There’s plenty of history to learn about in Washington, D.C., especially with so many great educational field trip ideas and iconic locations to visit.
Washington, D.C., our nation’s capital, is a premier field trip destination populated with cultural institutions, government centers and world-class universities. Engaging museums (most of them free) and memorials that honor America’s past encourage students to create a brighter future. Washington, D.C., is a mecca of prodigious exhibitions providing phenomenal educational tours of significant historical sites, museums and cultural attractions.
Washington, D.C. Field Trip Ideas:
- National Mall
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
- Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
- National Air & Space Museum
- Planet Word
Washington D.C. Field Trip Ideas for History & Heritage
Begin your Washington, D.C. field trip at the National Mall—the home to famous landmarks such as the Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial and the World War II Memorial. Honoring the 16 million Americans who served in the war, the structure consists of an oval fountain surrounded by two separate semi-circles of 28 stone pillars and a center archway on each end. The two arches feature bronze Baldacchino sculptures and represent the European and Pacific theaters.
While at the National Mall, visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum for incredible stories of unimaginable human injustices. They provide resource materials for teachers and group leaders to prepare students for self-guided tours of the permanent exhibits. These resources include a valuable student visitation guide – a handout that gets students to reflect thoughtfully on what they see and read.
Student field trip groups will also want to tour the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The museum chronicles the African American experience of slavery, Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement, as well as Black excellence in science, the arts and athletics, making it an incredibly educational field trip idea. Among the 3,500 artifacts on display include a shawl given to Harriet Tubman by Queen Victoria, training aircraft used by the Tuskegee Institute, an invitation to President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration and a boombox owned by Chuck D of Public Enemy.
Performance Arts Field Trips in D.C.
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is home to the world-class National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera and the Suzanne Farrell Ballet. The expansive theater houses seven state-of-the-art venues and welcomes touring groups of 15-60 people. These tours feature the theater’s memorial to President Kennedy, a look at the art and decorations gifted to the theater from foreign supporters and a visit to the building’s rooftop terrace with stunning views of the city, which all makes for an unforgettable field trip experience.
You can also step into history at Ford’s Theatre, the venue where actor John Wilkes Booth fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. Today the theater functions as part of the Ford’s Theatre Museum and depicts the event and Lincoln’s life while continuing to put on plays year-round. In addition to catching a performance of one of the theater’s upcoming shows, field trip groups can also tour the inside of the theater and learn about the events of that night on their own with a National Park Service ranger leading them or, in the spring or summer months, through a half-hour informational play depicting the assassination from the perspective of an audience member.
Arts & Culture Field Trips to Washington, D.C.
Unlock some of Earth’s greatest mysteries at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian NMNH) on the National Mall. This free museum showcases a vast collection of the world’s natural wonders, from fossils to the solar system. Admission is free, and while they aren’t offering guided educational tours, they provide exceptional in-person and online learning opportunities. Exciting programs are aligned with standards for grades K-12 and are led by trained museum educators.
In Northwest Washington, D.C., discover a celebration of verbiage at Planet Word, a literary museum highlighting the power of language. Groups are guided by museum staff through three floors of galleries and interactive exhibits. A compelling Speaking Willow tree greats visitors in whispers showcasing different languages. Groups receive a personalized introduction and knowledgeable guides are there to answer any word and language-related questions.
Washington D.C. STEM Field Trip Ideas
Students interested in engineering will want to explore one of the city’s signature attractions: the National Air & Space Museum. This hall houses iconic aircraft like the 1903 Wright Flyer, Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis and the Apollo 11 command module, and various exhibits spotlight spacecraft, World War II aviation and flight in fiction. Field trip groups will especially enjoy “How Things Fly,” which features dozens of hands-on stations that invite visitors to push, lift and manipulate objects to learn the basic physics of flight.
Also on the National Mall is the United States Botanic Garden, one of the largest enclosed gardens in the world and home to constantly rotating exhibitions that encourage farming sustainability and biodiversity.
Marine & Aquatic Activities in D.C.
Groups looking for Washington, D.C., educational tours encompassing the water should visit AREC. The Aquatic Resources Education Center is a multi-use environmental education facility providing classrooms and aquaculture (water farming – harvesting fish, shellfish and marine plants). Explore more than 40 fish, amphibian, invertebrate and reptile species native to the Chesapeake Bay and District area. Field trips include aquatic-based environmental lessons and tours for pre-K through 12th grade.
Explore the vast oceans at the Ocean Science Center located in the Smithsonian NMNH. Research scientists and museum educators bring forth marine biology, ecology, paleobiology, human impacts, marine geology and more for in-depth learning. They offer various educational aquatic programs for student groups and on-site excursions at the Sant Ocean Hall. The 23,000-square-foot exhibition examines 3.8 billion years of oceanic history and showcases more than 600 specimens. Watch an innovative video of global ocean data projected on a giant sphere and find colorful Indo-Pacific coral reef collections.
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