When it comes to helping children learn outside the classroom, few experiences are as impactful as a visit to a working farm. In an episode of Howell’s Farm Experience, host Mike Downer sat down with Erin Conner of Howell’s Greenhouse and Pumpkin Patch to discuss what makes a farm field trip educational, memorable, and meaningful for students of all ages.
Their conversation highlighted several key themes: helping children understand where food comes from, providing hands-on agricultural experiences, encouraging outdoor exploration, and creating learning opportunities that connect classroom lessons to the real world. For schools searching for the best educational school field trips near Des Moines, farm visits offer a unique blend of education, nature, and fun that is difficult to replicate in a traditional classroom setting.
Why Farm Field Trips Matter
Children today spend more time indoors and in front of screens than ever before. While technology certainly has its place in education, there is tremendous value in giving students opportunities to experience learning firsthand.
Farm field trips allow children to engage all of their senses. They can see crops growing in the field, touch pumpkins fresh from the vine, observe farm animals up close, and learn how agriculture impacts their daily lives.
As Erin Conner explains, helping children learn about agriculture is one of the most important goals of a farm field trip. She notes that if children don’t understand agriculture, they may not appreciate its importance or feel motivated to protect it in the future. By introducing students to farming practices, food production, and animal care, farms help create a stronger connection between children and the world around them.
Learning Where Food Comes From
Many children know that pumpkins, corn, and other foods appear in grocery stores, but they may not understand how those products get there.
One of the most valuable aspects of a farm field trip is showing students the journey from farm to table. At Howell’s Greenhouse and Pumpkin Patch, children ride a wagon out to the pumpkin patch and choose their own pumpkin directly from the field. Rather than selecting one from a display bin, they experience the process firsthand.
The experience often includes dirt-covered pumpkins, vines, and even the occasional worm nearby. While that may seem simple, it creates a powerful learning moment. Children begin to understand that food is grown, harvested, and cared for before it reaches consumers.
These real-world experiences often stick with students far longer than lessons taught solely through books or worksheets.
Agriculture Becomes Real Through Hands-On Experiences
The best educational field trips don’t just tell students information—they allow them to experience it.
Throughout the conversation, Erin emphasized the importance of hands-on learning. Students don’t simply hear about farm animals; they get to feed goats and observe their behavior. They don’t just learn about pumpkins; they pick one themselves.
This type of experiential learning helps students retain information because they are actively participating in the lesson rather than passively receiving it.
As Erin explained, field trips help children learn:
- The life cycle of pumpkins
- The life cycle of corn
- Basic agricultural practices
- Animal care and responsibility
- The importance of farming in everyday life
These lessons become much more meaningful when students can see and experience them in person.
Connecting Nature and Education
One of the recurring themes in the podcast was the importance of reconnecting children with nature.
Farm field trips provide opportunities for students to spend time outdoors while learning valuable lessons. Instead of viewing agriculture through pictures in a textbook, students walk through fields, interact with animals, and observe natural processes happening around them.
Erin summed up the value of these experiences by saying, “It is about getting back to nature, getting back to your roots, and learning about agriculture.”
For many children, these experiences are increasingly rare. A farm visit may be their first opportunity to see livestock up close, explore a pumpkin patch, or understand how crops grow.
Nature-based learning encourages curiosity, observation, and exploration—all skills that support long-term academic success.
Educational Opportunities for Every Age Group
A successful field trip recognizes that different age groups learn differently.
According to Erin, younger children often focus on the excitement of picking pumpkins, feeding animals, and exploring the farm. Older students typically participate in more structured educational activities that align with classroom objectives.
This flexibility allows farm experiences to serve a wide range of learners, including:
Preschool and Pre-K Students
Young children benefit from sensory experiences, animal interactions, and simple introductions to farming concepts.
Elementary School Students
Elementary-aged students can dive deeper into plant life cycles, food production, and seasonal changes.
Middle School Students
Older students can explore more complex agricultural topics while participating in hands-on activities.
High School Students
High school groups may focus on agricultural education, environmental awareness, leadership activities, or team-building experiences.
By adapting activities to each age level, farms create meaningful educational experiences that remain engaging and age-appropriate.
What Teachers Should Look For in a Farm Field Trip
Not every field trip destination is created equal. During the podcast, Erin shared several factors teachers should consider when selecting a farm experience.
Educational Value
The trip should provide clear learning opportunities tied to agriculture, science, nature, or environmental education.
Safety Measures
Animal interactions should be supervised, and handwashing stations should be readily available.
