Classroom and Youth Group Workshops

Due to a large volume of inquiries, classroom and youth booking requests are temporarily closed until 2025. Thank you for your patience!

Welcome classroom teachers, community group organizers, and youth group leaders! If you’re looking for a way to engage your large group of eager students then look no further. We have volunteer and learning programs to suit a variety of objectives. Read on for a list of our available workshops.   

Our “Best Fit Age Ranges” for each program adhere to the following categories:   

  • Early Elementary: preK – Grade 2  
  • Late Elementary: Grades 3 - 5  
  • Middle School: Grades 6 - 8  
  • High School: Grades 9- 12  

Be sure to review our “How to Schedule A Program” guide and FAQ below, for additional details. We look forward to seeing you soon!  

 

Animal Careers

This engaging workshop explores careers in animal welfare from animal care to veterinary medicine and everything in between! We have two versions of this workshop, one for classrooms and one for career-fairs.   

  • Program Length: 1 hour (workshop); flexible timing (career-fair)  
  • Location: In-classroom or On-site (field trip)  
  • Best-fit age range: Middle School and High School  
  • Group size: TBD  
  • Theme & Standards: Career exploration  
  • Cost: None

 

Crafting Crew

Time to volunteer! Learn about how Anti-Cruelty staff and volunteers work together to help the animals in our care, then pitch in to help too! Students and teachers work together to complete a variety of special projects and tasks, ‘DIY Donations,’ and upcycled animal enrichment items to benefit our shelter cats, dogs, and small animals. Before you leave, you’ll have a chance to tour our adoption center and clinic and meet one of our furry residents! This program has an associated fee to support the purchase of materials and supplies for students to use during their volunteer experience.   

  • Program Length: 2 hours  
  • Location: On-site (field trip)  
  • Best-fit age range: Late Elementary School, Middle School, High School  
  • Group size: 10 (min) – 35 (max)  
  • Theme & Standards: Community service; IL SEL Standard 3C  
  • Cost: $75

 

Pet Care and Kindness

Discover the relationship between caring for our animals and fostering empathy with our cornerstone learning series. Each level is best suited for a specific age range:   

Level 1 - Tales with Tails

Choose from one of three storybooks to read with a lovable animal puppet. After the story, complete an activity to practice the lesson from the book.   

Option 1 – Rosie the Rabbit  
Book: “The Rabbit Listened” by Cori Doerrfeld  
Activity: Feelings freeze-frame  
IL Learning Standards: SEL 1A    

Option 2 – Fay the Cat  
Book: “Lola Gets A Cat” by Anna McQuinn   
Activity: Paper doll adoption  
IL Learning Standards: SEL 2A, 2B  

Option 3 – Thomas the Dog  
Book: “May I Pet Your Dog?” by Stephanie Calmenson   
Activity: Doggie grab bag  
IL Learning Standards: SEL 2C, 3A  

  • Program Length: 1 hour  
  • Location: In-classroom or On-site (field trip)  
  • Best-fit age range: Early Elementary   
  • Group size: 10 (min) – 40 (max)  
  • Cost: None   

 

Level 2 - Who Says What?! (Coming Soon)

Students will explore how to decipher key body language cues from animals and how this ties into safety. After a brief lesson, students practice reading body language cues, explore how animal and human body language can be similar, and navigate how actions and behaviors can influence our emotions. To capstone the workshop, students will make an 'animal desk buddy' with moldable ears and tail to keep as a memento.  

  • Program Length: 1 hour  
  • Location: In-classroom or On-site (field trip)  
  • Best-fit age range: Late Elementary  
  • Group size: 10 (min) – 35 (max)  
  • Cost: None   

  

Level 3 - Pawsitive Impact

Discover the ways all aspects of an animal shelter come together to help pets in need with this multi-media, teamwork-centered exploration of Anti-Cruelty’s mission. Students will be separated into small groups to role-play as coordinators for clients to deliver resources, provide transportation, and utilize our clinic to bring animal care to Chicago's community.  

  • Program Length: 1 hour  
  • Location: In-classroom or On-site (field trip)  
  • Best-fit age range: Middle School  
  • Group size: 10 (min) – 35 (max)  
  • Cost: None   

  

Level 4 - From Overwhelm to Overcome (Coming Soon)

Start by helping animals, end with insight to help yourself. Students will learn about how stress impacts animals' behavior and health...and how humans are not too different! After a lesson and practice activity about stress and behavior, students will strategize different ways to manage their own stress before cycling through some actual de-stressing activities.   

