scholastic virtual tour of the mayflower

5 Thanksgiving Virtual Field Trips Your Kids Will Love

My family and I live in Spain, so we’re a world away from the US and Thanksgiving celebrations with our families. But the thing is, this year with the pandemic, everyone is a world away from their families -even those of you still in the US. 

Which makes virtual field trips of any sort a well-needed resource. While you may choose how to teach Thanksgiving to your young ones, these Thanksgiving virtual field trips will add an air of authenticity and interest in the classroom or at home. 

#1 Plimoth Plantation

First up on our Thanksgiving virtual field trip list is a look at both sides of the story with a visit to a Pilgrim-Esque 17th-century English village and a Native American-inspired Wampanoag Homesite presented by Plimoth Plantation . 

Aside from the Pilgrim and Wampanoag visit above, Plimoth Plantation has a wide variety of virtual resources including an award-winning digital game , Pilgrim and Wampanoag recipes , kid-friendly articles on the history behind Thanksgiving, coloring pages , 17th-Century games , and more. 

It’s all told with a keen eye to detail from both the Pilgrim and Wampanoag perspective and respect for both cultures. 

#2 Scholastic’s The First Thanksgiving

Scholastic’s Thanksgiving virtual field trip includes videos , information on the Mayflower , lesson plans for PreK to 8th grade, printables , crafts , free clipart , and more. 

Take a quick look through their site for a long list of resources. While not as beautifully laid-out as the Plimoth Plantation’s website, it will absolutely do the trick. 

#3 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

No Thanksgiving virtual field trip would be complete without mentioning the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade . 

They’ve announced their 2020 parade will be online this year from “9 am-noon in all time zones.” (I’m going to go on a limb here and say that’s US-specific.)

Before and after the parade you and your kids can check out their website to see the floats, balloons, lineup, and performers. 

#4 Tour a Turkey Farm

Finally, you can round out your Thanksgiving virtual field trip with a trip to a turkey farm. This video by U.S. Poultry is a 360-degree virtual reality tour that allows students to move the camera while listening to information on what their turkeys eat and do all day. 

For free-range version, check out this video:

Now, this might not be your cup of tea given that these turkeys will end up as someone’s dinner, but it does show students what turkeys actually look like (instead of the on-the-dinner-table or illustrated versions they’re more used to). 

Note: the videos are not graphic. However, they are a great way to show real turkeys eating, chirping, and wandering around. 

#5 Turkey Pardoning

Bonus! Check out the White House’s website for videos and stats on the two turkeys the President pardons every year.

Kids can learn more about the pardoned turkeys including their names, weight, wingspan, and a few of their favorite things. They can also read up on the history behind the Presidential turkey pardon. 

And that’s a wrap for Thanksgiving virtual field trips that your kids will love. What was your favorite stop?

Look for more virtual field trips? Head over to Spain , Colombia , or Peru !

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Sign up to receive three letters from a young girl traveling on the Mayflower * and three letters from a young Native American boy * . Give your class a glimpse of history through the eyes of two school-age children.

The letters will arrive in your inbox on November 2, 7, and 14. Each one includes fun facts about the time period and thoughtful insights that make excellent jumping off points for class discussion or further investigation.

Scholastic’s blog about books and the joy of reading

Free Thanksgiving resources from Scholastic.com

Alexandra wladich  //  nov 20, 2014.

Each year millions of classrooms discover the “ First Thanksgiving webcast ” which allows students (without leaving their seats!) to board the Mayflower, tour a Pilgrim village, and explore a Wampanoag home-site through the Plymouth Plantation virtual field trips.

In addition to the First Thanksgiving webcast, the Scholastic.com Teachers Site also offers these popular classroom resources:

Learn about the Plimoth Plantation Pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe with an interactive compare and contrast activity. 

Compare and Contrast Daily Life of the Pilgrims and Wampanoag

Join us on a tour of the Mayflower , the ship that brought Pilgrims to America in 1620. 

Through the Thanksgiving Feast activity, students view a slideshow, read text, and go on a fact-finding mission to learn details related to the first Thanksgiving celebration.

Celebrate Thanksgiving with Clifford, Amelia Bedelia, Corduroy, and more favorite books !

Free printables for Thanksgiving , from bulletin board ideas and clip art to free printable door signs..