Space for Large Groups
Field trips often involve students, teachers, parents, and chaperones. Facilities need enough space to accommodate everyone comfortably.
Restroom Access
As Erin joked, one of the first places students visit after getting off the bus is the restroom. Clean and accessible facilities make a significant difference.
Shade and Comfort
Outdoor learning is wonderful, but students also need places to rest, eat lunch, and cool down during warmer weather.
Activity Variety
The best destinations offer multiple activities that allow groups to spread out and explore at their own pace.
These practical considerations help ensure a smoother and more enjoyable experience for everyone involved.
Why Kids Often Prefer Farm Trips Over Traditional Field Trips
Museums and historical sites certainly have educational value, but farm field trips offer something different.
Children become active participants rather than observers.
Instead of standing behind ropes or looking through display cases, they can:
- Pick pumpkins
- Feed animals
- Explore nature
- Ride wagons
- Navigate corn mazes
- Participate in outdoor activities
These experiences create stronger emotional connections and more memorable learning moments.
Mike Downer reflected on how different modern farm field trips are compared to those he experienced as a child, noting that today’s farms combine educational programming with engaging attractions that keep students excited throughout the day.
Creating Lasting Memories Beyond the Classroom
One of the most powerful outcomes of a successful field trip is what happens after students return home.
Erin shared that many children talk excitedly about their farm visit with their families. As a result, parents often bring the entire family back for future visits.
The experience extends beyond a single school day and becomes part of a family’s traditions.
When students leave a field trip excited to share what they’ve learned, educators know the experience has made a lasting impact.
The Lasting Impact of Farm Field Trips
Farm field trips provide far more than a day away from school. They help children understand agriculture, connect with nature, learn where food comes from, and engage in meaningful hands-on experiences that reinforce classroom lessons. Through this, farms create memorable learning opportunities that can inspire curiosity long after the trip ends. For teachers, parents, and educational organizations searching for the best educational school field trips near Des Moines, a well-designed farm experience offers an unforgettable way to bring learning to life.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do students learn on a farm field trip?
Students learn about agriculture, food production, plant life cycles, animal care, seasons, and environmental stewardship through hands-on experiences.
Are farm field trips appropriate for preschool students?
Yes. Many farms offer age-appropriate activities designed specifically for preschool and early elementary students.
How do farm field trips support classroom learning?
They reinforce lessons related to science, agriculture, nature, ecosystems, and life cycles by providing real-world examples.
Why are hands-on learning experiences important?
Hands-on activities help students retain information more effectively because they actively participate in the learning process.
What should teachers ask before booking a farm field trip?
Teachers should ask about educational activities, group capacity, restroom availability, lunch accommodations, safety measures, and scheduling options.
Can parents attend farm field trips?
Many farms welcome parents and chaperones, although schools may have their own policies regarding attendance.
Are farm field trips only available in the fall?
No. Many farms offer field trip programs throughout the spring, summer, and fall seasons.
Why do children enjoy farm field trips so much?
Children enjoy being outdoors, interacting with animals, exploring nature, and participating in hands-on activities that make learning fun.
Mike Downer: Hello, everybody. I’m your host, Mike Downer, and welcome to Howells Farm Experience. I am joined once again by Erin Conner. How are we doing today, Erin?
Erin Conner: I’m good. I’m excited to talk to you today.
Mike Downer: I bet. This one is a good one for you guys. Just to let everybody know what we’re going to be talking about, today’s topic is what makes a great school field trip to a farm.
Erin, let me ask you this: What should teachers and organizations look for in a farm field trip, and what makes it educational, safe, and memorable?
Erin Conner: The most important thing is helping kids learn about agriculture. These field trips focus on teaching kids the importance of agriculture, how things work on a farm, where their food comes from, how to take care of animals, and actually getting up close and personal with animals. Sometimes people don’t ever experience farm animals outside of a zoo.
Mike Downer: Very good. So what does Howells offer for school groups, from guided experiences to hands-on farm and nature learning?
Erin Conner: Here at Howells in Cumming, Iowa, we have had field trips for over thirty years. We started school field trips in 1996. My class was actually the first field trip we ever had, so that tells you how old I am.
Back when I was little, the field trip involved going out on a tractor ride to pick a pumpkin and then eating our picnic lunch under a tree because we didn’t have all the activities thirty years ago like we do now.
Now, our field trips include kids coming out and getting on the wagon first thing. We take them out to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. We call it a school pumpkin, or a little school pumpkin, which is about the perfect size for a four-year-old to carry.
