VR school trips: how to organize one

Why a VR school trip

A trip to a free-roam VR center lets a class live a cooperative adventure without the school needing a big room, headsets or technical staff. The center has a prepared arena, charged headsets and a team used to groups. For the school, it is organized like any other outing.

This guide is a practical checklist, from the first email to the follow-up lesson. If you first want to understand what free-roam educational VR is, read our complete guide.

1. Choose the center and the game

• Educational content, not just entertainment. Ask which games they offer for school groups and which learning goals each one covers. A good center can tell you the age range and length of each game.
• Fit with your programming. Choose a game that connects with a unit you are working on: for example, El secret del faraó for ancient Egypt (ages 9–12) or the Giants kit for scale and volume (ages 10–14).
• Languages. Check that the game is available in your students' language.
• Group size. Ask how many students play at once (in our games, up to 10) and how they organize a full class.
• Accessibility. Tell the center in advance about any student with specific needs, so they can plan an adapted role.

2. Plan groups and timing

A session lasts about 40 minutes: calibration, meeting the guide, the mission and a wrap-up. If your class has 25 students and groups are of up to 10, you will need three rounds. Count on roughly two hours at the center, plus travel.

Ask the center what the waiting groups will do: a related activity, a short talk about how VR works or a quiet space for the activity you bring. Agree on the schedule in writing.

3. Safety and permissions

• Family authorization, as for any outing, mentioning that students will use virtual reality headsets.
• Manufacturer guidance: ask the center which headsets they use and their age and health recommendations, and share them with families.
• Health information: tell the center, confidentially, about anything relevant (for example, epilepsy or balance problems). A student who should not use a headset can still take part in another role.
• The center's rules: delimited play area, walking not running, a facilitator present at all times, hygiene of the headsets between groups.
• Data: ask whether students need accounts. In our games they do not.

4. Prepare the class

Ten minutes before the trip are enough: what virtual reality is, what they will see, and three simple rules (stay inside the play area, walk, listen to the guide and the facilitator). Introduce the topic of the game so they arrive with questions: where Egypt is, what a scale model is, how ants find their way.

It also helps to assign observation tasks for the waiting students: noting how the group shares roles, or which words the guide uses.

5. The day of the trip

• Arrive a few minutes early: the center calibrates the room and assigns headsets.
• The facilitator explains the rules and helps students put on and adjust the headsets.
• During the mission, teachers usually watch from outside the play area. You do not need to wear a headset; observing the group is more useful.
• At the end, ask for the session summary if the center can share it (our launcher shows one on the PC).

6. Back in class

The shared experience is the starting point. Some ideas:

• Each group retells the mission in order and explains what they learned in each part.
• Rework a challenge on paper: calculate the reservoir of the Giants kit with other measurements, or write names in hieroglyphs without vowels.
• Reflect on cooperation: which tasks needed two people, who guided whom, what went wrong and how they fixed it.

Adapting the trip to the age of the class

• Ages 6 to 8: choose short experiences (around 12–15 minutes) with simple goals, and spend more time explaining the rules and putting on the headsets. Some MICRO·MACRO kits start at age 6 or 7.
• Ages 9 to 12: this is where full adventures such as El secret del faraó (25–30 minutes) work best, with several missions and roles.
• Ages 12 to 15: look for kits with more demanding challenges (physics, structures, geology) and ask students to plan strategies before entering.

Budget and what to ask for in the quote

Prices vary from center to center, so we do not give figures here. When you ask for a quote, make sure it states:

• the price per student and whether teachers pay;
• how many sessions per student are included and their length;
• what the waiting groups will do and whether that is included;
• cancellation conditions and what happens if a student cannot use the headset;
• the invoicing details the school needs.

Remember to add transport. For schools far from any center, a session at the school can be simpler.

Telling families about it

Families often have the same questions: is it safe, is it just a game, what will my child do? A short note with the authorization form answers most of them. It can include:

• the name of the game, the topic and how it connects with what the class is learning;
• that students walk in a delimited area with wireless headsets, supervised by a facilitator at all times;
• that sessions are short (about 40 minutes per group, of which 25–30 are inside the game);
• that any student can take the headset off at any time, and that there is an alternative role;
• that no student accounts or personal data are needed to play;
• a contact person for questions about health or specific needs.

Combining the visit with other activities

If the center is in another town, the trip can be part of a fuller day: a museum, a library or a walk related to the same topic. A visit linked to ancient Egypt, for example, fits well with an archaeology or history museum. Plan the VR session at the start of the day if you want it to spark questions, or at the end if it is meant to consolidate what the class has already learned.

Checklist

1. Center and game chosen, with learning goals clear.
2. Number of students, groups and schedule agreed in writing.
3. Family authorizations, including the use of VR headsets.
4. Health and accessibility information shared with the center.
5. Transport booked.
6. Class prepared: topic, rules and observation tasks.
7. Follow-up activity planned.

Our own arena in Granollers receives school groups: see Our VR center. If you prefer that we come to your school, see VR for schools.

Frequently asked questions