Outdoor adventure parks are the best way for students to expand their teachings from traditional school subjects to crucial lessons in leadership, team-building and collaboration. These elaborate outdoor classrooms that offer ropes courses and ziplining allow students to explore outside of their comfort zone while gaining trust with their classmates through team-bonding activities. Check out this list to see if any of the educational adventure parks seem perfect for your next school trip!
THE FORGE: LEMONT QUARRIES – Lemont, IL
This 300-acre park in the suburbs of Chicago has quickly become the biggest adventure park in North America, providing a unique experience outside of a school’s traditional classroom. With eight obstacle towers, each with up to 10 obstacles, two children’s towers, rock climbing and zip lines over 1,000 feet long, this outdoor classroom has educational opportunities for your school trip. They provide four field trip packages to choose from, all of which “combine physical challenges with outdoor experiential learning” while also offering paddle sports, mountain biking and hiking trails, laser tag, archery and outdoor concerts and festivals.
Chicago Suburbs Field Trips & School Group Activities | The Forge: Lemont Quarries (forgeparks.com)
TREE RUNNER ADVENTURE PARK – Locations in Michigan and North Carolina
Tree Runner Adventure Park is a unique outdoor classroom experience with three locations in Michigan and one in North Carolina. This aerial obstacle course involves rope courses that take you through the forest, adult and child rope courses, and ziplines that take you through the trees. Tree Runner Adventure Park’s website provides a list of experimental education topics incorporated into the curriculum of a school field trip here: the physics of ziplining, group bonding, environmental sustainability, botany, ecology, tree growth, and biology.
School & Team – TreeRunner Parks
THE RANCH AT ROCK CREEK – Philipsburg, MT
Being Montana’s only Forbes travel guide five-star property, this all-inclusive ranch experience offers amazing activities and benefits that act as a great outdoor classroom for students. With over 40 year-round adventure opportunities, the Ranch at Rock Creek offers guests the opportunity for horseback riding, fly fishing, sport shooting, archery, kids clubs, hiking, rodeos, ropes courses and more. Not only do they provide experiential activities, but they also have great dining options. All of this with the opportunity to stay in an authentic ranch cabin lodge for a stress-free getaway.
Activities | All-Inclusive Ranch Resort | The Ranch at Rock Creek
HOCKING HILLS CABINS – Rockbridge, OH
Whether you are looking for a weekend getaway or a team-building adventure, Hocking Hills Cabins offers exciting activities all year round for all ages. Guests can immerse themselves in the experience with the Hocking Hills petting zoo, salt cave and glass-blowing studio. They can spend their day enjoying some of the most unique recreations , such as ziplining, rock climbing, horseback riding, canoeing, kayaking and even ax-throwing.
Outdoor Adventure in Southeast Ohio (hockinghills.com)
TREEHOUSES – Cave Junction, OR
What’s one thing that could make a zip line obstacle course even better? Treehouses! Gather your students and take a field trip to Oregon’s treehouses within an old pioneering mining and logging community for a great student travel adventure park experience. Students can take part in the offered “activitrees,” such as zip lining through the forest, riding horses, rafting and hiking. Guests should stay until dark to see the treehouses lit up for annual events like the World Treehouse Conference, Osmosis DJ Music Festival, or the “World Famous Historic Treeatre.”
TreeHouses – Out N About Treesort
THE ADVENTURE PARK AT SANDY SPRING – Sandy Spring, MD
If you are looking for an adventure in Maryland that merges fun, bonding and learning, the Sandy Spring Adventure Park is for you! As the largest outdoor obstacle course in Maryland, this aerial adventure park has 16 obstacle courses, over 200 climbing and ziplining elements, eight different difficulty levels for all ages, as well as lit-up night climbing and monthly events. Through activities that strengthen leadership skills, the park offers youth groups and school field trips a hands-on approach to support classroom dynamics.
OUTDOOR ADVENTURES – Gaylord, MI
This educational adventure park has fun activities for the whole group all while operating from a family-owned business. Between water sports, land sports, snowmobiling, go-karting, mini golf, fishing, entertainment shows and more, guests can experience it all here. Within the long list of activities is “children activities,” which provides a sublist of more than 25 engaging things to do. Students can learn through hikes or arts and crafts. To top off the limitless list of opportunities, Outdoor Adventures also offers themed weeks for students to come dressed up and experience seasonal adventures.
Activities – Outdoor Adventures Resorts (outdooradventuresinc.com)
ADVENTUREWORKS – Locations in Virginia, Tennessee, and Arkansas
With locations in Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas, Adventureworks aims to provide students with the opportunity to participate in various team-building activities, including options to customize team-building experiences. This is a perfect place for field trips, where students can experience interactive sessions to produce lasting bonding results. Additionally, while spanning different terrains, guests can zipline through the park and various obstacle courses through the wetlands, forests, and hot springs. While the different locations offer different seasonal events, each location of the educational adventure park focuses on its eco-footprint and teaches students about environmental awareness.
Team Building Activities | Outdoor Adventure Park | Nashville (adventureworks.com)
NORTHEAST MOUNTAINEERING – Glen, NH
While not the typical “adventure park,” Northeast Mountaineering offers great opportunities for students on school trips to experience outdoor adventures. Not only do they offer climbing school classes year-round, but they also offer daily experiences with mountaineering, hiking, ice climbing, rock climbing, and skiing. In addition, they provide cliff and waterfall rappelling, lodging, rental gear, and photography on-site.
Groups and Outing Clubs | Northeast Mountaineering (nemountaineering.com)
CAMP FIRE — Granbury, TX
Camp Fire Camp El Tesoro is an outdoor laboratory where students can take the classroom outside. With adventure units ranging from high and low ropes courses, archery, canoeing, and many things in between, there are also endless curriculum concepts, such as astronomy, fossil studies, erosion, and animal habitats and tracks. Each activity is understood around its scientific context, and the staff members’ goals are for students to leave with a greater commitment to protecting the environment.
Texas Outdoor Education Center
Students learn most effectively through various teaching methods. Leaving the traditional classroom is important, so if you’re planning a school trip, adventure parks help encourage students’ knowledge and physical capabilities in an exciting way. In addition, students can gain leadership skills while bonding with one another.
