National Pet Month
By Emma Jayne Morgan
This month is National Pet Month so why not use this as inspiration for your planning. It is
important that children learn about animals and how they should be treated and cared for, if they
have a pet at home or not. Even children who do not have their own pets will meet other peoples.
It is also a good idea to build children’s understanding of dealing with animals in general so that
they can empathise with the animals around them whilst having a healthy level of respect for the
fact that animals can hurt us if we do not deal with them appropriately.
Here is an example of how you can introduce the topic and make children aware of pets as living
animals with needs and feelings. This could include that pets need to be handled with care and
only when appropriate to do so. They can also be introduced to the responsibilities which come
with being a pet owner.
Start off with some adult led activities to introduce the topic:
• What do we need to do to look after a pet? Talk about the different needs of different pets
such as food, water, a comfortable place to sleep, exercise, visit a vet if unwell, etc.
• Using a toy animal, practice picking up and handling different animals. Do we hold a
hamster the same way as a rabbit for example, what would happen if we dropped the
hamster? Talk about how, if we do this right, neither us nor the animal will get scared or
hurt. Learn how to stroke the animal on its side and stroke the same way that the fur
grows so the animal doesn’t feel uncomfortable and to do so gently so as not to hurt the
animal.
• Arrange a photographic pet show. Ask the children to bring in a photo of either their own
pet or a pet that they know and describe him/her to the rest of the class and talk about
what the pet’s needs are.