Welcome to Elephant Aid International’s Learning Center where you will find resources to help students learn about elephants. The Elephant Learning Center is designed to give you all the information you need to teach your students about elephants and their lives in captivity. Here you’ll find carefully curated elephant facts, a reading list, resources to help your students make a difference and examples of inspirational learning projects.
The EleFaqs are now located here
READING LIST
We've curated a reading list that helps students understand and contribute to elephant welfare.Books by Carol Buckley



Books by Other Authors










Learn how you can make a difference and promote elephant welfare.
WHAT YOU CAN DO!
Want to help elephants around the world? There is so much you can do at home!- Pick one of EAI’s projects and learn all about it!EAI runs different projects in Asia and North America. These projects include:
- A new home for elephants in Georgia called Elephant Refuge North America (ERNA)! This is where elephants can just be elephants--no chains, no cages, no tiny yard, just 850 acres of natural habitat in which to thrive.
- Training the people who take care of elephants! These caretakers are called mahouts (mah-howts), and EAI is helping them learn how to take care of elephants in new ways that help the elephant feel safe.
- Getting rid of chains! Most elephants live with chains around their feet to keep them from running away, meaning that much of their day is spent standing still in one small spot, often alone. Can you imagine that? In Asia EAI builds fences powered by the sun so that elephants can spend the time they are not working in a chain-free corral, or yard, with their friends.
- Cutting elephant toenails! Although wild elephants do not need to cut their nails, captive elephants do. EAI has developed a program to teach caretakers how to properly take care of those big elephant feet and stay healthy. Have you ever heard of a pedicure? Imagine that in jumbo size!
- Tell your friends and family why you are so interested in helping elephants. Maybe they will be interested too!
- Ask your teacher if you can do a class presentation or a report on one of these projects
- Perform a play! If you like acting with your friends, why not ask your teachers if you can write and perform a play about elephants to let others know about the problems they face? One idea could be about an elephant in captivity who is released into a refuge. This could be just for your class or the whole school. Ask your teachers what is possible!
- Become an EAI Elephant Ambassador. Just click the EleAmbassador tab above to learn more.
- Start a fundraiser for EAI! If you collect enough donations, Carol Buckely will schedule a Zoom call with your classroom.
- Follow EAI on Youtube. There are lots of cool videos showing many of these projects and how happy the elephants are! You can also see a behind-the-scenes tour of ERNA getting ready for elephants. There are also video clips from the documentary Unchained, which follows our chain-free project in Nepal. You can also share the videos with your friends.
- Read one of EAI’s book recommendations. Carol has written some of her own, and we have recommendations for all age levels. Just click on the Reading List tab above.
- Have you been to a zoo? Imagine you are an elephant in one--wouldn’t you rather have more space to roam? Write your local zoo to express why you are concerned by their elephants in captivity. These should be your own words about why you hope the elephants can retire to a refuge and be free.
- Have you ever been to a circus? Were there elephants performing in the circus? If so, what did you think of the elephants performing (or how did it make you feel)? Some states in the US have banned the use of elephants in circuses. Write your local representative to express your concern.
- Ask your teacher if you can hang up your own drawings of elephants in your classroom and ask your friends to draw their own.
PROJECTS
Here you will find a variety of inspirational projects about elephants from students and EAI Elephant Ambassadors around the world.Bryce St. Onge, 4th grader from Windsor Elementary School in Maine, is the initiator of this youth program and the very first EleAmbassador. Bryce’s project included inviting EAI Founder and CEO Carol Buckley to Zoom with his class and leading a hat day at his school to raise funds for EAI’s 2021 elephant welfare work in Nepal. Bryce’s class designed posters to inform students about EAI and raised $250.

A sampling of posters students made for Hat Day to raise funds for elephants in Nepal
Haley Militzok, 6th grader from Beachside Montessori Village in Florida, created note cards from an original watercolor elephant she painted to sell to family, friends, classmates and teachers to raise money to donate toward items on EAI’s Wish List. Haley now partners with EAI to make her notecards available through the Tarra’s Treasure Trunk gift shop.

Aziza King, Leah Grant, Akela Mitchell, 8th graders from Windsor Elementary School, Windsor, Maine, put together a very informative presentation on Nepal including information on the first female mahout, Meena Chaudhary.
Ayla Noftall, 8th grade student from Windsor Elementary School, Windsor, Maine, created an inspiring presentation showcasing the difference between elephants in the wild and elephants in captivity.
EAI ELEPHANT AMBASSADOR PROGRAM
An ambassador serves the distinguished role of representing the interests of a country or a cause wherever they go. An EAI Elephant Ambassador commits to officially represent the best interests of elephants at all times and to help others understand how important these interests are. Anyone who takes on the role of EAI Elephant Ambassador commits to promote the Five Freedoms of Elephants and to educate others about them.- Freedom from hunger and thirst
- Freedom from discomfort
- Freedom from pain, injury, and disease
- Freedom to express normal behavior
- Freedom from fear and distress
Meet EAI's First Elephant Ambassador

You Can Be an EleAmbassador
To become an ambassador, check out our Make a Difference section and choose an activity. Once you complete the activity, fill out the form below and include a description, photo, or video of what you have done. You will then receive an official certificate in the mail for you to show your friends and classmates!How to Submit
Read the instructions carefully to determine the best way to submit your project. If you can answer YES to either of these two questions, you can use our student submission form below:- Are you a student living in the United States or the United Kingdom who is 13 years old or older?
- Are you a student living in any country outside the United States or the United Kingdom who is 16 years old or older?