Field trips are the highlight of the school year. These timeless class outings enhance learning, build community and motivate kids to achieve their goals. They also require a lot of planning and logistics from adults to keep them safe and successful. Multiple emails and requests overwhelm parents, and critical field trip communications from teachers can get lost in the shuffle. At some point, we’ve all found crumpled-up field trip forms at the bottom of our kid’s backpacks!
The key is to keep it simple and streamlined. Imagine a permission slip, fee collection, and volunteer sign-up all in one online form. Cheddar Up now makes that unicorn possible.
1. Add Field Trip Details
Cheddar Up collection pages have a customizable description field. Tell parents and guardians a little bit about your outing.
- Logistics: List the date, location, departure time, and estimated return time. The pertinent information allows families to coordinate their schedules and provides a sense of security.
- Objectives: Describe the learning objectives and how it ties into the curriculum. Guardians can have meaningful conversations with their kids before and after the field trip.
- What to Bring: Let them know if a sack lunch or healthy snack is required or if any unique clothing (i.e., sturdy walking shoes or outerwear) is needed. Hangry and cold kids can quickly dampen the field trip vibe!
- Due Date: List the due date if you expect the completed form before the field trip.
2. Collect Field Trip Fees
Often, these outings are outside the school budget. Families may need to cover admission, transportation, or additional learning tools. Create an item in your Cheddar Up page with the required amount that your users can add to the cart.
Bonus Items
- Allow parents to donate an additional field trip fee to help class families in need.
- Field Trip T-Shirts are a great way to keep kids safe and visible. They are handy with preschoolers in popular places like museums and parks. Simply add it as another item for your parents to purchase.
3. Get Signed Permission Slips
Explicit written permission is essential to any class outing. Add a required waiver to your Cheddar Up page in the forms section for parents to permit the field trip. When you include a waiver in your collection page, four required fields (first name, last name, date, and e-signature) will automatically be added below your waiver text.
4. Collect Chaperone Sign-Ups
It takes a village to make these trips happen. Let parents and guardians participate in the fun! It will also make your job more manageable and keep kids safe. Recruit volunteers via Cheddar Up’s Sign-Up feature in the forms section. Specify how many you’ll need and give them an idea of what they’ll do during the trip.
5. Other Considerations
Would you like to gather additional information like allergies or emergency contacts from parents? Can kids get a sack lunch from your school cafeteria? Any other special considerations for your field trip?
You can collect all further details via the form builder. Ask questions, and parents can write in their responses.
Sack lunch, anyone?
Add an option for parents to purchase a sack lunch for their child so they don’t have to pack it. This is a great PTA fundraiser!
6. Share the page
Once you’ve created the page, you can share it with the class. You can send it directly from the Cheddar Up message center, create a social post, or include your custom link and QR code in a flyer that goes home.
7. Check out and submit!
When the parent or guardian receives the link, they’ll be taken directly to your custom page.
Once the user has filled out all requirements you need from them, they securely add their payment information (credit card or echeck) and submit it.
You’ll get notified and can manage their responses in your Cheddar Up dashboard.
Parents and guardians will 🧡 that they don’t need to download an app or create an account to pay on Cheddar Up.
In short, before you go
So there you have it! One page that fits all. Creating a simple yet comprehensive field trip form for your next class trip keeps you organized, makes parents happy, and lets the kids enjoy the wonders of the world around them.
