What is humane education? Humane education refers to any curriculum that teaches students to care for the animals in their homes and in their communities. Humane education seeks to create a culture of empathy and caring and stimulate students’ responsibility and moral development.
Need some ideas to help teach students about their responsibilities to companion animals? Need help fostering kindness, respect, and empathy for people and animals? Try some of these ideas:
- Compare pictures of happy family pets and homeless animals.
- Ask students to write a story about the life of a captive animal — like a zoo animal, circus animal, or a guard dog chained to his doghouse.
- Visit a local animal shelter or rescue organization to tour the facility and learn about some of the animals who live there.
- Ask students to research an animal rights or animal welfare issue. Topics could include spaying/neutering, leash laws, local animal control, and more.
- Have students write a response to this quote from Gandhi: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress may be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Consider kindness and compassion.
- Organize a fund raising activity (like a pet wash or walk-a-thon) to help raise money for a local shelter. Here are some creative fundraising ideas to get you started.
- Encourage your students to donate time to volunteer at a local shelter.
- Visit TeachKind.org for activities and resources for humane education.
- Visit HumaneTeen.org to learn about what teenagers are doing to help animals around the country.
Some calendar dates to keep in mind when you are planning humane education:
- Earth Day is April 22nd
- Earth Week is the third week in April
- Be Kind to Animals Week is the first week in May
- National Dog Bite Prevention Week is the third week in May
- National Dog Week is the fourth week of September
- October is Adopt a Shelter Dog month