was screaming, I vividly remember seeing the veins on the driver's head standing out...Most fun I ever had! Very exciting and better than the park when we got there much later--this time in nice safe cars with seat belts.

 

Most memorable field trip in public school. We went to a prison. That was pretty interesting, and wasn't the last field trip I took to a prison. The second one was when I was in veterinary school and I was there with one or two other students vaccinating and testing cattle with the inmates.

 

Most memorable Home-school field trips--well, not really field trips except we were going into the field. Every year we took a smallish group and headed up to Cade's Cove in the Smokies for a bike ride and camping trip. The most memorable ones are the time when the skunks walked into camp and started begging from everyone, and the time when I ended up as the "adult" on a small outing. On the latter trip we had a small tornado, a large thunderstorm and flooded tents. I spent the following day washing sleeping bags in the laundry mat, only to come back to camp tired and cranky to be asked by the rest of the contingent where lunch was. I got a whole new appreciation of the word, "adult."

 

Bottom line--what makes a field trip memorable might not always be the "gentle" parts.

 

My boys would say that so far their most memorable camping field trip would have to be the one where the crow stole the bread while we were out swimming. Or the crystal digging trip where we all realized that we really needed to be wearing gloves and boots. We've had better camping trips and better field trips, IMO, but it's the ones where things went wrong that they remember with the most enthusiasm.

[Farrar]

The one in 2nd grade where we all got completely soaked on a chilly day, so the class mother had the bus take us to her house, put the boys and girls in separate rooms, had us strip to our undies and threw all our clothes in the dryer. The girl whose house it was had a lovely dollhouse and the boys kept trying to sneak past the room where the girls were and having to be rounded back up. Pretty memorable. Of course, I have NO idea where we went in the first place... :D

 

On a more serious note, I remember the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta as a field trip. Also, the time our class studied planes and then some kid whose father was a pilot got us all standby tickets. We flew to somewhere... Memphis maybe? Then just turned around and went home. It was awesome. And something you could never, in a million years, do now.

[bamagirl]

We went to pick cotton (we live in the South), they explained the process of turning the fluffy white stuff into products, then we got to take a bale home.

 

We had a Pest Control Company (Cook's PC) that had a critter museum, as a child it was great to see all kinds of bugs, rodents, and reptiles.

 

The Space and Rocket Museum in Huntsville, AL. I loved it! Want to take my kids, I'm sure it's changed a lot!

[stripe]

I remember making pretty colored white chocolate candies for a friend's birthday! (Not for school)

 

I also remember a horrifying trip to a small local Holocaust Museum, in which we were expected to impassively gaze at all the horrors in a series of overheated rooms. When I fainted near the skin lamps, people look surprised. It is a very dark memory. This was from about 8th grade. It's made me more sensitive about discussing horrifying things with children.

 

I have great memories of visiting the local science /children's museum independently with family members, but not as a part of school. I still remember the computer punch card exhibit!

 

I hope to get some great ideas from this thread!

Edited May 9, 2012 by stripe

[Jilly]

I grew up near Chicago, and we had some great field trips. All the museums, especially The Museum of Science and Industry, were wonderful. I loved touring the Jane Addams Hull House Museum. We also did a field trip once were we explored Chinatown and India Town in Chicago. That was fun!

 

Another great field trip was to Conner Prairie in Indiana. It was fun to experience history at a living history park. :001_smile:

[GoVanGogh]

I don't remember much from my school days, thankfully. But I do remember two field trips.

 

I was in art club in middle school and we went to an art gallery. I remember being amazed at the art work and the architecture of the building. But what I remember most is being rushed along with the group, we couldn't stop and actually look for long at any of the pieces or study any of them. I hated that and that memory has stuck with me. Now, when we do field trips, I let my child guide. He gets to pick what he wants to look at and how long he wants to look at something.

 

I also remember going to the zoo in kindergarten - but I only remember that it was raining like crazy and I was the only child with an umbrella.

[kubiac]

Your kiddo is 2, yes? It doesn't matter where you take him. He'll only sit in a puddle and play with gravel.

 

OMG, you've totally met him!!! ;)

[mytwomonkeys]

washington dc & a dairy farm are my two most memorable field trips from elementary public school.

