30 In-House Field Trip Ideas For Kids

After so many days being stuck at home with my daughter, I’d be happy with a trip to the dump at this point! So what do you do when you’re dying to get out of the house but you’re forced to stay put? You make a giant list of in-house field trip ideas! 

No Need To Leave The House 

So here’s the thing about going places with your kids.  Hopping in the car and traveling somewhere new is always exciting. But I bet you didn’t know that you don’t even have to leave the house to give your kids the exciting experience they’re begging you for! This is where the “in-house” part of the in-house field trip ideas comes in. 

How Does An In-House Field Trip Work?

If you really want to get the most out of these in-house field trip ideas, there are a few things you’ll want to do. Here are some tips on how to take your kids on a journey around the world without even stepping foot out the door.  

• Decorate. Making your house look like another destination is key when it comes to pretend-traveling. Find pictures of the destination online to print out, props around the house, toys, furniture, etc. Anything that you think could help give your kids a good vision of where they’re pretending to visit. 
• Dress up. You might be surprised at how much power a simple costume has! A plastic fireman’s hat is all you need to become the greatest fireman there ever was. Or put on a crown and now you are royalty in a magical kingdom. Throw on a scarf and some gloves and–what do you know?–you’re in the middle of a snow storm! 
• Talk it up. Half the fun is in the way you talk these places up, narrating through what’s going on, and getting the imagination running. What do you see going on around you? Explain what the props mean. Do you hear any sounds around you? What are you going to do now? Just remember to not shut down any of your kids’ ideas, even the craziest ones. If they find a unicorn on the jungle safari, try rolling with it and see where it takes you! Most importantly, just have fun becoming a kid again. 

With these three key elements your kids will be having such a blast, they’ll forget that they never even left the house in the first place! 

In-House Field Trip Ideas For Your Kids To Keep You Sane

Got your props, your costumes, and your imagination? Then we’re ready to go! Here are 30 in-house field trip ideas for your kids and anyone else who’s tired of being cooped up all day. Couldn’t we all use some sort of staycation? Count me in! 

1. African Safari 

Take your kids to the Africa in their bedroom! Make the room look like Africa (or what you and your Google searches think Africa must look like). Use stuffed animals, printed pictures, brooms topped with green yarn for trees, a blue blanket for a water hole, etc. Remember, it’s hot in Africa, so dress the part! Shorts, tank tops, sandals or hiking boots, and don’t forget the binoculars (toilet paper rolls taped together)! You could even make a game out of finding all the hidden animals. Try making a bingo sheet, have the kids take pictures with your phone, or draw their discoveries in their research notebook (a couple of papers stapled together). After all the adventures, head “back home” and share with everyone what you found!  

2. Take Flight On An Airplane

Go on an airplane ride to a destination of your choice. Use crayons and paper to draw and color your tickets and passports. Prepare some airplane snacks like soda, juice, nuts, pretzels, or any other snacks your airline chooses to serve (aka what you have in the cupboard). Arrange chairs to look like the inside of an airplane and take turns being the steward, the captain, and the passenger. If you’re feeling particularly adventurous, try skydiving out of the plane with your parachutes (a pillowcase)! 

3. Aquarium 

Choose a blank wall in your house to be your aquarium, or have each room be a different habitat for your various aquarium animals. Print and cut out all types of fishy creatures (sharks, fish, eels, jellyfish, whales, octopus, etc) to tape to the wall, or have your kids try to draw some. Then, talk about each animal, their name, where they live, what they eat, and any other information Google tells you. Try playing I Spy with all the animals on the wall. Maybe put on your goggles and floaties and take a dive to get a closer look! 

