School field trips and farm tours
A morning on a working dairy farm, in small groups with a guide. Pre-K through 8th grade, scout troops, homeschool co-ops and community groups.
Request a tourYour visit supports Flint Hill Farm Educational Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
What a morning here looks like
Your group arrives at the big red indoor barn and divides into small groups, each with one of our guides plus a teacher or parent helper. The groups rotate through stations around the farm, then meet back in the indoor arena to talk about the morning.
Every tour is adapted to the age, grade level and any special needs of the group. Tell us what your group needs and we build the morning around it.
A morning on the farm
The basics
- Group size
- About 40 divides into four groups; 80–100 into five
- Time
- Mornings. The start time is set when you book
- Days
- Monday to Friday
- Ages
- Pre-K through 8th grade, and adult groups
- Weather
- Rain or shine. Dress for walking
- Dogs
- No dogs, please. Our farm dogs are trained to keep other dogs, coyotes and foxes off the farm, so it isn't a safe place for a visiting dog.
- Lunch
- Snacks or pizza by arrangement
Act 48 courses for Pennsylvania teachers
Professional development for Pennsylvania teachers. Two programs of five three-hour sessions, all hands-on and built to Standard 1. You do each activity yourself, then work out the classroom version before you leave.
Life on the Farm in Colonial America
Five sessions.
- Candle making. The history and the process, then make one, plus an adaptation you can run in class.
- Tin punching. Historical uses, then make a luminary, with an ornament version for the classroom.
- Cheese making. Milk a cow or a goat, then make cheese start to finish.
- Wool spinning and felting. A shearing demonstration, then use a spindle and felt a bead.
- Paper making. The whole process, independently, by the end of the session.
Life on the Farm in Modern America
Five sessions.
- Animal habitats. Compare habitats across the farm, find signs of forest inhabitants, and take photographs and samples back for teaching.
- Plant and tree identification. Bark, twigs, buds, leaves and shape, on a forest walk, following Department of Natural Resources guidance. Samples to take away.
- Beekeeping and pollination. How hives are designed and tended, how pesticides damage foraging, the pollination process, types of bees. Build a six-sided hive from egg cartons for your class.
- Effects of pesticides. Natural and chemical, on soil, water, turf, birds, fish, beneficial insects and non-target plants. Video links provided for classroom use.
- Food production on the farm. Milk a goat, collect and prepare eggs, plant and gather from the garden and greenhouse. Take samples back with you.
Request a tour
Tell us about your group and roughly when you'd like to come. We'll come back with dates that work and what the morning would look like.
Questions teachers ask
What are the stations?
The Big Red Barn: an introduction to the farm and who does what here. The Horse Barn: horses, the donkey and the pony, plus the chickens and ducks. The Lower Barn: the goats and sheep, and a milking demonstration. Gardens & Aquaponics: the vegetable gardens, the greenhouse, the compost heap, and an aquaponics system that grows food without soil. The Wilderness Walk: out through the native woods to the nature cabins.
Can we add anything to the morning?
Yes, if you ask when you book. Some carry a small additional fee: a blacksmith shop tour, a draft horse harness demonstration, a cheese making demonstration, felting with wool from our own sheep, a fleece and fiber demonstration, horseshoe painting, and hayrides on request.
What about lunch?
A healthy seasonal snack can be provided, and pizza can be ordered through the farm office in advance. The farm store is open during and after tours.
Does the tour fit the Pennsylvania standards?
Yes. The farm maps its tour activities to the Pennsylvania academic standards from Pre-K upward: Environment and Ecology, Agriculture and Society, Earth and Space Sciences, and Geography. We can send you the full standards alignment and a sample schedule to take to your principal; ask when you request a date. Handouts are provided to teaching staff at the closing session.
What the groups actually do.
From families who visited
We had an awesome tour around the farm. Great experience with the animals.
What a gem of a place to spend time with the family. My granddaughter and I had a blast!
Great for families, homeschoolers, and education for all!
Rather talk it through?
Call the farm with your grade level, roughly how many are coming, and a few dates that could work.