Each child gets to go out to the pumpkin patch and pick their pumpkin fresh from the field, vines and all. They actually get to experience where the pumpkin comes from. Sometimes the pumpkins have a little bit of dirt on them, and the little kids may get worried that there might be a worm underneath because it was in the dirt. But that gives them the whole experience. They are not just picking a pumpkin out of a box. They actually go out into the pumpkin field.
We cut the pumpkin for them, they get back on the wagon, and each child gets a pumpkin. We put their name on it so no pumpkins get lost in the pumpkin patch.
Then everyone’s favorite activity seems to be the goats. After the kids pick out their pumpkins, it is time to feed the goats. Each child gets a couple of handfuls of food, and they get to go down to the goat pen and feed the goats through the fence. We also have handwashing stations, so you don’t have to worry about germs.
Then the field trip breaks off into groups, depending on what the teacher wants to do. Some teachers want everyone to stay together and go from station to station. Other teachers have chaperones break their classes into smaller groups so everyone can experience each activity at their own pace.
Around the farm, we have a lot of educational opportunities. We have signage to help teach kids at their own pace. When a teacher books a field trip, we also send out a pamphlet by email with different activities, learning experiences, and printouts. For example, the kids can draw what they learned at the pumpkin patch or write down three things they learned, depending on the age of the group.
We have kids as young as three years old coming on field trips, all the way up to high school students. We have things high schoolers can do here as well. Sometimes the high school groups want pumpkins, sometimes they don’t, and sometimes they just want to go out to the corn maze and ride the pedal go-karts. We cater each field trip to the age group, because obviously you don’t want three-year-olds running around in a cornfield.
Mike Downer: Yeah, I completely understand that. You were talking about writing down the things they’ve learned. What do kids learn during a Howells field trip about agriculture, seasons, plant life cycles, and Iowa farming?
Erin Conner: They learn about the life cycle of a pumpkin and the life cycle of corn. They also learn different facts about our goats.
Kids need to learn about agriculture because if they don’t learn about agriculture, then they won’t protect agriculture. And if they don’t protect agriculture, then who will? It is our job as an agritourism farm to help kids learn about agriculture, know where their food comes from, learn how to take care of farm animals and animals in general, and experience something outside of town.
Mike Downer: Yeah, that’s great. So what should teachers look for when choosing a farm field trip destination?
Erin Conner: You want to make sure there is room for picnic lunches. Are there enough tables? We have lots and lots of picnic tables for groups at lunch.
Typically, when you have a field trip to a pumpkin patch, parents want to come too. It’s not just one parent who wants to come; both parents may want to come. So if you have a class of thirty kids, you could also have sixty adults coming with you. You have to factor that into the location you choose for your field trip, because not all places can accommodate ninety people. We can accommodate a lot of people.
You also want to make sure they have nice bathrooms because as soon as the kids get off the bus, they go straight to the bathrooms. We have a lot of indoor plumbing bathrooms set up, which helps move the line along so we can get out to the pumpkin patch and start the experience.
Shade is also important. If you have a field trip in the summer or in September, it can be a little hot, so we have lots of shade. You also want a lot of different activities so that if you want to break off into groups, there is enough room for everybody.
Mike Downer: That makes a lot of sense. You said that you started hosting field trips in 1996. How has that experience evolved over the past thirty years?
Erin Conner: In 1996, we didn’t have the playground that we do now. We maybe had a slide and a couple of swings. Now we have several slides, several swings, a corn pool, a huge obstacle course that kids love, and a jump pillow. We have expanded the playground a lot.
If the kids come in September for a field trip, they might also get lucky and get goat cuddling, which we never had before.
Mike Downer: That sounds like something I wish I would have done when I was a kid. I remember when I was younger, a field trip to a farm was literally walking around, looking at a farm, seeing pigs in pens, and watching cows graze out in the field. That was about it.
Erin Conner: Right. The farmer would point and say, “There’s the cornfield,” and that was it.
The kids do have to learn a little bit first before they can go have fun. We have to get them focused on learning first, and then the fun comes later.
Mike Downer: You bet. How do the field trip experiences differ from pre-K to elementary, middle school, and high school?
Erin Conner: For pre-K through about second grade, they mostly want to get the pumpkin and have fun. The older the kids get, the more educational the experience becomes, because teachers usually want it to be more educational for them.
We do have stations set up to make it educational at each stop. Sometimes teachers have a theme they have been following. For example, they may have been reading a book in school, and then they go out to the pumpkin patch to show the kids real-life examples from the book.