[2_girls_mommy]

Maybe I am a weirdo. I have a memory of almost my entire childhood from very early, including home and school. I can remember the teacher's words about a particular subject and where I was sitting when we were listening etc. This stuff comes back to me when I am reading to my kids about something. I remember the first time I heard it.

 

My odd seems to have a really good memory too. She can vividly remember things from when she was 2. Some she gets a little wrong, but she definitely has images from that time.

 

I think the "field trips" are important at the ages of 2. I think it is like reading, it is important from the beginning. They may not remember the particular story you read to them at the age of 18 mo. They may not remember the details of that zoo trip. But I do think they will remember being surrounded with fascinating things and with the beauty of nature. I took my babies to the zoo from a very early age. I would take them there for their walk in the stroller. The gardens and such are much prettier than my yard, and they have an appreciation for nature and animals and God's creation , even if they don't specifically remember all.

[kewb]

Hmmm, my most memorable are the ones I did not get to go on. When I was little my parents went to DC with my sister and left me with my grandparents. They were probably correct that I had a better time with my grandparents then would have with them but I remember they left me.

 

In 6th grade we were supposed to take a tour of the newspaper plant. A few kids in my class misbehaved to the point where my teacher cancelled the trip. The only 6th grade class that did not get to go, ever.

 

That said, I do remember well a field trip to The Bronx Zoo.

[sassenach]

The one in 2nd grade where we all got completely soaked on a chilly day, so the class mother had the bus take us to her house, put the boys and girls in separate rooms, had us strip to our undies and threw all our clothes in the dryer. The girl whose house it was had a lovely dollhouse and the boys kept trying to sneak past the room where the girls were and having to be rounded back up. Pretty memorable. Of course, I have NO idea where we went in the first place... :D

 

 

 

Can you imagine the uproar that would cause nowadays?

 

I remember a trip to the children's science museum. The biggie about that was that they sold those solar viewers and that was the year of the solar eclipse, so I was really excited to buy one.

 

Nothing really stands out besides that. I remember the trips (Griffith Park, Tar Pits, science camp, zoo), but I don't remember anything really special about them. If anything, what I remember most are the bus rides. We used to sing 99 bottles of Beer, all the way from 99 to 0. Gosh, can you imagine how badly our teachers must have wanted to stuff a sock down our throats?

[HappyCamper]

Crazy, but I will never forget the field trip we took to McDonalds in 2d or 3rd grade. We toured the food prep area and I remember being amazed by how methodical and shiny it all appeared. When they were younger, my kids both enjoyed field trips to California Pizza Kitchen where they toured the food prep area and then made their own pizzas.

[jar7709]

I think the "field trips" are important at the ages of 2. I think it is like reading, it is important from the beginning. They may not remember the particular story you read to them at the age of 18 mo. They may not remember the details of that zoo trip. But I do think they will remember being surrounded with fascinating things and with the beauty of nature.

 

:iagree: I think of it sort of as priming their systems for future successful field trips and outings. My kids have been traveling and going to museums etc since infancy and now at ages of 5 and 7 I think they already get a lot more out of a good museum than many adults. I grew up that way too...since our public school only had one field trip a year for most students, all my favorite memories of interesting places were with family. It seems like we were always going somewhere.

 

Anyway--one of my earliest memories was looking at mammoth skeletons at La Brea Tar Pits. Another was going rock hounding with my grandmother. Both of those made a huge impression on me and were probably formative experiences. I'm told we went lots of other places too like a cheese factory and I don't know what all but those are not the things I remember. You just don't know what's going to stick. :lol:

[Farrar]

Can you imagine the uproar that would cause nowadays?

 

I know, right? I can imagine us discussing it here and being outraged too. But we thought it was delightful to play dolls at this girl's house in our undies. And nothing untoward happened at all. And then we went home dry and didn't catch colds.

 

I think it's true what someone said upthread about how the most memorable isn't necessarily the most educational - more like the most crazy.

 

We go to the museums all the time, so I'm guessing that won't be a bit memorable for my kids. It'll have all just blurred into one long art museum trip by the time they're teens. Hopefully our "field trip" to Africa will be memorable though.

[Julie Smith]

Me either. I don't know why that is, but it's like I don't want to remember or something.

 

Me neither. I can remember a single field trip till grade 7 or 8 when I joined the skiing club and we went to a ski hill a few times.

