A good preschool field trip is short, close to home and tied to a question the children are already exploring; it is planned weeks ahead with a risk assessment, enough adults and a clear purpose, prepared with the children beforehand, and followed by days of reflection and play that turn the outing into learning. In a city like Ho Chi Minh City, where heat, rain and traffic shape every outing, the simplest destinations are often the best.
Real-world trips are one of the named structures of the Global Nexus curriculum, alongside weekly projects, monthly themes, life simulations and workshops. Trips have a special power: they take children out of the classroom and into the places where the things they are learning about actually happen. They also carry real logistics and real responsibility. This guide sets out how a teaching team can plan trips that are safe, manageable and genuinely educational.
Why trips matter, and why short ones often matter most
Children learn about the world best by being in it. A trip to a bakery makes bread real in a way no picture book can: the heat of the oven, the smell, the speed of the baker's hands, the noise of the street outside. Those sensory memories give children something to draw on in their play, their language and their thinking for weeks afterwards. Research on learning outside the classroom, much of it from the United Kingdom, consistently links well-planned visits to engagement and to memory, especially when they are integrated with classroom work rather than treated as a treat.
For young children, the most valuable trips are often the least spectacular. A walk to the local market, a visit to the post office, a trip to the park to collect leaves after the rain or a visit to a parent's workplace nearby can be richer than a long bus ride to a famous attraction. Short trips need less travel time, cost less, involve less risk and leave more energy for actually looking and asking questions.
Short trips can also be repeated. Visiting the same park in the dry season and again in the rainy season lets children notice change, which is one of the foundations of scientific thinking. A school that builds a set of regular neighbourhood destinations has a resource it can use every year.
Choosing a destination with a purpose
Start from the children's current learning. During a project on how bread is made, the destination is obvious: a bakery. During a month on water, it might be a canal bank, a water play area or a car wash. During a theme on our neighbourhood, it might be a walk to identify the shops and services around the school. The question the children are pursuing should be the reason for the trip.
In Ho Chi Minh City, many good destinations are within walking distance of most preschools: wet markets, small bakeries and noodle shops, pharmacies, parks, pagodas and churches seen from outside as part of the neighbourhood, motorbike repair shops, plant nurseries and fire stations. Larger destinations, such as the city zoo and botanical gardens, museums or farms on the city's edge, require more planning and are better suited to older children.
Before booking, visit the destination yourself. Check the route, the toilets, the shade, places to rest, hazards such as open water or traffic, and how the people there feel about receiving a group of small children. Agree on what the children will see and do, and whether someone at the destination can talk to them briefly or show them something. A baker who lets each child shape a small piece of dough has turned a visit into an experience.
The logistics checklist
Trips involve real responsibility, and good logistics make them calm. A team planning a trip usually works through these points weeks in advance:
- Permission and approval from the school leadership and written consent from families, following your school's policy and any applicable regulations.
- A written risk assessment covering the route, transport, the destination, weather, health needs and what to do if a child is lost or unwell.
- Adult-to-child ratios set by school policy and adjusted for age, destination and route. Trips usually need more adults than the classroom; parent volunteers can help but should be briefed and should not replace trained staff.
- Transport: walking routes with safe crossings, or a licensed bus with seat belts suitable for children, booked well ahead.
- Health and safety items: first-aid kit, children's medical information and medicines, water, sun protection and rain gear, a mobile phone and emergency contact list.
- Identification: matching hats or shirts make children easy to spot; each adult should know exactly which children they are responsible for.
- Timing: avoid the hottest part of the day and peak traffic hours, and leave time for toilets and rest.
Ho Chi Minh City's climate deserves particular attention. The rainy season, roughly from May to November, brings heavy afternoon downpours, while the hot months before it can make midday outings exhausting. Morning trips with shade, water and a clear plan for sudden rain are much safer and more enjoyable for young children.
Trips for babies and toddlers
Children under three can benefit from outings too, but the shape is different. For this age group, a trip is usually a short walk around the school's immediate surroundings, perhaps fifteen to thirty minutes, with children in a pram or walking with an adult holding their hand. The aim is sensory: hearing the street, seeing a motorbike close up, touching a tree trunk, watching a cat on a doorstep.
Ratios need to be especially generous, and the route must be very familiar to the adults. Short, repeated walks along the same route are better than a different destination each time, because toddlers learn through repetition and enjoy recognising the same shop, tree or dog. Adults narrate what the children are looking at in simple language, in both Vietnamese and English, and follow the child's gaze rather than directing it.
Back in the classroom, the follow-up can be as simple as looking at a photograph of the tree they touched or putting a few leaves they collected into a sensory tray. These small connections between outside and inside are the beginnings of the much richer trips older children will enjoy.
Preparing the children
Children get far more from a trip when they know why they are going and what they might see. In the days before, talk about the destination, look at photographs, read a related story and gather the children's questions. Write the questions down and take them on the trip. A child who has asked "Where does the baker sleep?" will be watching for clues the whole time.
