Factory tours - on the road and online

Looking for some low-cost educational entertainment? Try a factory tour. Many manufacturers offer free tours as part of their public relations programs.

These are fun diversions for either day trips close to home, or on extended vacations. I live within an hour's drive of Hershey Foods, the Crayola factory,the Harley Davidson plant, and many others.

To see what factories are near you (or on your vacation itinerary) here are some websites that list tours:
Factory Tours USA Search by region or by category

Rick Steves' article on factory tours in Europe

For specific destinations use the Ask search engine - it offers helpful refinements to your search. For example, your search could look something like this:

Toronto factory tour

UK factory tour


If you can't visit factories in person, there are tons of "virtual" factory tours online - both slide shows and streaming videos. Here's a list. Watch a video of how duct tape is made at 3M Corporation; see how toothpaste is made at Tom's of Maine; go behind the scenes where Silly Putty is created.


Pauline
teachmeinternet.com