[nellecv]

As a younger kid, it was probably sleepovers at the Boston Museum of Science (with scouts). A less educational, but very fun one was always tubing in nearby rivers. As teen, my favorite school trips were to see Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA. If you live in Massachusetts and you haven't seen Shakespeare and Company, you're really missing out. They make Shakespeare extremely understandable.

[ocelotmom]

I remember going to the natural history museum in first or second grade, and getting marked off for writing perspiration instead of precipitation on a worksheet about the water cycle because I couldn't be bothered to spell it correctly, and anyways, they're both water.

 

I remember going on a field trip to a local mission. I remember it as 3rd grade, but it was probably 4th because 4th is state history. Everyone was singing pop songs on the bus and I felt left out because I didn't know them. Specifically "I Think We're Alone Now" (quick - play "Guess my age"!). I have no idea why I remember that particular detail so clearly and so little about field trips in general.

 

In high school, the drama club went to see Miss Saigon. There were a bunch of nuns sitting in the first row, which struck me as odd, given the subject. During the final scene, a woman a few rows behind us broke out in loud, hysterical sobs.

 

Beyond that, the most memorable were the big trips that occurred when I was older - 6th grade camp, 8th grade trip to the east coast, and a trip the Spanish classes took to Ensenada in high school. I have VERY vague memories of having gone on a few other trips, but nothing that really stands out for me.

Edited May 9, 2012 by ocelotmom

[Tasia]

I remember being forced to go golfing as our "fun" end-of-the-year field trip in 8th grade. It might have been the most boring five hours of my life.

 

Also in 8th grade, we spent two nights at some kind of nature camp, where we had to sing the Johnny Appleseed song before meals and do our own dishes. We also snuck out in the middle of the night to go "skinny dipping", but no one was brave enough to actually do it when we got to the lake.

 

I don't think we went on very many in elementary school, but I do remember touring a fire station, walking to a park for a picnic and going to see a high school play's matinee.

[lcelmer]

I was wondering what were the most memorable field trip(s) of your childhood? (Or if you have any kids handy to survey, what do they pick as their favorites?) :001_smile:

 

 

Hands down, my favorite field trip was a tour of the still operating Trojan Nuclear Power Plant. We even got to wear radiation badges & see how decontamination worked. I think I was around 12-15 at the time.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Nuclear_Power_Plant

 

Some of the yummier field trips were Alpenrose Dairy (ice cream at the end, and Franz Bakery ( free mini loaf to take home)

Edited May 9, 2012 by lcelmer

[ocelotmom]

Also in 8th grade, we spent two nights at some kind of nature camp, where we had to sing the Johnny Appleseed song before meals and do our own dishes. We also snuck out in the middle of the night to go "skinny dipping", but no one was brave enough to actually do it when we got to the lake.

At 6th grade camp, I figured out how to disable the alarm system on the cabins that was supposed to keep us in at night. Or at least I thought I had - we were too scared to actually try it, so we never actually found out.

[Aurelia]

Most memorable for me - we toured a compound that illustrated how pioneers lived in third grade, zoo trips (we took a couple to the "big" zoo when I was a kid. In middle and high school I really enjoyed the trips to the state aquarium and renaissance fair.

[Stratford]

I was really lucky growing up. Our schools had amazing field trips (I grew up in Northern VA, so we had DC really close.) We had a trip to DC nearly every year, including high school, to see the zoo, museums, Nat'l Cathedral, etc. We also did trips to NYC, Williamsburg/Jamestown, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, some orchestra trips out of town....it was really nice.

 

I am a field-trip junkie. It's one of the top 3 reasons I wanted to start homeschooling. I love getting out and seeing things with the kids. They like it, too. We've been to nearly everything worth seeing in our immediate area (and many that weren't worth seeing but were kind of fun in their own way....) I don't care if they don't remember it. I remember, that's good enough for me! I figure we can do it all again when they are older.

[JustGin]

The recent best-old-threads post led me to "A gentle proposal to moms of youngers." which got me thinking in turn about some of the great field trips and non-school activities of my youth: Memories of the "Outer Peristyle" of the Getty Villa, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the fourth-grade school trip to the Renaissance Faire, and the trip to my cousin's sheep farm in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. :)

 

I'm always looking for new interesting places to take my little kid (which is the gist of the "gentle proposal" thread) and I was wondering what were the most memorable field trip(s) of your childhood? (Or if you have any kids handy to survey, what do they pick as their favorites?) :001_smile:

 

My favorite outing related memories? Sunday afternoon drives and other random day trips. I'm old enough to have been a "little" when gas was about the only thing we could afford to waste. My mom was a single parent with 5 girls to entertain on a dirt poor budget, so we took drives. We went to old cemeteries, junk shops, antique stores (not the neat and tidy kind) historical places and ghost towns (we actually lived in one for a short time). We explored back roads and out of the way places and drove around upscale neighborhoods just admiring the houses. It was wonderful and I credit this roaming, adventurous "entertainment" for my love of history.

