Are you missing travel outside of your classroom and are left balancing teaching, physical distancing and health and safety protocols? The team at Brightspark has tested the best virtual attractions and curated a virtual travel experience just for you and your students! With the itinerary below you can explore many of the great attractions you would usually see on tour – all from the comfort of your classroom or home!
Board your virtual motor coach and depart for Ottawa – but first, we will be making a quick stop en route in Peterborough to visit the Canadian Canoe Museum.
Length: 45 minutes
Language: English only
Cost: $4 per student per session
Number of Participants: 30 passengers per session (recommended limit)
How to Reserve: Book directly on website
After the tour of the Canadian Canoe Museum, we are hopping on our virtual motor coach once again and continuing our journey to Ottawa to check out some of the country’s most historic buildings; sites where many debates and decisions have shaped our country.
As we enter Ottawa, join Brightspark for a virtual tour of our capital city. Get yourself familiar with the sites before we head into some specific attractions.
Length: 45-60 minutes
Language: English or French
Cost: Free
Number of Participants: 30 passengers maximum per session
How to Reserve: Book directly on website – Rideau Hall or Citadelle
Even though you can’t visit the Supreme Court of Canada, the Court can now visit you! Have your class join a live remote tour by the Supreme Court’s guide-interpreters, who will teach you about the Court and its history through pictures and interesting facts. This tour will familiarize you with all Canadian judicial systems and how decisions made by the Supreme Court Justices affect all Canadians. Have you ever wondered how court cases work, what an appeal is, or why there are nine Supreme Court Judges? Well, after this tour you will wonder no more.
Length: 45 minutes
Language: English or French
Cost: Free
Number of Participants: 35 pax maximum per session
How to Reserve: Book directly on website
No virtual field trip to Ottawa would be complete without a stop at the iconic Parliament Hill! Here students will learn all about the heart of Canada’s federal democracy – the Canadian government.
For more than 100 years, the Canadian Government was seated in Centre Block, best recognized by the iconic Peace Tower. This historic building has now closed its doors for long-term renovations; however, students can still experience it through innovative, immersive technologies. Step inside the doors of Parliament: The Virtual Experience which will transport your students through Centre Block’s most iconic spaces: the Senate, House of Commons, Library of Parliament and Peace Tower. Our favourite is the Library of Parliament; did you know it’s the only original part of the entire building? Each of these spaces offers a new perspective on Parliament—its history, its art and its role in the lives of Canadians, today and in the future.
Be sure to stay on the hill after dark to see the newly transformed Northern Lights Virtual Sound and Light Show reflected onto Centre Block. This thrilling, thematic journey through Canada's history combines bold digital technology with the architectural splendour of the Canadian Parliament. The show illuminates Canadian stories of nation building, partnership, discovery, valour, pride and vision at the heart of our country.
Length: N/A (Parliament: The Virtual Experience), 35 minutes (Northern Lights Virtual Sound and Light Show)
Language: English or French
Cost: Free
Number of Participants: N/A
How to Reserve: no reservations required
Wow what a fun and packed day! What was your favourite part? We are worn-out, I’m sure you are too. Let's all get a good night's sleep, and we’ll regroup in the morning for another incredible day!
After a good night’s sleep, it's time to board our virtual motor coach once again and leave the province of Ontario! First, we are making a quick detour in Québec City! Not a bad time to practice our French, car au Québec, la plupart des gens parlent français.
To learn more about this beautiful and historic city, join us on a virtual tour to see all that makes Québec City so special.
You are going to be amazed at how many uses copper has! Join the five women artists at Albert Gilles to learn about how they bring the noble medium of copper art to life. When participating in their live virtual tour you will learn about where copper comes from, its various uses and secrets. You will see demonstrations of different art techniques, and even learn how copper can fight viruses. Our personal favourite was seeing all the beautiful, enameled copper art. If you choose, there is an additional workshop that you can participate in where students get to create their own copper art.
Length: 60-70 minutes
Language: English or French
Cost: $225 +tax for virtual tour, $8.50 +tax per student for workshop
Number of Participants: 35 pax maximum per session
How to Reserve: Email museum@cuivres-albertgilles.com or Call 418-824-4224
Wow, Québec City really is beautiful! Second stop – Winnipeg! This is going to be a long drive, let's play some bus games to pass the time. Try the Fortunately/Unfortunately Game, or Trivia.
