Most family budgets don’t allow for pricey getaway ideas, and even the cost of visiting a national park for a few days can add up quickly. Kind kids and parents also know that supporting roadside zoos, marine parks, and other exploitative exhibits is harmful to animals. But thankfully there are countless fun, budget-friendly summer activities that kids who love animals (and their parents!) will enjoy. Check out some of our favorites below, and browse PETA Kids’ Summer Activities Calendar for even more ideas.
Visit an animal sanctuary. Most reputable sanctuaries that care for non-wildlife species welcome visitors, usually for free or for a small donation. Rescued chickens, cows, horses, sheep, and more often enjoy coming up for pets and hugs, and pigs even enjoy belly scratches! Take them some treats like apples and carrots.
Volunteer to help a local animal shelter, or if you can’t …
Set up a lemonade stand to benefit them!
Instead of injuring aquatic animals, go trash fishing! God created fish to have more than 20 pain receptors in their mouths and heads, and those who are caught and released commonly die from their injuries. Trash fishing is a fun on-the-water activity that involves “catching” litter to clean up animals’ habitat and prevent fish, turtles, birds, and others from eating garbage or becoming entangled in debris. Check out PETA’s trash fishing kit, or make your own with inexpensive grabber tools and compostable bags.
Watch a movie under the stars. Pop the TV outside for a couple of hours, make some popcorn, set up the lawn chairs, and settle in for one of these kid-favorite animal-friendly films.
Have a picnic in the park. Download an app like Merlin Bird ID and learn what bird species live in your area. It’s also a good opportunity to help children learn why feeding bread and other human foods to ducks and geese is harmful.
Chalk the sidewalk. Let kids decorate their street and sidewalk in drawings and messages that convey their compassion for animals and love of God’s creation.
Visit a farmer’s market and pick up some fresh produce to make whole fruit popsicles or sorbet.
Go camping in the backyard. Roast tasty Field Roast hot dogs and Yummallo marshmallows and see if you can identify the animals you hear. Marvel at the stars God perfectly placed and use an app like SkyView Lite to spot constellations.
Visit the library. PETA Kids lists dozens of books that will delight kids who love animals.
Start a small garden. Let children grow their own fruits and veggies or plant native flowers to feed pollinators.
Hit the lake. Community lakes often offer inexpensive kayak or canoe rentals, and kids can use goggles to immerse themselves in aquatic animals’ underwater world.
Or the beach. If you’re lucky enough to live near the ocean, bays, rivers, and intracoastal areas are teeming with wildlife. Rent canoes, kayaks, or paddleboards and watch manatees, turtles, pods of dolphins, and other wildlife thriving in their natural habitats.
Take a virtual safari. Many accredited sanctuaries and nature reserves offer live webcams that give viewers a front-row seat as animals bathe, forage, play, sleep, and more.
Spend a few hours at a pick-your-own produce farm. Help kids spot ladybugs, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and other small wonders. Try to avoid those with petting zoos, where animals are constantly forced into unwanted contact with crowds of people, and many visitors have been bitten or contracted E. coli.
Take a nature walk. Use the Seek app from iNaturalist to identify some of the many remarkable animal and plant species you see.
Paint and hide rocks. Budding artists will enjoy decorating rocks with faith-based and animal-friendly messages and leaving them for others to find.
Offer to walk and play with the dogs in your neighborhood. Lonely chained dogs will be especially grateful.
Make a splash at the city pool. Many offer half-price or free swim days. Have your little guppies act like their favorite ocean animals. Save on snacks by bringing vegan treats from home to share.
Help wildlife cool off too. Fill bowls of water and watch neighborhood animals get a fresh drink or enjoy a dip on hot, dry days. Let kids be in charge of keeping them clean and filled.
Take a stroll though the community. Make it a game by seeing who can collect the most wildlife-harming litter.
Bake homemade vegan treats for animal family members.
Host a home quiz show. Test your knowledge with TeachKind’s fascinating animal quizzes.
Try out geocaching. Leave religious or animal-friendly stickers, bookmarks, and other small treasures in the caches you find.
Have young writers draft a play and put on a backyard performance. They may choose to reenact a meaningful Bible story or act out ways to show kindness to others. (Or they may just choose to be silly instead.)
Buy a few dollar store puzzles. Many feature beautiful wildlife images and sweet animal photos.
Hold a yard sale. Let children choose where they’d like to donate the money they raise from their items, such as a wildlife rehabilitation facility or a free spay/neuter clinic.
Help kids create flip books. They can make owls soar, octopuses swim, or elephants raise their trunks by drawing a series of pictures that change slightly from one page to the next, then rapidly flipping the pages.
Attend an online craft class. Michaels’ Camp Creatology posts fun, follow-along videos that show kids how to make animal-themed masks, wall hangings, piñatas, and more.
Make a goal to perform 10 random acts of kindness for humans and animals over the summer.
Have an idea to share with PETA LAMBS’ members? Drop us a line at [email protected].