4. Attend A Concert Or Other Event  

What events do you wish you could attend? A ballet? An orchestra? A play? A concert of your favorite artist? How about all of the above? Draw up some tickets and programs for your concert, pop some popcorn or make a concession stand with all kinds of treats. Set up the audience seating, or clear away the chairs so you can have room to dance! Use a blanket for the stage and take turns singing your favorite songs, dancing like ballerinas, doing skits, or playing an instrument. (Pots and pans, kazoos, paper towel rolls, and jars filled with dry beans are instruments any kid can play!) Or, if you don’t feel like performing, sit back, relax, and find some fun live performances on YouTube. 

5. Have A Parade! 

Make your own marching band! You could play paper plate tambourines, pot and wooden spoon drums, kazoos, a rubber banded tissue box guitar, or anything else that makes noise! March around the house, and maybe lay out some blankets and take turns watching the procession! To make the noise slightly more tolerable, play in time to some real band music. 

6. Hair Salon 

Set up your own barber shop! Think of a creative name and make a sign for your customers. Use a blanket and safety pin to keep the “hair” off the clothes, and use your finger scissors to give each other a makeover. Or if you don’t want to give your kids any ideas when it comes to hair cutting, take turns brushing each other’s hair or doing braids and pony-tails. If dad will let you, borrow some shaving cream and give each other pretend shaves with a spoon! 

7. Nail Salon 

Set up chairs all in a row like a nail salon, with a bowl of warm water on a towel for the feet. Take turns soaking your feet and painting toenails! Also, if your kids need a trim this could be a good opportunity to bring it up! Find an easy face-mask recipe to use, or just cover your faces in lotion and put some cucumbers on your eyes. We’re really not sure what that even does, but it sure is fun!

8. Visit The Farm 

Hang a blanket over the table for a barn and fill it with all of your stuffed barnyard animals. Visit each one and pretend to feed and take care of them! What does each animal eat? Talk about what each animal likes to do every day. Can you make the animal sounds? “Old MacDonald Had A Farm” is a regular classic in our house. We have simply embraced it.  

9. Go To Space 

Nowhere is too far when it comes to pretend! Decorate a box together to make it look like a spaceship. (Doesn’t need to be anything fancy, if you say it’s a spaceship, suddenly it is!) Tape stars to the walls for effect. Use any balls you can find in the house and place them around the room to be the planets and visit each one. What is each planet like? What color are they? Maybe you’ll find some aliens! If so, take or draw pictures of them. 

10. The Candy Store 

Set up a candy or snack store. Make price tags for each item and use any extra change you have laying around to practice counting out the amounts and giving change. Or draw or print up fake money to use instead. 

11. Kayaking Adventure

Take a kayak trip down the river! You can use wooden spoons or broomsticks for oars and kneel on a folded blanket or basket as you kayak. Talk about what things you see as you kayak. 

12. Library 

Chances are you have a lot of books at the back of the bookshelf that your kids haven’t read in awhile! Pull them out and make your own little library at home. Draw library cards and take turns being the librarian or checking out books. What type of voices do we use in the library? Don’t forget to read together!  Here are some of our favorite books.

13. Doctor’s Office 

Need a check up? Take turns being the doctor and the patient. Examine the throat (carefully) with a popsicle stick, use a flashlight to look into the ears, and tap the knee to check for reflexes. If the patient is “sick” prescribe some pills (Skittles), or some “cough syrup” (juice). 

14. Dentist Office

Take turns examining each other’s teeth in the dentist chair. This could be a good opportunity to practice the correct brushing and flossing techniques! 

15. Go Fishing 

Make a simple fishpond and go fishing! You could lay out a blanket on the ground for the water, and draw fish and cut them out. If you tape a paperclip to each fish then you can put a magnet on the end of your fishing pole (wooden spoon and string) for a simple fishing game! 

16. Forest 

Take a trip to the forest! (See #1 for similar ideas!) Sing “Going on a Bear Hunt” for a road map. Use blankets, pillows, chairs, and anything else you can find to represent the grass, pond, and any other obstacles that you have to go through, over, around, etc. 

