SCHOOL FIELD TRIPS
Gorman Heritage Farm offers a variety of creative, hands-on, interdisciplinary field trips for all grades – preschool through college – that meet Ohio State Common Core Learning Standards. Read below for descriptions of our established programs, or email education@gormanfarm.org to start planning a custom field trip!
Quick facts (for more information, read our FAQs):
- Maximum is 60 students at a time for most programs.
- Field trips are led by trained staff and volunteers leading small groups of 10 or fewer students (large groups are divided into smaller groups).
- Field trips last 2-4 hours and can start at a time convenient for your schedule.
- Program minimum cost is $100.
- Classroom studies can be integrated into your field trip to build on students’ knowledge and understanding.
If you have any questions about school field trips, email education@gormanfarm.org or call 513.399.9760 to speak to our Education Coordinator
FIELD TRIP PROGRAMS
Farm Senses
Age Groups: Preschool
Program Times: 1 ½ to 2 hours (Morning or Afternoon), with the option for lunch before or after program times
Price: $8 per participant & $8 adult chaperones
Children interact with our plants and animals during opportunities designed to engage all five senses. Children visit and pet chickens, equines, sheep, and rabbits, as available, as well as enjoy our vegetable and flower gardens. Tasting, touching, smelling, hearing, and seeing GHF plants and animals gives children a whole new level of understanding about farming and the natural world as well as a foundation for scientific learning.
Food Sources
Age Groups: Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2
Program Times: 2 hours (Morning or Afternoon), with the option for lunch before or after program times
Price: $8 per participant & $8 adult; 4-hour Food Sources may be scheduled at $10 per person
Students discover how their basic needs are fulfilled by a farm when they witness food and fiber while it’s still growing. Through observation and hands-on activities, students also see how the needs of crops and farm animals are met on the farm. This program includes activities such as collecting fresh eggs, grinding animal feed, meeting and petting animals, planting and tasting seasonal vegetables, and searching for pollinators.
Structure & Function
Age Groups: Grade 2, Grade 3, and Grade 4
Program Times: 3 ½ hours – 4 hours (full day), with time for lunch included during the day
Price: $10 per participant & $10 adult
Students explore several areas of the farm through interactive lessons and games. They experience the structure and function of farmyard animals, farming equipment, crops, and the compost pile, and how these structures support the function of growing food. This program helps students understand that healthy soil is the most important structure on a farm and the way that all life is connected.
Local Ohio History
Age Groups: Grade 3, Grade 4, and Grade 5
Program Times: 3 ½ hours – 4 hours (full day), time for lunch included during the day
Price: $10 per participant & $10 adult
Through historical interpretation, students uncover how the Gorman family grew their own food and lived on this land through different time periods from 1835 to the present, and how this local history of agriculture is an important part of Ohio history. Students take part in chores that children of the Gorman family would have done and learn to how make a handmade toy or craft to bring the history lesson home.
Soil Health: Inquiry-Based Learning
Age Group: Grade 5+
Program Times: 4 hours (full day), time for lunch included during the day
Price: $10 per participant & $10 adult
The big idea of this program is the importance of healthy soil in food production, revealing how plants and soil are interconnected to generate healthy food. Using scientific instruments and methods, students review the process of photosynthesis, learn the basic concept of pH, take soil samples, test soil pH and research a student-created hypothesis using the scientific method.
Custom Program
Age Group: Pre-K – Grade 3
Program Times: 2 hours – 4 hours (morning, afternoon or full day), with time for lunch as needed
Price: $10 per participant (half day) or $12 per participant (full day)
Our farm is an amazing place to bring classroom lessons to life and make them hands-on. We can customize any of the programs above to meet additional learning objectives. Talk with our education team to craft your custom program. Past programs have included animal care, development of agriculture, farm business basics, sustainable food production, water quality studies and the ecology of food. Email education@gormanfarm.org for more information and to register.