Junior Field Trips

Lore & Background

The Junior Field Trips series began with Let's Explore the Farm, originally released on November 22, 1994 under the 'Junior Encyclopedias' brand. An updated version was released on July 27, 1995, alongside Let's Explore the Airport, which revamped the user interface and added mini-games. The Farm game allowed players to visit a mixed farm and explore the barn, animals, and crops, including areas such as a farmhouse, crop fields, an orchard, a chicken coop, and a duck pond. Activities included milking a cow, collecting eggs, and harvesting corn, with fact sheets available about farm animals, plants, staff, and equipment. Mini-games in the updated version included trivia, spelling quizzes, a coloring book, and an egg catching game.

Let's Explore the Airport was released on July 27, 1995, alongside the updated Farm. Players could explore airport departments, the interior of an aircraft, the airfield, a seaplane dock, and a helipad. The game included fact sheets with diagrams about aircraft, airport staff, and machinery, and mini-games such as trivia, object quizzes, object finding, a coloring book, and a lost luggage game. The third title, Let's Explore the Jungle, was released on November 15, 1995, and allowed players to visit three types of rainforests: South American, African, and Southeast Asian. Fact sheets covered animal types and behavior, plants, places, and geographical objects, with mini-games including trivia, letter jumble, object finding, a coloring book, and an anteater feeding game.

The games were written using the Humongous Entertainment engine (HE engine), enabling them to be played on additional platforms by using ScummVM. The Farm and Airport titles were designed and written by Deborah Todd.

Reader's Guide

The Junior Field Trips series holds significance as an early example of educational point-and-click adventure games designed for children, blending virtual exploration with interactive learning. By offering virtual tours of a farm, an airport, and rainforests, the series provided young players with structured, fact-based experiences that taught about real-world environments, processes, and vocabulary. The inclusion of mini-games such as trivia, spelling quizzes, and object finding reinforced the educational content in an engaging manner. The series' use of the SCUMM engine, also employed in classic adventure games, allowed for cross-platform play via ScummVM, extending its accessibility beyond its original Windows and Macintosh releases. The re-release on Steam in April 2015 helped preserve the games for modern audiences. The consistent hosting by Buzzy the Knowledge Bug, voiced by Jim Cissell, provided a friendly guide throughout each title. The involvement of programmer Deborah Todd on the Farm and Airport titles highlights the contribution of a noted figure in educational game development. Overall, the Junior Field Trips series represents a thoughtful integration of entertainment and education in the mid-1990s, and its continued availability underscores its lasting appeal in the realm of children's software.

Did You Know?

• The series was released by Humongous Entertainment in conjunction with Random House.
• The games were built using the Humongous Entertainment engine (HE engine) and can be played on additional platforms via ScummVM.
• The host, Buzzy the Knowledge Bug, was voiced by Jim Cissell.
• The Farm and Airport titles were designed and written by Deborah Todd.