Bus rentals for Chicago K-12 field trips
Experience the best of Chicago with Bus.com
So you want to take your students on a field trip? Chicago‘s wealth of history and array of museums makes it a great place for students to experience hands-on learning. Bus.com is here to help you with your bus rental so that you can focus on your students and chaperones and curate the best educational experience for them.
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Why Bus.com?
Peace of mind
As a teacher, your biggest concern is the well-being of the kids you’re transporting from the school to your field trip location. All of our bus partners are rigorously screened, which means that you can travel with confidence.
Price sensitivity
We know how important affordable, budget-friendly options are when you’re planning a field trip. Parents don’t have endless supplies of money, nor do schools. We offer many budget-friendly choices to choose from.
24/7 customer support
Teachers have full plates planning out curriculum and learning objectives. We want to make sure you aren’t adding to it with your plans for a field trip. Our 24/7 customer support team is there to answer all your questions — and they have your back for the entirety of your trip.
When you’re planning your Chicago field trips, there are lots of different factors to consider when you select a bus. We have different sizes of buses and they each have different amenities. From the most budget-friendly to the most luxurious, we have a variety of options to suit your trip.
The benefits of field trips
Studies have shown that students who participate in field trips display “stronger critical thinking skills, higher levels of social tolerance and greater historical empathy than those who didn’t.” We know that as a teacher, you understand how this is the heart of teaching.
- A field trip allows your students to have hands-on experience with the curriculum material they’ve been studying.
- Beyond the studies that speak to better critical thinking skills, you know that each kid learns differently, and some of the most effective ways to learn are kinesthetic and experiential.
- Field trips allow students to self-direct and focus on what they’re interested in, with minimal teacher guidance.
- The skills built during a field trip are not only academic, they’re also social and life skills.
- During the bus trip, teachers and chaperones can connect with students and participants can also connect with each other.
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Field trip ideas in Chicago
There are many places to go if you’re looking for fun educational field trips in Chicago! We’ve gathered a variety of school field trip ideas for elementary students and educators. This is just a drop in the bucket, but hopefully the variety provides you with a starting point. From animals to science to building, there’s something for every class!
Chicago Children's Museum
Chicago Children’s Museum is located at Navy Pier, in downtown Chicago, and gives your students a way to bring their learning to life through hands-on experiences. There are exhibits for everything! You can shop for groceries in Kids Town, design and build a skyscraper in Skyline, and camp, climb, and explore in Treehouse Trails, to name a few.
The museum can accommodate groups from 18 to up to 100 people and they have a reduced price for field trips, as well as scholarships available for groups and schools that qualify. If your group is smaller, they have another option for you, along with a different pricing structure.
Adler Planetarium
The Adler Planetarium was the first planetarium in the United States and was founded in 1930 by Max Adler. As a facility, the planetarium is also one of the larger ones: with over 60,000 square feet, it has three full-size theaters (two that are domed), in addition to space-related exhibits. Science field trip costs include entrance to all exhibits, except for night-sky tickets. Those require an additional purchase.
Their exhibits include community design labs, Chicago’s night sky, and Mission Moon. Your students are sure to be delighted by their hands-on interaction with space science.
Linkin Park Zoo
Lincoln Park Zoo is one of the oldest zoos in the United States! It was founded in 1868 and is located in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Field Trips are structured through their Zoo Explorers program, which is a facilitated 55-minute presentation. To participate in this, there is a class fee of $20-$40 depending on when in the season you bring your students.
The zoo itself covers 35 acres of grounds and is home to a variety of wildlife. There is a penguin exhibit, big cats, gorillas, monkeys, and so on, with a total of over 1000 animals living at the zoo.
Garfield Park Conservatory
Garfield Park Conservatory is one of the largest conservatories in all of the United States. There are eight indoor gardens that span 4.5 acres of space and an accompanying 10 acres of outdoor gardens and cultivated spaces. The conservatory was constructed between 1906 and 1907, to replace three smaller conservatories that were demolished. They offer multiple nature, arts, and educational programs— 23 hours per week!
A field trip to Garfield Park Conservatory is free, with no charge for entrance or parking. They do require a reservation for group sizes that are larger than 10 participants.
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