Helping Our Furry Friends: Fun Ways Kids Can Get Involved
In my last post of this series, I talked about how you can spread kindness easily with a simple letter or card. Teaching our kids to give back and serve others is a valuable opportunity we have in our homeschools. In this post, we’ll talk about how you and your kids can make a difference in the lives of animals by volunteering at your local shelter!
Volunteering With Animals
My kids just adore animals. My daughter Emma wants to be a vet when she grows up, and has really enjoyed learning about dogs lately. We have two black lab mixes of our own right now, but she would love to adopt another dog, or a cat, or just about any animal I would allow her to.
When teaching our kids about volunteering and giving back, it’s important to find a cause they can be passionate about and driven to help. If you’ve got animal enthusiasts in your family, I’ve got some great tips on how you can encourage them to make a difference to our furry friends.
From simple ideas to making fun treats and toys for shelter dogs, to ideas that take a bit more commitment, I hope that the lists below give you some ideas and ways to get started!
How to Help Your Local Animal Shelters
Volunteering at an animal shelter is an important way you and your kids can give back to the community. Shelters are typically non-profit and depend on volunteers to give time, money, and other resources so they can continue providing for the animals. Any amount of time you can give will truly make a difference to the animals that are in need of attention.
First, you’ll want to find your local shelter or animal welfare group. Petfinder has an easy tool you can use to locate all options near you. This will give you a good idea on where you might be able to volunteer!
Once you find a local shelter, here are some great ways you can begin giving back:
- Simply volunteer! Shelters need volunteers to work with the animals and help them get used to people. This is important so that eventually, they can be adopted. So simply showing up and giving your time is a great first step.
- Shelters often can use help walking dogs and cleaning their kennels. A fun thing for younger kids might be to read to the dogs while you are there!
- Check to see if your local shelter has any adoption events coming up that you might be able to help with.
- If you love crafting, consider making some toys for shelter dogs! Mary Martha Mama has a great tutorial on two easy types of fleece dog toys you will enjoy making with your kids. Also, how cute and easy are these no-sew dog beds? They would make a great donation!
- If you are looking for a new pet, shelter animals are always looking for a great home. Consider adopting a pet from a shelter, or even fostering a shelter animal with your family.
- Help your kids organize a drive to collect items for a shelter! You might check with them first to see what they really need, but typically they need things like towels, pet toys, or collars are helpful. Perhaps you have some gently used items in your own home that you don’t use anymore. Your kids might enjoy encourage friends and family to donate items, then giving those items to the shelter.
- Organize a fundraiser to raise money for local shelters. Get creative and host a bake sale, a neighborhood lemonade stand or car wash, or collect donations for your birthday to donate to the shelter.
- Donate kibble with a click. The website Free Kibble will donate kibble and supplies to animal shelters with just a click of your mouse every day. Click over to answer their trivia question today – it’s that easy!
- Tour a Local Shelter. My last suggestion is to see if you might be able to schedule a tour of your local shelter with your co-op or other homeschool friends. Bring donations (either money or items you’ve made or bought for the animals) and learn more about volunteering while you are there.
Animal Educational Activities
Homeschool mamas, you know you love a good lesson plan! The Animal Humane Society has put together some great, FREE, online lesson plans that you can use in your homeschool. This is a wonderful resource to use to teach your kids about animals and how we can help them in our community.
Find their lesson plans for all ages here.
The Humane Society of Missouri also offers free week-long lesson plans (pdf format) on their website. There are 6 different units, and you can click here to check those out!
Animals Need Volunteers, Too
Teaching our kids to be kind to animals is so important. And as you can see by my ideas above, it really can be as easy as just taking a trip to your local shelter. Volunteering with animals will not only change the quality of their lives, but it can be so beneficial for us and our kids as well.
For families who might plan on adopting a pet in the future, volunteering with animals at a shelter can be a great learning experience. And who knows – for kids who love animals, this kind of experience can pave the way for future job interests and opportunities.
Spending time with animals can increase our levels of serotonin and dopamine, helping to relieve stress and promote calmness and relaxation. I know we can all use a bit more of that this year! Plus, as you volunteer with your kids and actually see the change you are making in an animal’s life, you will create priceless memories, and perhaps new family traditions.
Don’t Miss the 12 Days of Serving Others Series
This post is part of the series “12 Days of Serving Others”. In this series, you’ll find great tips and ideas on how you can incorporate service and volunteering into your homeschool all year.
I’ll link the rest of the series posts here to make it easy to navigate!
- Something Important That Might Be Missing From Your Homeschool
- The “Giving Box” and Other Ways Kids Will Love to Donate
- How Your Creative Cards Can Make a Big Impact
- Helping Our Furry Friends: Fun Ways Kids Can Get Involved
- The Best Boxes You’ll Ever Pack
- One Wreath Can Make a Difference
- Random Acts of Kindness: How to Make Them a Habit
- Why You’ll Want to Host a “Packing Party” This Season
- Crafted With Love: Wonderful Service Projects for Crafty Kids!
- How To Begin Volunteering With Your Family
- 7 Ways to Bless Others With Your Baking Skills
- How to Build a Great Foundation for Service With Your Kids
Comment below and let me know – do you volunteer at your local animal shelter? How do you get your kids involved in giving back to the community by helping animals?
This post is also part of the 12 Days of Homeschooling Fun Through the Holidays Series. Click here to check out the other amazing bloggers who are a part of this, and to enter the giveaway!