Human rights stories are all around us. The world we live in has been shaped by struggles over injustice and equality, tensions between rights and responsibilities, and the pursuit of hope and freedom. Discover the meaning of human rights live with one of the Canadian Museum for Human Right’s virtual field trips. The museum’s programs are designed for all ages and include themes such as expressing rights through arts, being an upstander, as well as Indigenous perspectives. Each virtual tour strives to give students the tools required to help them think critically and with empathy and will end with a visit to the Israel Asper Tower of Hope to see a 360-degree view of the city of Winnipeg.
Length: 45-60 minutes
Language: English or French
Cost: Free
Number of Participants: 25-50 pax per session
How to Reserve: Book directly on website
Length: 35-45 minutes
Language: English or French
Cost: $50 per session
Number of Participants: 35 pax maximum per session
How to Reserve: Email reservationswpg@mint.ca
Are you ready to have some more fun? Our final attraction of the day is jam packed with entertaining yet educational activities for your students!
The Cosmodome presents you with a concept of interactive, virtual missions where you become a space exploration hero! Embark on the adventures in store for you on one of the virtual journeys offered and take up the challenges of the space explorers in a futuristic setting! Each workshop brought to you live from a Cosmodome counselor will focus on space conquest and immerse students in a unique scientific and technological universe. The program includes interactive activities and ends with a question and answer period for the students.
Length: 60-120 minutes
Language: English or French
Cost: $100 for 30 min, $175 for 60 min, $250 for 120 min per session
Number of Participants: 100 pax maximum per session
How to Reserve: Book directly on website
We are having a blast, and we hope you are too! Is Day 2 done already? Not to worry, we have one more day full of activities to wrap everything up.
It’s the final day of your virtual experience. As the tour comes to close, it is time to head towards home! Board your virtual motor coach and head to Southern Ontario for our final couple of stops. Another long drive means more bus games, try the Going on a Picnic Game, or as we like to call it “Going on a Bus Ride”.
Join the Art Gallery of Ontario daily for a live conversation with an AGO Art Educator. Choose from themes such as Arts and Science of Conservation, Indigenous Art and Artists, Art and the Senses, and Getting to Know Art of African Diaspora. The gallery offers three versions of each conversation for students in various age groups and incorporates an element of wellness and art in each session. Each conversation will end with a small creative exercise, so please have pencils, pens or crayons and paper at the ready!
Length: 30 minutes
Language: English or French (limited availability)
Cost: Free
Number of Participants: No maximum, all programs open to public
How to Reserve: Book directly on website
The Art Gallery of Ontario is right in downtown Toronto. You can join us for a quick virtual tour of the city, to learn more about its many famous attractions.
An estimated 30,000 Black refugees from slavery in the United States fled to Canada along the silent tracks of the Underground Railroad. One of these freedom seekers was abolitionist, Underground Railroad conductor and former slave Josiah Henson. He became known as Uncle Tom through his connection to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Take your students to visit the Josiah Henson Museum virtually, where you will receive a tour of the onsite museum, the Interpretive Centre, the Josiah Henson House, two cemeteries and numerous artefacts that have been preserved as a legacy to those freedom seekers. Students will also be able to meet a descendant of some of these courageous Underground Railroad freedom seekers and learn about the early Black presence in Ontario. This virtual tour is very eye opening, make sure to ask about the Josiah Henson mural and Henry ‘Box’ Brown, for some truly inspiring stories.
Length: 45 minutes
Language: English or French
Cost: $50-$100 per session
Number of Participants: 35 pax maximum per session
How to Reserve: Email jhm@heritagetrust.on.ca
Ending off the trip on a high note, we have added an activity we are positive all your students will love. Our final activity is sure to bring out the James Bond in everyone!
Length: 45-60 minutes
Language: English only
Cost: $150 USD per session
Number of Participants: 30 pax maximum per session
How to Reserve: Book directly on website
Thank you for joining Brightspark Canada on this virtual experience! If you are looking for more activities to do with your class, we recommend you check out The Royal Ontario Museum, Ripley’s Aquarium, and the Canadian War Museum. Be sure to make reservations soon for each of these tours as spots are filling up quickly for the remainder of the school year!
Once travel is permitted, consider taking your class on a live Brightspark tour to any one of our many destinations featured in this virtual experience! Take a look at our itineraries here.