FAIRPORT, N.Y. — Lollypop Farm is proving that volunteer work can be fun for children of any age. With the shelter’s guided Shelter Helper sessions children can help the animals in the shelter while learning more about the animals and how to interact with them.

“A lot of kids want to do stuff for the animals and want to interact with the animals, but they don’t exactly know how,” said Nick Koehner, humane education coordinator at Lollypop Farm. “So guided sessions like this are really fun and really rewarding for them. Parents love it. It’s a blast.”

Parents can book Shelter Helper sessions for their children online. The sessions include projects and crafts that give children hands-on experience while also creating something that will directly benefit animals in the shelter.

“A lot time we’ll do stuff with like enrichment,” Koehner said. “So we’ll make cat scratchers for the cats, or we’ll do like foraging toys for the rabbits and the guinea pigs.”

Signups focus on two different age groups with sessions for children from 8 to 11 years old and sessions for those ages 12 to 16. The goal of splitting them up is to better focus on the needs of the children in each session. Once children are over the age of 16 they can become a teen volunteer for Lollypop Farms.

“Regardless of age we try to make sure at every shelter helper session that the kids get to interact with the animals a little bit because they’re really excited to help the animals and do something for them,” Koehner said.

Making Shelter Helpers a win-win for everyone involved.

“The kids love it. It’s always such a blast,” Koehner said. “They really love to get hands-on and create something that directly benefits an animal.”