19. Down The Street 

Make cars out of boxes, or just use a bowl for the steering wheel and run around in your pretend cars. What different types of cars are there on the street? (Taxi, bus, garbage truck, semi, limo, etc). Practice parking cars, driving together, picking up passengers on the bus or taxi. Or, a mom’s personal favorite, drive your garbage truck around to all the rooms in the house and collect the trash! 

20. A Kingdom 

Create a castle-fort out of pillows and blankets. Dress up with crowns, tiaras, dresses, boots, swords, or even magic wands for the wizards! Maybe take turns making decrees for the kingdom, then roll up a long piece of paper for the decree scroll, and stand up on a chair to announce it to the town. “Hear ye, hear ye! It has been decreed that everyone must eat a marshmallow after lunch!” 

21. Museum 

There are so many options for a museum! Basically any toys or other collections that you have a lot of. Cars, dinosaurs, Disney princesses, balls, etc. Set up stools or boxes as pedestals, and put your items on display for everyone to walk through and see. Don’t forget to take pictures! You could also have your kids paint or draw and hang up their art pieces in the hallway for an art museum! Play dough also makes for good clay for sculptures and statues. 

22. The North Pole 

What do you think Santa’s doing this time of year? There’s never a bad time to get into the Christmas spirit, so pull out those Christmas decorations and deck the halls! You can even dress up in hats and scarves and take a journey through the snow (in your hallway) to visit Santa’s workshop. Maybe Mrs. Clause left out some cookies for you to decorate. Maybe the elves need help “fixing” toys. Maybe the reindeer need some carrots, or a good brush down. Ho ho ho! 

23. The Post Office 

Have each kid decorate their own shoe-box mailbox, then write notes and draw pictures to each other. Take turns being the mailman who delivers the letters and packages! 

24. Any Foreign Country 

The best part about make-believe is you don’t have to buy plane tickets! If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you like to go? India? Mexico? Japan? Hawaii? France? Find some traditional music for that country for ambiance. Make some typical food to eat, dress up for the climate, maybe even learn a few phrases in the native language! 

25. The Beach Or Pool 

Put on your swimsuits, sunglasses, and flip flops, and lay out in the “sun” on the beach! You can even pull out your beach toys and fill up the bathtub for some water fun! 

26. Rodeo 

Use pillows to make a big rodeo arena, and set up seating to watch the events! Put on your jeans and plaid shirts. If you have stick horses and cowboy hats and boots then you’re all set! Otherwise you can use stuffed animals, or even pretend to be the horses and cows yourself. Find some string or a rope and learn how to lasso. After the rodeo, clear away the seats and arena and have a hoedown! Look up some barn dance music, or try to follow along with this tutorial for the Virginia Reel. If you feel a “Yee-Haw” coming on, just let it out, cowboy! 

27. Restaurant 

Lunch has never been so entertaining! Learn how to set the table nicely (even add a couple of extra forks if you want to be really fancy) and don’t forget to fold the napkins. You can even draw up a menu and then take turns being the waiter. A couple of candles (if the kids are careful) makes for some lovely ambiance. 

28. The Train Station 

Color some tickets and mark them with a hole punch if you’ve got it. Use a kazoo or whistle, or just let out your own “choo choo” to keep things simple. Take turns being the conductor and the passengers, and follow each other all around the house. All aboard! 

29. The Zoo 

Once again all those stuffed animals come in very handy! You can use pillows for fences, and even make signs or a map for your zoo experience. Talk about each animal, where they live, what they eat, etc. Maybe take turns pretending to be each animal, or play charades and guess what animal you’re trying to be! 

30. Draw Pictures

If you’re not sure where to take your kids next, have them draw pictures of their dream vacation! You might get some good in-house field trip ideas for tomorrow’s adventure. 

Where Else Will Your House Take You?

It’s hard to stay inside the house all day, trust me, I know! But when your house could be a rock concert, or a library, or even France, why would you ever want to leave? Do you have any other in-house field trip ideas that I didn’t mention? Let us know in the comments!