There are many activities your Animal Club can do to help animals. Here are some ideas. Please let us know if you can think of any others which we will then add to the list.

Remember! Every time you send an activity update to Voiceless, your Club goes into a draw to win great prizes.

Without leaving your school grounds:

Save the life of a shelter animal – advertise for people to adopt homeless animals

All shelters regularly advertise that they have cute, cuddly animals ready for families to adopt. Ask them if your club could write one story each week, every two weeks or once a month about an animal that has been in the shelter for a while and is in desperate need of a home.  This story could then appear on their website, on their posters or you could ask your local newspaper to place the story in the paper each week.  All the shelter needs to do is email or fax your teacher some notes on the dog or cat each time you intend to write the story.  You can then work out the main points that would appeal to the public, such as small dog, playful personality, good with kids etc. and write a short story.  You may want to make the story funny, sad or even write a poem.  

Create an Animal Club newsletter

Get all the members of your club to pitch in with stories, poems and pictures about animals. The newsletter could focus on issues that you are concerned about such as battery hens or homeless dogs. You can use information on the Animal Club website to help you along. Photocopy your newsletter and distribute it to other students in your school. You could even give the newsletter to your local newsagent to hand out free to interested customers.

Write to your local newspaper

Choose an animal protection issue that you are concerned about or which has recently appeared in the news. Write to the Editor of your local newspaper and express your views. You may send the letter from your Animal Club or ask all the club members to write something individually. Watch and see if you get published. Newspapers are a great way to raise awareness of issues in your local community.

Paint a mural

Choose a bland or boring wall in your school grounds or local area. Seek permission to paint a mural on the theme of animal protection. For example, you might paint a picture of possums and birds and a message about why it is important to keep cats indoors at night to protect wildlife. Your Animal Club Leader, art teacher or a local artist might help you design the mural. Find out what water-proof materials you need to ensure your mural lasts for a long time. All club members can contribute to the painting and have lots of fun.

Organise an Animal Awareness Day

Organise an event at your school with guest speakers and student presentations. Invite members of animal groups such as your local shelter and wildlife rescue groups. Animal club members might design the posters, invite the participants and give their own presentations on why animals need to be protected. Invite parents and your local community for a bigger event and let your local paper know what is happening so they can take pictures and write an article. What a great way to promote your school! 

Design your own educational t-shirts

One of the best ways to help animals is to educate other people.  Bring in a plain, light-coloured t-shirt from home or ask your parents to buy one.  You could also see if the school has Lost and Found t-shirts to use. You can design and create T-shirts that deliver a message about animals such as adopting from shelters, de-sexing, responsible animal care, what to do around stray animals, keeping wild animals wild, caring for farm animals or any other important issue that you feel strongly about.

Think of other t-shirts that you have seen or ads on TV and in magazines.  Think of the colours, funny characters, humour, rhymes etc. You might use permanent ink textas or special fabric paints to put on your design.  When the t-shirts are finished you could display them in the school or have a special day where you wear them to assembly. 

Invite a guest speaker 

Check with your local animal shelter, wildlife rescue group or animal welfare organisation about inviting a guest speaker to talk to your club, class or entire school about an animal issue you are interested in, the work they do and how people can help. 

Turn your school yard into a wildlife oasis

Find out how to attract local wildlife to your school by planting native trees, putting up possum and bird boxes in large existing trees, and making bird baths. Your local or state wildlife rescue group will be able to help out with information relevant to your areas’ wildlife. Make educational signs that let other students know why wildlife is so important and precious. Invite students to keep an eye out for wildlife by making a presentation at your school assembly. 

Hold a Video Viewing

Organise a viewing of an animal-orientated film in a free school classroom during lunchtime. Films such as Babe, Chicken Run, Finding Nemo, Free Willy and Charlottes Web are fun to watch and send positive messages about protecting animals. Before the film is shown, organise for your Animal Club to present some information on why the issue is important and how students can make a difference.

Write a song, play, short story or poem

Write a song, short story, poem or mini-play about animals. Every Animal Club member can play a part. Organise a reading or performance at a school assembly or local event such as a talent night. The whole audience will learn about protecting animals while enjoying the entertainment. Research and write a ‘fact sheet’ to put on everyone’s seat so they understand the message that you are communicating. Remember to take pictures or video!

(Some of the Voiceless team did this kind of thing when they were teenagers.  Click here to read the poem (pdf) written by our co-founder Ondine Sherman, and a short story (pdf) written by our Corporate Counsel, Katrina Sharman, when they were school students - be inspired and try it yourselves!)

Educate others about the use of Animals in Entertainment

Research the reasons why animals suffer in circuses and rodeos and prepare some background information. Use your school newsletter, school assemblies and other opportunities to spread the word to other students, teachers and parents.

