According to www.kshb.com, a summer camp in Merriam, Kansas encourages kids to read to animals at a no-kill shelter.

Kids between the ages of 8 and 12 who signed up for a week of Young Heroes For Pets Summer Camp at the Great Plains SPCA in June or July spend their days doing a series of activities which “emphasizes kindness, respect, responsibility, decision-making as well as movement, play, cooperation, problem-solving, reading and writing,” according to the camp’s web page. At the end of the week, each camper is awarded a Young HEROES certificate in front of friends and family.

“When the kid is reading to the pet, they tend to correct themselves,” said Rachel Hodgson, the Great Plains SPCA’s communications director, to KSHB Kansas City. “Their confidence boosts up and then we get the phone calls from the very happy parents that their kids are getting up to the next reading level.”

The reading program incorporated by the camp is also beneficial for the dogs and cats in the shelter, as they are soothed by the sound of the kids’ voices and get a break from the noise of the shelter.

“It was kind of weird,” 10-year-old camper Libby Hunt told KSHB. “I would expect them to be like, ‘why are you reading to me, you’re just a stranger.’ But no, they’ll just lay down and be listening.”

The camp, which is now in its third year, is an extension of the SPCA’s HERO (Humane Education Resources Outreach) program, which partners with The Rescue Fund and works to help animals in the community. The camp aims to educate kids on how to care for animals responsibly, which should help to prevent future problems for the HERO program to solve.

“I want to help the animals go up for adoption so they’re not left without an owner,” Hunt said.