  • Program Length: 2 hours  
  • Location: In-classroom or On-site (field trip)  
  • Best-fit age range: High School   
  • Group size: 10 (min) – 35 (max)  
  • Cost: None   

 

Service Projects

This is a great option for classrooms and groups who are unable to visit us on a field trip but still want to engage their students in volunteering. Choose from a variety of projects such as DIY Donations, organizing a wish-list drive, and more. Visit our Service Projects Page for a list of projects and instructions. Once your project is complete, email learn@anticruelty.org for drop-off instructions. You can also mail completed projects to the following address. Please include a note with your name, email address, school or group name, school or group zip code, and an itemized list of your project(s):   

Anti-Cruelty  
c/o Experiential Learning Team  
157 W Grand Ave  
Chicago, IL 60654  

  • Program Length: Varies by project  
  • Location: Off-site, self-directed  
  • Best-fit age range: All Ages  
  • Theme & Standards: Community service; IL SEL Standard 3C  
  • Cost: Materials and supplies, mail expense    

 

Your New Best Friend (Boy and Girl Scouts)

This is a lesson designed especially for girl and boy scouts seeking a pet care-related badge and looking to volunteer a little in the process to help shelter animals. Through a brief lesson, youth get the chance to explore how to decide the right pet for them, and how to take care of our most popular species: guinea pig, rabbit, cat, and dog. Afterwards, youth have a chance to help a shelter animal by making enrichment items to deliver to an adoptable pet of their choosing. This program has an associated fee to support the purchase of materials and supplies for students to use during the volunteer portion of this workshop.  

  • Program Length: 1 hour
  • Location: On-site (field trip)  
  • Best-fit age range: Early Elementary School (grade 2), Late Elementary School, Middle School  
  • Group size: 10 (min) – 20 (max)  
  • Theme & Standards: Community service; IL SEL Standard 3C  
  • Cost: $35   

 

Summer Camp Programming (Coming Soon)

An engaging, action-packed hour of teamwork, fun, and learning perfect for a sunny! This program is still in development. An updated description will be available when ready to launch.   

 

Book a Shelter Tour (Virtual or In-Person)

Is your classroom or group looking for a behind-the-scenes peek at what an animal shelter is like? This is a great way to explore how different teams at Anti-Cruelty work together to move homeless animals from intake to adoption. The tour will lead groups through the following animal spaces: Admissions, Animal Holding, Clinic, Administration, Community Impact, Adoptions. Thanks to modern technology we now offer tours both in-person and virtually! Note that, due to space constraints, in-person tours have a limited capacity.   

  • Program Length: 45 minutes – 1 hour  
  • Location: On-site (field trip)  
  • Best-fit age range: Late Elementary School, Middle School, High School  
  • Group size:   
  • In-person: 10 (min) – 20 (max)  
  • Virtual: 100  
  • Theme & Standards: Community service; IL SEL Standard 3C  
  • Cost: None    

Custom Learning Options: If you have a specific animal welfare learning experience in mind, contact our team at learn@anticruelty.org to ask about creating a custom workshop for your group.   

 

How to Schedule a Program

Are you ready to bring one of our unique and engaging programs to your classroom or youth group? Here’s how to get the ball rolling and what to expect:   

  1. Complete our Booking Inquiry Form
  2. A member of the Experiential Learning Team will reach out to you at the email address you provide to begin coordinating your event within 3–5 business days.   

A few considerations:   

  • Schedule: We schedule programming any day of the week except Wednesdays. While our default programming timeframe is 10:30am – 12:30pm, our team can be flexible to best accommodate the needs of the group when possible.   
  • Location: We offer events both as:  
    • Field trips: you visit our River North location   
    • Classroom visits: We visit your location, limited to Chicago  
    • Virtual visit: some of our programming can be adjusted to accommodate a virtual meeting. A member of our team will work with you on this should this be your choice.  
  • Group Size: Please refer to each program’s suggested group size when booking. Note that some programs can be more flexible than others with this, and a member of our team will help guide you to the best-fit program based on the number of students you wish to engage and the timeframe you have in mind.

Q: Why do some programs have a fee while others do not?   

A: All of our programs have an estimated value of $300 – 400 per workshop. We are proudly able to offer our learning programs free of charge thanks to generous public donations. Our volunteer programs that include material costs for projects have a fee to assist with staff time and purchasing items for your group’s use.    

Q: My school or group does not have enough budget for a program fee. Can we still book with you?   
A: Yes! Thanks to generous donations we are able to offer a program fee scholarship. Email our Experiential Learning Team at Learn@anticruelty.org to inquire about your eligibility. In your email, include your name, zip code, the program title that you wish to participate in, and a brief explanation of your circumstance. Please title your email with the following subject line: ATTN: Classroom and Group Program Fee Scholarship.  

Q: I want to book a virtual program. What software do you use to make this happen?   
A: We can schedule a virtual program using either Google or Zoom video calling.   

Q: Many of your learning programs are best suited for individual classrooms, in hour-long workshops. What if I want you to visit multiple classrooms or my whole school?   
A: Great! We would love to work with you on a schedule to accommodate this. Please indicate in your booking inquiry that this is what you are looking to do. A member of our Experiential Learning Team will coordinate the best option for your school. The options would look something like this:  

  • Combining classrooms (when appropriate for the program): this is the most time-efficient, but is not possible for all of our programs.   
  • Visiting multiple classrooms in the same day: our team can plan an itinerary with you to deliver age-appropriate workshops to multiple classrooms throughout the day. This is best for smaller schools, or if you want us to visit one or two grades.   
  • Visting multiple classrooms across different visits: our team will plan an itinerary with you to deliver age-appropriate workshops to multiple classrooms over the course of multiple scheduled days. This is best for larger schools, or if you want us to visit all grades.