23 best museum and virtual field trip sites

Virtual tours and zoomable art from thousands of museums, plus Street View walks through famous buildings. The biggest free virtual field trip library online. Try it on a big screen.

Virtual walks through Louvre galleries, plus its online collection of every artwork in the museum. A good warm-up before a real trip. Start with the Egyptian galleries.

A careful virtual tour of the rooms where Anne Frank and her family hid, with her story told in short pieces. Best for tweens and teens with a parent nearby.

Watch for: A heavy subject; preview it before watching together.

Explore Dutch masterpieces in very high resolution, like Rembrandt's Night Watch, and zoom in to see brushstrokes. Kids can save favorites and make their own small online gallery to share with family.

Van Gogh's paintings, letters and life story, with family-friendly features and short videos. Pair it with a rainy-day painting session, and try his swirling brushstrokes with your child.

Art games, quizzes and making ideas from the UK's Tate museums, made for kids and free of ads. Kids can upload their own art to a moderated gallery, and the games teach real art ideas.

Articles, videos and quizzes on dinosaurs, space rocks, oceans and wildlife from one of the world's great museums. The dinosaur pages are a hit with younger kids.

Explore famous aircraft and spacecraft and the stories behind them, with online exhibits from the Smithsonian. Good prep before a trip to Washington, D.C., or a fun way to explore from home.

Millions of museum objects and ready-made collections to explore by topic, across the Smithsonian's museums. Search a topic your child is studying, then explore real objects, photos and documents together.

Live cams of pandas, lions, elephants and more from the Smithsonian's zoo in Washington, D.C. The panda and lion cams are the busiest, and keepers often post updates on the animals.

Sea otters, jellies, sharks and a kelp forest, live all day. Very calming, and good for quiet time. Feeding times are the best time to watch.

Live cams of apes, koalas, penguins, polar bears and more from one of the best-known zoos in the world. Check the feeding times on each cam page.

The zoo's kids' site with animal facts, videos, crafts and games, free of ads. Good for animal reports, too, with clear facts and photos for each species.

Live cams including whale sharks, beluga whales and sea lions from the Atlanta aquarium. Leave one on in the background while kids draw the animals they see swim past.

Hundreds of nature cams around the world, like Alaska's brown bears catching salmon at Brooks Falls. Bear season peaks in July, when the Brooks Falls cam is at its busiest.

Watch for: Wild animals hunt and eat on camera.

Free video field trips to farms, factories, labs and parks, with companion guides for families and teachers. Many come with live events you can watch together.

Watch for: Many are sponsored by companies.

Tour Yellowstone's geysers, hot springs and trails online from the National Park Service. Pair a tour with the park's live Old Faithful webcam and guess when it will erupt next.

Walk on Mars in 3D using real rover imagery, with a guided tour from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It works in a browser, with VR optional.

3D apps that follow real spacecraft, planets, asteroids and the Earth in real time. Great for space fans. It runs in a browser, with no install needed.

A planetarium in your browser that shows tonight's sky from where you are. Point it at the sky and go outside. Kids can find planets in minutes.

Watch for: Asks for your location; you can enter it by hand.

Virtual field trips to forests, reefs and cities from The Nature Conservancy, with lessons on conservation science. Each trip includes activities you can do afterward, at home or outside.

360-degree tours of real farms and food plants in Canada. Kids see where milk, eggs and apples come from. Good for kids who ask where their food comes from, with short tours of each farm and plant.

History, online exhibits and the Ellis Island passenger records, where families can search for ancestors. Searching family names together makes immigration history personal for kids.