With each new experience I had in Turkey, all I could think of was my family and how much they would have enjoyed being right there with me. Since coming home I’ve been thinking of a way to teach my children about the many sights, sounds, and tastes of everything I saw, ate, and did during my global adventure. While nothing is quite the same as being in Istanbul and other cities in Turkey, virtual field trips are powerful way to teach kids other cultures in places around the world.
Importance of Virtual Field Trips
Virtual field trips serve as ways to learn, connect, and inspire from within the walls of classrooms and inside our homes while providing essential background knowledge about new places. They’re a way we can begin planting seeds about what it means to be a citizen of the world to give our kids perspective outside their lives and their community so one day they will be comfortable embarking on study abroad experiences to enrich their college years. And yes, true to the Turkish Airlines slogan, they’re a way to #WidenYourWorld
As we look forward to making a family vacation to Turkey, I thought it would be helpful to put together a virtual field trip as a way to build background knowledge about a beautiful and diverse country.
What You’ll Learn During Your Virtual Field Trip to Turkey
Over the course of the next couple months, I’ll be sharing some of the experiences from my travels each Friday as a way to #WidenYourWorld. Here’s a look at some of the topics I’ll be covering:
- Art– Ebru paper marbling and ceramics
- Food– 8 Family Friendly Dishes from Turkey to Make at Home (includes simit, irmik helfasi, kebab, dolmas, dondurma, midye dolma, Turkish coffee, spices, and more!)
- Geography– Where in the World is Turkey: Finding Turkey on a Map & Cappadocia’s fairy chimneys and caves
- Reading and Language Arts- Greek Mythology Comes Alive During Family Trip to Olympos, Turkey Thanks to Percy Jackson
- Religion– An Introduction to Mosques in Turkey
- Family Travel— A Family Trip to Turkey: When Virtual Field Trips Become Real
- Math– Converting money from dollars to Turkish Lira
- Music & Dance– The Sufi Whirling Dervishes
- Science & Engineering– Turkish Airlines Flight Training Center
- Writing– Calligraphy
- History– The Silk Road and importance of caravanserais
Topics above will link to the posts as they go live so bookmark or pin this page so you can always find the posts! I’ll also incorporate other posts written my fellow Turkish Airlines U.S. Travel Blogger Summit participants each week that fit in with the topics we’re studying.
So get ready for this no-passport needed adventure! I’m excited to share my journey with you!
As you look forward to next week, take a look at these posts written by my fellow travelers whose stunning visuals make you want to add Turkey to your travel bucket list:
- 30 Pictures That Will Make You Want to Visit Turkey by Robert Schrader, Leave Your Daily Hell
- 7 Things You Must Do in Turkey by Jessie Rosen, 20-Nothings
- The Best of Turkey: An A-Z Guide by Jessie Voigts, Wandering Educators
Huge thanks to Turkish Airlines for extending a very generous invitation for me to join them in flying business class to Turkey and organizing and funding my adventures in Istanbul and beyond. All opinions are my own and based on my travel experiences. All photos taken with the Samsung NX1 or NXMini.
Wow how awesome! The Turkey culture looks amazing and interesting. I love how you put together a virtual field trip-great post!
I kept seeing the pictures n instagram and was amazed at how colorful and how rich the culture looked. Such history there. It all looked so interesting !