For a full list of our Thanksgiving resources, visit Scholastic.com . 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

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Pilgrim Story and Mayflower II Tour

Plimoth Patuxet deputy executive director Richard Pickering told the story of the Pilgrims' Atlantic crossing in 1620 from Plymouth, England… read more

Plimoth Patuxet deputy executive director Richard Pickering told the story of the Pilgrims' Atlantic crossing in 1620 from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts and the origins of the Mayflower Compact. On Mayflower II, a reproduction of the original ship, Mr. Pickering and Plimoth Patuxet ’s maritime preservation director Whit Perry described the living conditions on the Mayflower for the Pilgrims and crew. close

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• Nov 22, 2020 | 5:34pm EST | C-SPAN 3
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• Virtual Voyages

Virtual Voyages: The Homes of Brewster and Bradford

Discover the homes, places and roots of two of the leading figures in the Mayflower story - William Brewster and   William Bradford   - in the third of our Virtual Voyages series.

Explore the historic villages clustered together in north Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire where Brewster and Bradford were born, go inside centuries-old churches that go to the very origins of the Mayflower story and peek inside the new Pilgrim Gallery in nearby Retford that tells their stories.

Special thanks to:

Isabelle Richards, Heritage Engagement Officer at Bassetlaw District Council

Peter Swincoe, Warden at All Saints' Church, Babworth

Adrian Gray, Pilgrims & Prophets Tours, Retford

With thanks to:

Pilgrims Gallery, Bassetlaw Museum, Retford, and St Helena's Church, Austerfield.

The Bassetlaw Museum and The Pilgrims Gallery

The museum features a map of the greater Retford area, which saw the rise of the Mayflower Pilgrims and was a real hotbed of religious non-conformity in the 17th century.

It spreads from here in Retford to South Yorkshire and also over into Lincolnshire, and in this area we saw the rise of a lot of people who went on to play key roles in the Mayflower story - including William Bradford , William Brewster, John Robinson and John Smith.

Brewster is a really crucial figure, and the Pilgrims Gallery contains a reimagined space that would perhaps been in Scrooby Manor depicting his study, and we have an excellent local actor portraying him a mirror where he appears and tells four stories from his life.

These interactives are really based on his point of view as a Pilgrim elder.

William Brewster and Scrooby Manor

William Brewster came from Scrooby and had a great influence on the Pilgrims, perhaps encouraging them to make that move to Holland.

The Brewster family lived at Scrooby Manor and were the bailiffs for the Archbishop, so William would have been fairly well-off, with his dad also being the postmaster.

He did go off to Cambridge was a young lad, but he wasn't there for very long.

Brewster was employed by William Davidson, who was one of the ambassadors of Elizabeth I - and that's how he ended up travelling to Holland and seeing the tolerance that was found there at the time.

When the Mayflower left for America, the group didn't have a pastor or any proper priests with them.

Robinson, who was considered to be the leader, remained in Leiden and Brewster, being one of the elders, became the spiritual leader of the colonists.

Susanna White

Recent information uncovered by historian Sue Allen shows that Susanna White was born Susanna Jackson.

The Jackson family were from South Yorkshire and ended up in Scrooby as well, so she would have grown up knowing Brewster.

We believe that Susanna's dad was probably the 'Jackson' who was arrested with Brewster right before the group went to Holland.

And that's where she would have met her first husband, William White, before they both sailed on the Mayflower.

William sadly died before setting foot in America, and Susanna had their son, Peregrine (which means 'Pilgrim' in Latin), on the Mayflower while they were anchored off the coast of Cape Cod - making him the first person born in what would become Plymouth Colony.

Susanna would also have the Colony's first marriage when she wed Edward Winslow , and together they had a son named Josish who would later become a governor.

All Saints' Church, Babworth

Babworth is a really picturesque church which is set in woodland, and as you travel down the lane you imagine that it's been tucked away like this forever.

But actually that lane was a more important road during the Pilgrims' time.

Babworth was already a centre of non-conformity before Richard Clyfton got there, but Clyfton really fostered that further and had William Bradford and William Brewster coming to listen to his sermons, with Brewster repeating them in the afternoon at Scrooby as well.

Separatists often objected to the use of the prayer book, they didn't like to wear the robes surpluses; they also didn't make the sign of the cross of baptism and they didn't observe the feasting days and fasting days that the main church did.

Bradford, at around the age of 12, got quite into the scriptures and started to come under Clyfton's influence, so he must have walked back to hear the sermons and he would have met Brewster there as well.

We also hear that Bradford's uncles and perhaps other villages were a bit scornful and dismissive of their religious bent that he was getting into.

William Bradford and St Helena's Church

William Bradford was born in Austerfield in 1590 and was an orphan, but with moderated well-connected relatives.

Bradford's importance rests on two things: He kept a journal of his life up to 1646, which was later discovered and published as 'Of Plimoth Plantation'.

The second reason is that he was governor of Plymouth Colony for many years after 1621, following the death of John Carver .