It really depends on what the teacher would like to do. The teacher can email us, and we help give ideas about what would work here for their group.
Mike Downer: Speaking of teachers, what should a teacher know about booking the experience through Howells, including group sizes, chaperones, and preparing students for the visit?
Erin Conner: We would like teachers to email us at events@howellsfarm.com, and we will work with them to get a schedule. Before booking, we would like to know a couple of dates that would work in case their first choice is no longer available.
We start field trips as early as 9:00 a.m. We always tell teachers to make sure parents arrive a half hour before the actual scheduled field trip time. As soon as the kids get here, we load them on a wagon and take them out to the pumpkin patch. If a parent is late, they either have to walk out to the pumpkin patch or wait until the child gets back. Nobody wants to miss their child picking the perfect pumpkin.
So we always tell teachers to make sure parents get here early and get through the ticket line before the field trip is scheduled to begin.
Mike Downer: Yeah, that’s perfect. I think you covered those points really well.
Erin Conner: We also like to know the number of kids you are bringing, or at least an estimate, so we can prepare. We can only fit so many kids on a wagon at one time, so we need to know how many drivers to schedule for that morning.
It also helps us to know if parents are coming, because then we may need to bring an extra wagon.
Mike Downer: Approximately how many people can go on a wagon during a field trip? I know with little kids, you can probably fit a few more because of their size, but how many people usually fit?
Erin Conner: It depends on the age group. If we have a group of pre-K students, we can fit about thirty kids on a wagon. But if we have second graders plus parents, we can only fit about twenty to twenty-five people on a wagon, depending on whether the kids are sitting on a parent’s lap. It really depends on the age group and how many wagons we need.
Mike Downer: So having a number is very important.
Erin Conner: Yes.
Mike Downer: It also helps so you are not trying to plan at the last minute or pull another wagon out unexpectedly. It helps the timing and everything else, and it makes for a much better experience.
Erin Conner: Yes.
Mike Downer: Erin, let me ask you this: Why are farm field trips often more engaging for kids than traditional museum-style field trips?
Erin Conner: They get to be out in nature. They are out in the pumpkin patch, learning about nature and experiencing it. They might get their hands dirty. We have a mud pie station where they can get muddy and dirty. When they go out to pick a pumpkin, they might actually see a worm on the ground.
It is about getting back to nature, getting back to your roots, and learning about agriculture.
Mike Downer: Being from Iowa, I love everything about this. I watched my kids grow up, and it was definitely different from when I was a kid. I love that you are bringing all of this back, with a lot of cool features too, like goat cuddling, corn mazes, and everything else you have to offer out there.
Do you see school field trips leading families back to Howells for birthday parties, family visits, or even making it an annual tradition?
Erin Conner: Definitely. The kids come, maybe in early September, and then they tell Mom all about it. Then the family makes a weekend trip in October with Grandma, Grandpa, and all the siblings.
Kids definitely come here and want to come back. They always talk about it. I always hear from teachers that coming to Howells and visiting the pumpkin patch is a favorite for the kids. They always talk about going there. Everyone loves coming to the pumpkin patch.
Mike Downer: Perfect. I’m sure that for as long as you have been doing this at Howells, there are some families that have become regulars and that you have gotten to know very well.
Erin Conner: Yes. We have lots of regulars and people who come back because they had such a great experience the first time.
Mike Downer: Some of them probably become like good friends or almost like family to you. That is really cool.
So, for anyone thinking about booking a field trip, if you are a parent and would like to suggest it to your child’s teacher, or if you are a teacher, call Erin. She will help you out. This is going to be a lot of fun. It gets kids away from screens, gets them outside, and gets them moving around.
Erin, thank you so much for letting us know how to navigate a field trip at Howells. It sounds like a great experience for kids and adults alike.
Erin Conner: One point, though: We also do field trips in the spring and summer. So if you want to do a spring field trip, or if you have a daycare in the summertime and want to do a field trip, we have lots of field trip options for you.
Mike Downer: Oh yeah. When I was a kid, I didn’t even think about this, but church camps used to do field trips too. I remember going to a two-week church camp and doing things like that.
Erin Conner: Yes. We get a lot of school groups in the summer. We have a couple of field trips in the spring, but we have more openings in the spring if people want to do something later.
Mike Downer: That sounds great. I think everybody should book through you and get your schedule filled up so you are busy, busy, busy.
Erin Conner: Yes.
Mike Downer: All right, Erin, thank you so much. I think a lot of people learned a lot again today. I look forward to the next time we talk.
Erin Conner: Thank you.
