Butterfly House & Aquarium debuts self-guided field trips

This time of year, more than 3,000 elementary students typically visit the Butterfly House & Aquarium.

“In a normal year, all of these students visit free of charge through funding from a local family who is dedicated to sharing the interactive educational opportunities only the Butterfly House & Aquarium can offer,” CEO Audrey Otto said.

“Unfortunately, our small facility is not able to safely accommodate the volume of students that we normally host during spring field trip season, as most visit as an entire school or grade with 40 to 120 students.”

This is the second spring field trip season that the center hasn’t been able to welcome area schools. But now, there’s a way students can visit virtually.

Working with PINstudios, the Butterfly House & Aquarium created 360-degree virtual tours. 

It’s an interactive experience self-guided by the teachers and students in their classrooms.

“Classrooms and students will use their mouse or touch screen to navigate through the Butterfly House & Aquarium on a self-guided field trip, exploring the facility at their own pace through a 360 virtual tour,” Otto said.

“As the students move virtually through the facility, they will be able to click on displays and exhibits to view photos and watch videos teaching them about our various animals and habitats.”

A total of 34 educational video hot spots throughout the tour provide opportunities for students to learn about the animals that live at the Butterfly House & Aquarium, as well as their habitats, care and conservation.

The tour experience has up to two hours of content, depending on how teachers utilize it. Thanks to support from a donor family, the virtual tours are free for schools that register.

“I’m not aware of anything like this out there in our industry, if anywhere, and we are so excited to be sharing it with the students who aren’t able to visit this year due to the COVID limitations of our facility and their schools,” Otto said.

Ready to take a virtual field trip?

Teachers can click here to register, and the Butterfly House & Aquarium will send links to the tour as well as instructional videos and information about how to make the most of the virtual field trip.