Practise the routines of the trip as well: walking in a line or holding a rope, stopping at kerbs, staying with your adult, what to do if you lose sight of your group, and how to behave in someone else's place of work. Role-playing the trip in the classroom, with chairs as the bus and a teacher as the baker, helps younger children feel secure about what will happen.
Give each child a small job if possible. One child can be responsible for asking a particular question, another for noticing a particular thing, another for taking photographs with a teacher's help. Jobs give children a reason to pay attention and make the debrief afterwards richer.
A sample plan: a walk to the neighbourhood bakery
To make the process concrete, here is how a team might plan a trip for a group of five-year-olds investigating how bread is made. Three weeks ahead, a teacher walks the route to a small bakery ten minutes from school, checks the crossings and speaks to the owner, who agrees to show the children the dough and the oven at a quiet time mid-morning. The team writes the risk assessment, sets the ratio and sends consent forms home.
In the classroom, the children spend the week before mixing flour and water, comparing dough with and without yeast, and collecting their questions. On the day, the group of twelve children walks with four adults, wearing the school's matching hats. At the bakery, the owner shows them a batch of dough rising and lets each child press a finger into it. The children ask their questions, and a teacher records the answers and photographs the children's hands in the dough.
Back at school, the children set up a bakery in the role-play area, draw the oven, and compare the risen dough they saw with their own classroom experiment. Two children decide to try again with warmer water. The trip has become part of the project rather than a separate outing.
During the trip: observing, asking, noticing
On the day, the main work for teachers is safety and attention. Count children frequently, especially at transitions such as getting on and off a bus or entering a building. Keep groups small and adults close. Make sure each child can see and hear what is happening, which often means crouching to their level and stopping in quiet places rather than busy ones.
Encourage children to look closely and ask questions. Point out details they might miss, such as the different kinds of fish at the market, the tools in the repair shop or the way the plants are watered at the nursery. Photograph what the children notice, not just group shots. Write down the questions and comments children make, because these will shape the follow-up work back at school.
In a bilingual group, the trip offers natural language opportunities. The Vietnamese-speaking adults can help children ask questions of the people they meet, while the English-speaking teacher narrates what the group is seeing. Keep it light. A trip that becomes a vocabulary test loses its magic, and children will learn the words more easily afterwards when they retell the experience.
After the trip: turning the outing into learning
The learning value of a trip depends heavily on what happens afterwards. On the same day or the next morning, gather the children and look at the photographs together. Ask what they saw, what surprised them and what they would like to know now. Revisit the questions they took on the trip: which ones were answered, and which ones still need investigation?
Provide materials for children to represent the trip in their own way: drawing, building with blocks, making models with clay or recycled materials, setting up a role-play version of the place they visited, or dictating a story to a teacher. These activities help children consolidate what they experienced and reveal how they understood it. A child who builds the bakery oven in the block area and explains how the bread goes in and out is showing real understanding.
Share the trip with families through photographs and a short account of what the children learned, and suggest one or two questions families might ask at home. Record observations for individual children in their development records. Finally, review the trip as a team: what worked, what should change and whether the destination is worth returning to. These notes help the next team that plans a trip to the same place.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
How old should children be before going on field trips?
Children of any age can benefit from short outings, but the type of trip changes with age. Babies and toddlers may go on short walks in a pram or with close adult support, while three- to six-year-olds can manage longer visits with a clear purpose. Longer bus trips are generally better suited to older preschool children.
How many adults are needed for a preschool trip?
Follow your school's policy and any applicable regulations, and increase the number of adults for younger children, busier routes and more complex destinations. Trips almost always need more adults than the classroom does. Parent volunteers can add support, but trained staff should remain responsible for supervision.
What should we do if it rains on the day of the trip?
Have a rain plan in advance. Short local trips can sometimes go ahead with rain gear if the route is safe; otherwise postpone. In Ho Chi Minh City's rainy season, morning trips are often more reliable, as heavy rain tends to come in the afternoon, but weather should always be checked on the day.
How do we make sure field trips are inclusive for all children?
Check the route and destination for accessibility, plan for children with medical or sensory needs, and talk with families about any concerns. Some children find new places overwhelming; preparation, a familiar adult and a quiet place to take a break can make the difference. No child should be left out because of cost.
Should parents come on field trips?
Parents can be valuable helpers, especially for younger children, but they should be briefed beforehand about routines and their role. Some children behave differently with their own parent present, so many schools assign parent volunteers to a group that does not include their own child. Trained staff remain responsible for the trip.
How do we know whether a trip was worth it?
Look at what children say, play and make in the days afterwards. If they refer back to the trip, recreate it in role play, ask new questions or use new vocabulary, the trip worked. Record these observations and review them as a team when deciding whether to repeat the destination.