DIY Personal Activities

Can’t build a bat box? Want to do more?

There are many different ways to help bats and they are all important. Some actions can help protect bats living in your backyard or community while others may have far-reaching impacts. Here are a few ways that you can help. And, make sure to share your efforts to inspire others.

Daily Personal Actions
Family-Friendly Actions
Do it Yourself Actions
Youth and Student Actions
Places to Share Your Work
Places to Learn More

Daily Personal Actions

• Turn out the lights! Light pollution affects insect populations, disrupts bats as they migrate, and deters sensitive bat species.
• Reduce, reuse, recycle! The overwhelming amount of garbage produced each year — hundreds of millions of tons in America alone — is one of the biggest hurdles to a healthy environment for bats and humans!
• Share bat information with your friends, family, and anyone who will listen. Be sure to highlight bats on your favorite social media
• Get familiar with all the different food made possible by bats. Use our Bat Week Cookbook to make a delicious meal to share with your friends and family.

Family-Friendly Actions

• Plant a garden. You’ll have food and flowers, and you’ll attract insects that feed the bats. Consider creating a compost pile to add to the garden, recycle food scraps, and attract even more, yummy bat food.
• Install a water feature. Bats use ponds and birdbaths for drinking water; just keep it clean and filled to help deter mosquitos. The birds will appreciate it too.
• Join a stream clean up or invasive plant pull. Parks, forests, refuges, and monuments need your help to battle invasive plants and to keep habitats clean and green. Check with your favorite local green space for opportunities to participate.
• Organize your own invasive plant pull or stream clean up. Contact your local park authority to find out how.
• Monitor bat boxes for occupancy. Lots of bat boxes are installed in parks, but they often go unwatched. See if your local park has bat boxes and if you can monitor the boxes and record when the bats arrive and how many there are.
• Attend a bat program at a park or nature center. Share what you learn with others.
• Go outside! Even small adventures in nature help everyone appreciate the natural plants and animals that surround us. Don’t forget to get the family outside at sunset and after dark to watch bats!

Do it Yourself Actions

Speak up for bats!

• Write letters to the editor or comment on media segments that portray bats in a negative light.
• Help friends and family understand that bats are beneficial and need our help.
• Write letters to federal, state, and local agencies to urge them to consider bats when new development, roads, and renovations are proposed.
• Ask your town, city, or state officials to make a formal proclamation. Use our Sample Letter as a starting place for requesting a proclamation.

Other Actions

• Learn more about your local habitat and ecological relationships. Join a master naturalist program, attend classes and lectures, and participate in citizen science projects.
• Volunteer! Parks, zoos, nature centers, conservancies, rehabilitation centers, museums, etc., rely on volunteers to help educate visitors, care for animals, or take leadership roles. Your time is an invaluable gift to conservation organizations.

Youth and Student Actions

• Start a bat or nature club
• Contribute your art, poetry and essays to conservation organizations
• Make a video about how wonderful bats are
• Ask your teacher to teach about bats
• Ask for a bat-themed birthday party
• Study your personal habitat and help keep it clean and green
• Go outside!! Look for bats at sunset. It’s good for you, and it’s fun!
• Share that you care! Just telling people that you think bats are cool is a huge help!

Places to Share Your Work

• I Care Project
• Get to Know Student Art Gallery

Places to Learn More

• BATS Magazine
• Kid’s Page
• Project EduBat

• Mark your calendars for Bat Week and “Be a Bat Hero!”. Check out how YOU can join the celebration!