 

The only memorable school field trip was in the 1st grade when we toured a Wonderbread factory. The part I remember the most was the end when we got to have a free Hostess treat. :tongue_smilie: Yum!

 

My own kiddos are more than half grown, but when they were small I tried to give them some of the same experiences. We did lots of exploring and wandering. Must have worked, at least they still love antique stores (not the neat and tidy kind) and old cemeteries, plus I have a whole 'nother set of precious memories which I wouldn't trade for anything. :)

[JustGin]

Let's see--Most memorable field trips when I was a private school student. Ah, yes. The day we went to McMillan Park and the brakes on the bus went out. We headed down the hill right onto a busy highway--everyone was screaming, I vividly remember seeing the veins on the driver's head standing out...Most fun I ever had! Very exciting and better than the park when we got there much later--this time in nice safe cars with seat belts.

 

Most memorable field trip in public school. We went to a prison. That was pretty interesting, and wasn't the last field trip I took to a prison. The second one was when I was in veterinary school and I was there with one or two other students vaccinating and testing cattle with the inmates.

 

Most memorable Home-school field trips--well, not really field trips except we were going into the field. Every year we took a smallish group and headed up to Cade's Cove in the Smokies for a bike ride and camping trip. The most memorable ones are the time when the skunks walked into camp and started begging from everyone, and the time when I ended up as the "adult" on a small outing. On the latter trip we had a small tornado, a large thunderstorm and flooded tents. I spent the following day washing sleeping bags in the laundry mat, only to come back to camp tired and cranky to be asked by the rest of the contingent where lunch was. I got a whole new appreciation of the word, "adult."

 

Bottom line--what makes a field trip memorable might not always be the "gentle" parts.

 

My boys would say that so far their most memorable camping field trip would have to be the one where the crow stole the bread while we were out swimming. Or the crystal digging trip where we all realized that we really needed to be wearing gloves and boots. We've had better camping trips and better field trips, IMO, but it's the ones where things went wrong that they remember with the most enthusiasm.

 

Ha ha - too true! I've been taking my 3 camping since infancy and we all have great and funny memories. Camping in the rain and Da Boy sleeping and snoring right through a thunderstorm that should have awakened the dead. Me coming face to backside with a skunk who fortunately was absorbed in rooting through garbage I had foolishly left out. The time Raccoons raided our ice chest, which I had foolishly left out, (not the same trip). Taking off on a hike we mistakenly thought was 2 miles round trip and not realizing until the halfway point, it was 2 miles ONE way. Camping with a young relative who I foolishly allowed to join us and who spent the ENTIRE week in full blown, I'm bored-you must entertain me-I hate all available food-whine mode. Bundling up in all our just-in-case-it-gets-cold clothes which I wisely packed, and driving off the cold mountain to kill time until the weather cleared and discovering the difference in 50 degrees and rainy on the mountain and 80 degrees and sunny on the high desert. The sight of the four of us skinning of the layers as fast as possible must have been hilarious - we looked like 4 Eskimos suddenly transported to Tahiti. LOL

Yeah - good times :)

[JustGin]

Hands down, my favorite field trip was a tour of the still operating Trojan Nuclear Power Plant. We even got to wear radiation badges & see how decontamination worked. I think I was around 12-15 at the time.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Nuclear_Power_Plant

 

Some of the yummier field trips were Alpenrose Dairy (ice cream at the end, and Franz Bakery ( free mini loaf to take home)

 

Oh Yeah! The Franz Bakery - we did that one twice, and I LOVE the bun super highway :)

[Tasia]

At 6th grade camp, I figured out how to disable the alarm system on the cabins that was supposed to keep us in at night. Or at least I thought I had - we were too scared to actually try it, so we never actually found out.