Live by Example

Choose a day a week or month when your Animal Club members only eat and wear cruelty-free products. Discuss the ways in which your food and clothing affects animals and, together, choose the items that you will not eat or wear on that day. For example, on that day, you might choose to only eat free-range eggs rather than those produced on a battery hen farm or perhaps you could wear canvas shoes rather than leather ones. Let others know in your school what you are doing and why by preparing information flyers.

Write a Letter                                                                

Let your politicians and local newspapers know how you feel about current topics in animal protection.  Do your research on the issue, whether it is a law that you have heard about or an on-going animal protection issue.  Make sure your letter is polite, clear, factually correct and to the point. Issues might include wildlife being hit on roads, cats attacking wildlife at night, the treatment of farm animals, desexing your dogs and cats, preventing wild animals from being kept as pets or used for entertainment etc.  

Design a poster or brochure

The best thing you can do to help animals is to educate other people.  Your club can research a topic about animals and design a brochure or poster.  You can divide up the tasks amongst your Animal Club members. Some students might do the research and other might do the art work. This way everyone plays a part! You can hand the brochure out to the other students or to parents.  You could even ask your local shops if they would mind displaying the poster in their window or having the brochure on the counter. 

Find alternatives to dissection

If your school dissects animals as part of a science class, research alternatives and offer them to the relevant teacher.
The Humane Education Loan Program (HELP) is a free loan program to provide students and educators with up to date alternatives to classroom animal dissection and animal experimentation. Please contact the Australian Association for Humane Research Inc. for further information.

Promote Cruelty Free options in your Cafeteria

Plan a meeting with the managers of your school cafeteria and discuss the animal protection issues that you are concerned about and how they can help your Club make a difference. For example, they can replace caged-eggs with free-range eggs in sandwiches. They can also offer soy milk drinks and tasty vegetarian meals such as veggie burgers and veggie dogs. Your Club can help make these cafeteria changes a success by preparing informational materials letting students know why these alternatives are being offered.

Survey the students in your school to see what they know and think about animal protection

Send the results back to Animal Club.

You could ask questions like:

• When you hear the phrase 'cruelty to animals' what do you think of first?
• Which animals do you think need the most protection in Australia?
• Which animals do you think are suffering the most in Australia?
• Tell me what you know about farming pigs/chickens/cows/sheep?
• Do you know what free range means, and explain?
• Do you know what vegetarianism is, and what do you think of it?
• If you could do one thing to help animals - what would it be?
• Would you like to do activities at school to help animals?
• If yes, what kind of things would you like to do?
• If you could chose, what kind of rewards would you like to be offered to take part in these activities?

According to our roving student reporter, Jonah, students in his school thought that of all animals, koalas needed the most protection. They thought that pigs had a bad reputation for being dirty and stupid and all said that they would love to do activities to help animals in their school.

In your local area: 

Put up an Information Table

Grab a card table and set up an information table at a local, high traffic area, such as local markets, library or shopping centre. The Animal Club website as well as other animal organisations can provide you with all the literature you will need. Check with local businesses to see if they mind you setting up nearby and ask your local Council for laws that determine where you can and cannot set-up. This is a great way to practice your communication skills by talking to members of the public. You may also think about asking the people you meet to do something specific like buy free-range eggs or adopt a needy dog from the shelter rather than buying one from a pet-shop.

Host a Food and Supplies Drive

Volunteer at an Animal Shelter

Organise your Animal Club members to go to an animal shelter and help out. This might involve walking the dogs or cleaning cages. Remember to take pictures. Afterwards you can write an article on what you have done for your school newsletter or local paper. This will help raise awareness about unwanted pets and encourage people to adopt homeless animals rather than buying them from a pet shop.

Make a Library Display

Ask your local or school library if they will allow you to create a display on animal protection. Animal Club members can research and write articles, collect pictures and design the display. Remember to display not only the problems but how people can help with solutions.

Clean up harmful rubbish

Organise your Animal Club members to go to a local park, stream, beach or lake and clean up rubbish. Wildlife can be seriously injured and even killed by rubbish such as plastic rings, bottles, plastic bags and fishing lines. Contact your local newspaper before the excursion as they might send out someone to take pictures and write an article.

Activities not recommended as projects for Animal Club

• Breeding animals at your school for food or other purposes.
• Keeping wild animals in captivity at your school OR
• Visiting zoos and circuses.

Voiceless believes that animals should not be confined or removed from their natural environment for the sake of human entertainment, ‘education’ or curiosity. We believe that these institutions send a clear message that animals are not worthy of our respect and have therefore no positive educational benefit for children or adults alike. Voiceless also believes that farm animals should have freedom of movement and the ability to fully carry out their natural behaviours.

However, Voiceless strongly supports conservation breeding programs that aim to re-introduce endangered or threatened animals to their natural environments as well as sanctuaries that care for animals which have been orphaned or injured due to human actions or settlement.