How to Plan a Field Trip for a Kindergarten Class

Adventures outside of the classroom can be an enriching experience for children, and a great way for teachers to supplement their lesson plans. But when field trips are not properly planned, they can become disastrous. Following these steps will help you plan a successful field trip that your kindergartners will love

Instructions

How to Plan a Field Trip for a Kindergarten Class

1. Choose the field trip destination carefully. Don’t take your kindergarten class to a place where they'll be required to keep their hands behind their backs for fear they might damage something. Select child-friendly places where kids will be free to explore items, talk, and interact with one another.

2. Call the destination site ahead of time. Don’t march into a place with an army of five and six year olds--be courteous and let the site management know when you plan to visit, and how many crumb-snatchers will accompany you. This will allow them to make any necessary adjustments to the facility, and plan their staff accordingly.

3. Make provisions for children with special needs. If you have special needs children in your kindergarten classroom, you want to take their needs into consideration, and make any necessary provisions for them to attend the field trip, and have a good time.

4. Find responsible parents to chaperon, and assign them to small groups of children. When you venture outside of the school with a bunch of busy kindergartners, the more supervision you have, the better. It's ideal to have one adult for every four children.

5. Send a detailed information sheet about the kindergarten field trip to parents. The information sheet should contain the time, date, destination, anticipated return, cost, number of adults attending, and how children will be transported.

6. Have parents sign and date permission slips. Never take the children in your kindergarten class anywhere without a signed and dated permission slip from their legal guardians.

7. Prepare an emergency kit. Your kit should contain a list of emergency contacts, allergy information, liquid soap, wet wipes, a bottle of water, bandages, and gauze.

8. Schedule bathroom breaks for the children. Young children should never be allowed to use public restrooms without adult supervision. If the field trip site has restrooms with multiple stalls, children can go in small groups with an accompanying chaperon.

9. Always do a head count whenever you move the children from one site to another, as they can wander off and disappear without warning.