The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum offers a rich experience in learning about local history and westward expansion, and even incorporates some activities such as a scavenger hunt and a quiz game. The museum encourages self-guided school trip visits for grades kindergarten through 12th grade and even offers free admission, but asks that groups be limited to a maximum of 75 students.
Peterson Air and Space Museum is located in the Colorado Springs historical district. In addition to a multitude of World War II themed exhibits, the museum is home to 16 airplanes and 10 missiles. While daily access is restricted to military personnel, you can arrange for a tour by contacting the museum's curator.
The Space Foundation Discovery Center offers weekday field trip packages for students to experience exhibits, events and educational programs that will supplement third grade lessons about space exploration. For example, the El Pomar Space Gallery and Launch to the Moon exhibit chronicles the U.S. vs. Soviet space race, while the Northrup Gruman Science Center features an interactive model of the known universe.
Keep your feet on the ground at Bricks for Kids, a facility that uses Lego bricks as the foundational tool for teaching fun and engaging lessons in engineering, architecture, math and science, as well as the development of fine-motor skills, as children manipulate smaller bricks. They also host formal classes and camps in addition to regular visits.
The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center offers a series of guided tours that can complement your third graders' art studies, and not just with their extensive and diverse collection of visual art. They offer exhibits and interactive tours that focus on theater and the written arts as well. They welcome field trips and adapt their tours according to your students' grade level.
The Sangre de Cristo Arts Center is also home to the Buell Children's Museum. The children's' museum is two stories and 12,000 square feet of interactive arts exhibits and activities.
Trampoline World invites schools for field trips at its 26,000 square-foot facility, which offers 32 trampolines and a series of bungee and swing activities from which students can land safely in a gigantic foam pit. Their staff is ready to assist students while maintaining a safe environment and they offer private room rentals in which your class can sit down and enjoy lunch.
Colon Orchards in nearby Canon City offers an apple orchard, a pumpkin patch and a corn maze. Colon Orchards also hosts special events, such as a pumpkin festival in early October.