The HEART Library
Humane Education Teaching Resources
Free Teaching Guides
Lessons and Activities for Pre-K to 12 Students
Our free humane education resource guides provide lesson plans, worksheets and everything you need to teach students ages 3-18 to be caring and compassionate toward animals, people, and our planet, while meeting academic standards.
New!
Exploring the Lives of Farm Animals
Created in partnership with Farm Sanctuary, the activities and lessons help students understand the feelings, needs, and natural behaviors of farm animals.
Humane Ed Guide
This animal-themed humane education resource guide, created in collaboration with the ASPCA and IFAW, contains 40 lesson plans, worksheets and activities for students in grades K-12. They can be easily integrated into the classroom curriculum, as well as informal education programs in communities, libraries, summer camps, and home schooling.
Kindness for All
This seven-lesson curriculum for ages three to five aims to inspire children to act with kindness toward all living beings and the natural world. Developed in partnership with Volunteers of America Los Angeles (VOALA) and Social Compassion, these humane education resources have been piloted by 100 Head Start teachers in California.
Justice for All
Created in partnership with the Peace Learning Center, these humane education resources include lesson plans, activities and worksheets that help teach youth social responsibility. Nearly 50 thematic lessons and activities help students learn crucial information, think critically, and develop solutions for many of the complex social justice issues facing our world.
For instant access to download our free teaching guides, lesson plans and worksheets
for the HEART Library.
Already a Member?
Everyday Circles
If you’ve wanted to incorporate restorative practices, anti-bias education, social and emotional learning, as well as meaningful content on pressing world issues, but didn’t know where to start – we created this set for you.
The Everyday Circles toolkit was created by the Transformational Learning Alliance, a partnership of HEART, Tribes Learning Communities, and Peace Learning Center.
TeachClimate.org Toolkit
Teach Climate features an easy-to-use search function that provides dozens of resources connected to numerous subject areas such as science, social studies, art, and others.
HEART and Earth Charter Indiana have curated a list of high-quality, user-friendly lessons, units, activities, videos, and more to assist educators and parents.
Interactive Resources
Nearpod Digital Classroom Tools
HEART has teamed up with Nearpod to provide digital classroom tools that enable teachers to engage students with standards-aligned, interactive humane education. Our Nearpod units feature a variety of animal protection, social justice, and environmental conservation themes.
For instant access our free Nearpod interactive lessons, make sure you are logged in to the HEART Library. Not a member? It's free and easy to REGISTER.
~30,000 students a year access HEART's lessons for Nearpod.
Seesaw Activity Library
Deepen student engagement through HEART humane education lessons and activities on the Seesaw learning platform. Our Seesaw resources allow students to demonstrate and share their learning in a variety of creative ways, including typing, drawing, voice recording, using video tools, and providing feedback to their peers.
>50% of U.S. schools and 150 countries use the Seesaw platform.
Educational Game
Send kids on a hunt for clues to build their case by exploring different places, gathering information, overcoming obstacles, and learning about important issues related to puppy mills and caring for their animal companions. We include teaching resources and free lesson plans that can be used to to extend game learning and impact on kids in your school or at home.
100% of reviewers rated the game as excellent or good.
Webinars
Our webinars cover a variety of important humane education topics for educators, parents, and concerned citizens. Click the link below to access the archive of past HEART webinars and video presentations on social justice, animal protection, and environmental issues.
Videos
Something we’ve learned in our many years of teaching is that seeing really is believing. Having good educational videos to accompany lessons helps all different kinds of learners to process complex information. HEART’s humane education videos are offered to the public to use at no cost.
Book Lists
Find humane children's books for kids of all ages that tackle human rights, animal protection, and environmental ethics issues. By introducing students to humane literature, we can broaden their horizons and encourage them to become more humane in their own lives.
What educators are saying about HEART resources...
“I strongly believe in this curriculum. It is important for children to learn how to be good humans before anything else.”
- Pre-K/Head Start Teacher
“I loved the presentation and content! It provides an excellent way to develop children's empathy and help foster respect. ”
- Anonymous, Teachers Pay Teachers User
“I developed our entire humane education program around this resource.”
- Association of Professional Humane Educators, Conference Attendee
“Visually appealing as well as well written and user-friendly. Thanks!”
- Karen, Teacher
“WOW! This is a great lesson and I will be using it in my science class to talk about human impact and sustainability.”
- Melissa M., Teacher
“Would have gladly paid for this free resource. Great ideas and comprehensive!”
- Christina H., Teacher