Our camp wasn't quite as sophisticated. :tongue_smilie:The only adult in our cabin (I think there were four cabins) was my best friend's mom, who we knew wouldn't actually be mad.

[JustGin]

We have taken some fun ones as homeschoolers both in our formal group and just as a family.

Loved the Franz Bakery here in Portland - have to be 7 to do that though.

Tall Ships was cool, this was a tour of replica 3 masted schooners, one of which was actually used in Pirates of the Caribbean. Kids and I visited a tiny glass blowing studio down on the coast that was memorable because we were the only ones there and the guy took a lot of time show and telling us the whole process. Very cool! Toured the backstage of the big concert hall in Portland and got to sit in on a Portland symphony rehearsal, been to Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery, the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and just hanging out on the dock at Newport watching a guy crabbing. He was friendly and the kids asked him all kinds of questions. Ok, the last was not an official field trip, but it was a neat-o

-aren't we glad we homeschool - moment.

We used to take our family vacation in early September after ps school started, and for 8 years we stayed on Puget Sound, so lots of trips to the Seattle Zoo, Pikes Market, riding the ferries, hiking in the Olympics. Very educational as well as fun! Once we stood and watched a ginormous cruise ship getting ready to sail and we got to watch the passengers go through the lifeboat drills.

You just never know what small children will find amusing or even educational. :)

[*Inna*]

I remember the toy factory field trip, mostly the incredible stench of plastic and creepy assembly line (eyes being put in the doll's head). :eek

 

Candy/chocolate factory - free samples! :D

[Beth in SW WA]

Fort Flagler outdoor school -- grade 5

Wrinkle In Time theater production in Seattle -- grade 5

Point Defiance Zoo / Woodland Park Zoo -- grades 1-4

Seattle Aquarium

[FairProspects]

I also vaguely remember going to Safety City and driving the little cars around the little town.

 

:lol: I did Safety Town too! And then I taught as a counselor for several years in high school. Good times!

 

Best field trips we did were done by my Mom, not the school. Favorites were:

 

Magna Carta (document toured and we saw it in Portland)

McLoughlin House (school)

Plimoth Plantation

Colonial Williamsburg

Mayflower

Plymoth Rock

Sturbridge Village

Oregon Trail ruts

Portland Zoo

OMSI

Mount Rainier National Park

Arches National Park

Smithsonian Museum

Lots of touring Broadway Musicals - Phantom of the Opera, Camelot, Evita, Oklahoma, Les Miserables, etc.

 

We are mostly a history family, but these were the educational trips I remember the most from growing up.

[Trish]

A visit to Old Fort Niagara in 10 degree weather. I can still not feel my toes in honor of the memory.

[Farrar]

Okay, I think I've got the perfect recipe for a memorable field trip now... go to DC, get wet, in below freezing weather, almost get in some sort of horrible traffic accident, and finish by watching lots of delicious food cook then eating it.

[kewb]

:lol: I did Safety Town too!

 

Loved Safety Town when I was a kid. A year or so ago I was part of a campaign to save the one I went too.

[Heidi]

The only field trip I remember is going to Dunkin Donuts to see how donuts are made. Then I ate a coconut donut and drank 7up for the first time in my short sheltered life. It was awesome.

[nmoira]

Maple sugar farm - K

Country vet - 2nd

Mink farm and fish plant (same day)

 

The mink farm was in 9th right 10th grade (maybe geography), and I think everyone swore afterwards they'd never wear fur.

[LillyMama]

I can honestly say I do not remember a single field trip in any detail. I was simply THAT kid.

 

What I do remember is that my family drove across country every summer, from California where we lived, to Georgia where my mom grew up. We took different routes and went EVERYWHERE. Eventually we fell in love with Yellowstone and ended up making sure we got at least a week there every summer. This meant so much to me that my husband and I honeymooned in Yellowstone.

 

It's one of the reasons I want to homeschool- my husband travels some for work, and we go on the road trips with him. Last year, we went as a family to Canada (we live in Colorado) and we saw the St. Louis Arch, Niagara Falls, went to the Field Museum in Chicago, did the Kalamazoo Air Zoo, just to name some highlights. This past November we spent two weeks in Seattle, seeing the Needle, the Boeing Museum, checking out Mt. St. Helens... At 5 and 6, my kids have visited, I think, 26 of the 50 states. They've learned so much! I hope these are the things they remember from our homeschooling journey- that they got real physical journeys out of it.