A few hundred yards from Bradford's house in Austerfield lies his old church, St Helena's.

Austerfield has a place in Christian history long before Bradford, though, for in 702AD it was the site of an important conference between the bishops of the Celtic and the Roman Catholic churches to decide their differences over issues such as the date of Easter and the seniority of bishops like Wilfred.

The most amazing feature of this church will strike you before you've even entered it, as above the door is a carving caught a tympanum of the winged dragon.

It is believed that this was intended to scare the Devil away from the church.

Another treasure here is the stained-glass window commemorating William Bradford and the Mayflower voyage.

At the end of the 1800s, there was growing interest from America in forming a memorial to Bradford, so a new north aisle was built and, much later, a wonderful window was installed in 1989.

Another interesting feature is the font, which was rediscovered in a farmyard and is believed by many to have been the from where Bradford was christened.

Austerfield Manor House

The main link between William Bradford and the village of Austerfield is now the old Manor House where he lived and which is remarkably well-preserved.

This is a small timber-framed house, much of which dates from the 1500s.

Because Bradford has so many descendants in America, it is effectively the ancestral home of thousands of people.

William Butten

Between St Helena's Church and the Manor House is a very striking plaque at the entrance to a new housing estate called Butten Meadow .

This shows a picture of the Mayflower and commemorates a boy named William Butten who died on the journey across The Atlantic.

No one knows for certain where William came from, but the surname 'Butten' was used around Austerfield, and there is a lane called Billy Button Lane a few miles away at Tolworth.

William had lived with the Leiden separatists, so some connection is quite possible.

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Freebie Friday – Plimoth Virtual Tours & Activities

In November our studies of colonial America often focus on the voyage of the pilgrims and those first years of adjusting to a whole new world. With these sites you can add a virtual tour as well as other learning activities to your studies.

Virtual Plymouth – At this site from Boise State University there are video tours of locations in Plymouth, Massachusetts with historical significance as well as information and links to pages on other sites for the Mayflower, the Wampanoag Indians, Plimoth Plantation, and Pilgrim Hall.

Virtual Tour of 5 Houses in Plimoth Plantation 1627 – These photo tours have accompanying text that appears to be geared for younger students and some include questions to get the kids looking for specific items in the pictures. Because the images are very nicely taken, older students may also enjoy this tour.

Plimoth Plantation – This website has several learning activities that should be of interest to kids:

Virtual Field Trip – Kids can watch 2 video presentations that show the 17th-Century Village and Wampanoag Homesite and teach about life in those locations during that time. Each tour lasts about 18 minutes.

Thanksgiving Interactive: You are the Historian – In this interactive online activity kids can uncover what really happened at the first Thanksgiving and learn about the colonists and the Wampanoag. There is also a teacher's guide with lesson ideas and downloaded printables to use with the activity.

Make it at Home – Children will enjoy making their own versions of the Wampanoag Toss and Catch Game and the Pilgrim Fox and Geese Game while learning about the Pilgrims and Wampanoag people.

Coloring Pictures – Download and print pictures of the Mayflower, the Pilgrim village, a Wetu (a Native American house) and more.

There are other great educational resources available at the site including " Talk Like a Pilgrim ," " Homework Help ," " Recipes ," " Stories " and more.

Scholastic Teacher's Activity Guide: The First Thanksgiving – This is a favorite resource for Thanksgiving studies. It includes:

Virtual Field Trips – Take video tours of the Mayflower, a Pilgrim Village, a Wampanoag Homesite, and Plimoth Plantation. (Please note that these tours are from Plimoth Plantation and may be similar to what they have on their site above so there may be some overlap of information.) You will also find a slideshow presentation of Plimoth Plantation as well as 10 more educational videos about life as a Pilgrim.

Voyage on the Mayflower – Discover the path the Pilgrims took with a narrated interactive recreation of their journey, tour the Mayflower with images and audio and explore the Pilgrim Timeline.

Daily Life – Kids can compare and contrast the housing, clothing, food, chores, school and games of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag.

Thanksgiving Slideshow – In this slideshow students learn about the what the harvest feast may have been like through images, text and available audio.

Historical Letters – Learn about Pilgrim and Wampanoag life with these examples of letters that could have been written during the time. There are also dramatic audio readings of the letters that add interest.

Teaching Resources - Find grade leveled lesson plans that include printables and additional resources to use in your studies.

Caleb Johnsons' Mayflower History – Author and historian, Caleb Johnson, created this wonderful resource that includes a Mayflower passenger list that provides biographical information about that passenger. You will also find historic information about the Mayflower, Plymouth Colony, the Wampanoag as well as links to primary resources, Google Books, Archive.org, genealogy resources and so much more.

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