Community Trips on a Budget

“But my school won’t give me any money for field trips!” I hear this so many times- and I’ve talked about how I got my school to help me with a LITTLE (very LITTLE): read more here, but today I am going to show you two SIMPLE, easy to make (in under 10 minutes) resources that will give you a quick, easy, and sometimes free field trip!

Be sure to read to the bottom to grab the freebie template!

So what do you need? A clipboard, a printer and a computer!

Scavenger hunts are a fantastic way to go on a field trip, get all the practice, BUY NOTHING, and SPEND NO MONEY! They are also great for walking field trip, or if you only have a vehicle for a short amount of time (we drive the school van, but only have it for 1-2 hours a week.)

First, I open microsoft word or powerpoint ( I’m a powerpoint girl, but whatever you are comfortable in- this by no means needs to be fancy)

Then, go to the store’s website and search for what you want your students to search for, and drag and drop those pictures onto the page.

Finally, I add a quick title and PRINT.

This is so quick and easy- i sometimes do it the morning of the trip! Now that we have explored our community alot, I can reuse, or change up a few things/ order and reprint.

I have my students bring a pencil or bingo daubber to mark when they find something.

But what if your students will finish that SO QUICKLY, and need something a bit harder?

For those students, I differentiate! I give them the same page as everyone else (so they can work together) and a second page. I sometimes have them list brands, search for prices, look for coupons, or write down aisle names/ numbers. This gets them looking around the store and opening their eyes to functional skills that we use while shopping without even thinking about it.

The second budget friendly field trip is fast food restaurants. We go to a variety of fast food (both sit down, and order at the front) throughout the year. These are the toughest but best trips- our students love food and have a huge motivator at the end!

  

  

To make these trips go a little more smoothly. I create visual menus.

HERE’S HOW: (hint, you should be familiar with this now)

AGAIN, I open microsoft powerpoint, go to the restaurants website, drag the images from their menu into the file, and add titles to each one. Quick, easy, and done.

IF I’m really feeling like I’ve got it all together and want to plan ahead- I like to send home a copy to each parent the night before, and have them circle what they know their child will eat. This helps us help them make their choice the next day!

I’m not sure if you have any of these restaurants or stores near you or not, but if you want to use the layout (it’s soooo simple!) you can download a couple of them here!

Store Scavenger Hunts

Restaurant Choice Boards

Do you take your students on field trips? Tag your trips, visuals and resources with #simpleFieldTrips on instagram so I can see & share!