Quick activities

Who made breakfast?

  • Collect the images of ingredients to make a breakfast  (fruit juice/fruit, cereal and milk, eggs, bacon, sausages, butter and wholemeal toast)
  • Use the photos and the information in the supporting documents below to discuss which animals were involved in making some of the breakfast items, what those animals need to be happy and healthy and whether the packaging tells us anything about how the animals were looked after. 

Supporting documents: Who made breakfast? (Word 1.05MB)


The needs of animals

  • Place a selection of animal pictures face up in a circle on the floor.
  • Place the Five Welfare Needs cards face up in a second circle on the floor.
  • Spin a plastic bottle in each circle to select an animal and also a need.
  • Ask pupils to suggest ways in which the need can be met for that particular animal.

Supporting documents: The needs of animals (Word, 200KB)


Suitable pets?

  • Show a selection of animal photographs.  It is suggested that these be a mixture of pets, farm animals and wild animals.
  • Ask pupils to sort them into piles according to whether they think they could be kept as pets or not.   
  • Using the Five Welfare Needs, talk about the way different animals live and what they need to be happy and healthy.

Supporting documents: Suitable pets? (Word, 200KB)


At the vets

These questions and matching answers can be printed, cut up and incorporated into a vet or animal welfare centre role play environment, for either the children or the adults to ask to stimulate conversation.

Supporting documents: At the vets (Word, 692KB)


Game - What am I?

What you need:

  1. Small illustrations of wild animals/birds (use the images from the worksheet What am I?)
  2. Paper clips
  3. Instructions
  4. Strips of card made into headbands
  • Place a picture of a wild animal or bird on each pupil's headband (with a paper clip) without them seeing it.
  • Each pupil has to work out their animal identity.
  • The other pupils give them clues e.g. mime an action the creature makes, say its colour, make the sound of the creature.

Supporting documents: What am I? (Word, 1.13 MB)


Finding new homes for animals

  • Pin up the descriptions of The Animals, using images to represent each animal
  • Give each group a copy of the sheet The People
  • They should use the information on both the people and the animals to make recommendations for suitable matches
  • Explore the idea that some animals may have to wait longer than others for the right owner to come along and that some people¿s lifestyles may not really suit pet ownership at all.

Supporting documents: Finding new homes for animals (Word, 64KB)


A responsible citizen

  • Critical incidents provide pupils with a model of how to take effective action as responsible citizens. They can adapt and apply the process to any issue relevant to them.
  • Using the worksheet and teachers' notes (included in supporting documents, below), reveal the paragraphs one by one. After reading each one, encourage the pupils to respond to the discussion focus points. Suggestions are given in the teachers' notes, after each paragraph.

Supporting documents: A responsible citizen (Word, 683 KB) 


Smiley face

  • Draw a simple smiley face in the middle of the whiteboard.
  • Ask pupils what they need to be happy and healthy and write these around the smiley face.  You may need to discuss the difference between needs and wants.
  • Turn the smiley face into the face of an animal by adding ears, whiskers, etc. Consider whether  the animal needs the same things.