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Humane Education Teaching Resources

New!

Check out our special collection of free activities to nurture remote learning, as well as compassion and calm during the coronavirus pandemic.

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.  

  • More than 200 free lesson plans, student activities, and reproducible worksheets
  • Lesson plans are aligned to Common Core State Standards, address SEL core competencies and include connections to STEM, ISTE and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
  •  Blend easily into several different subject areas to enhance the content you already teach

New!

Exploring the Lives of Farm Animals

For grades K-3

Created in partnership with Farm Sanctuary, the activities and lessons help students understand the feelings, needs, and natural behaviors of farm animals. 

  • Students make connections between themselves and the animals they learn about and develop an awareness of and appreciation for the unique qualities of each animal.
  • Lessons support the academic and emotional development of young people through engaging activities such as art to illustrate understanding, role-plays to foster empathy, and service projects for taking action.
Humane Education Resource Guide

Humane Ed Guide

Grades K to 12

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 Humane Education Resource

Kindness for All

Grades Pre-K to 2

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 Humane Education Resources

 Justice for All

Elementary & Secondary Guides

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.


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Everyday Circles

Everyday Circles Social Emotional Learning

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.

  • Parents learn the valuable SEL Competencies of self-awareness, self-management, relationship skills, social awareness, and responsible decision-making. Easy, quick, and fun…with almost no prep work from you! 
  • Tried-and-true activities that help transform learners and communities.

TeachClimate.org Toolkit

TeachClimate 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.  

  • This climate literacy toolkit is especially designed for K-12 teachers.
  • The search function enables users to search by category of education (school or home learning), age group, and lesson duration.
  • To pull up your resource list, just click the grade you teach and the amount of time you have available for your lesson or activity. 

Interactive Resources

Nearpod Humane Education 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 Humane Education Resources

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.

Humane Education Game for Kids

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

Humane Education 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

Humane Education 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

Humane Education Books

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...

Quotation Mark

“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

Quotation Mark

“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

Quotation Mark

“I developed our entire humane education program around this resource.”

- Association of Professional Humane Educators, Conference Attendee

Quotation Mark

“Visually appealing as well as well written and user-friendly. Thanks!”

- Karen, Teacher

Quotation Mark

“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

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