Contents Bridging the Age Gap When Teaching Cloverbuds The Importance of Fathers Rubber Stamping Planning Your Cloverbud Recognition Event Campus Connections Snack Idea - Ice Cream in a Bag

Bridging the Age Gap When Teaching Cloverbuds

      Including children from kindergarten through third grade in the same program can be a real challenge. Here are some ways that Cloverbud volunteers can minimize the challenges and capitalize on the benefits:

  ¥ Understand differences: Find out all that you can about typical development for children in this age range so that your expectations of them are reasonable. For example, 5-year-olds may not yet have the fine muscle control necessary to do crafts with small materials and will become easily frustrated. But many crafts can be adapted simply by providing a greater variety of materials, such as different gauges of string and different sizes of beads for jewelry-making.

  ¥ Plan complex activities: Projects with several parts at a variety of skill levels allow all children to contribute. For example, having a bake sale allows younger children to help with simpler tasks of baking and packaging the goodies while older children can help with more advanced tasks like creating grocery lists and advertising.

  ¥ Capitalize on skill levels: During activities, capitalize on the skills older children have already mastered and enlist their help as teachers. When older children are encouraged to act as supportive coaches to younger children, they gain confidence in themselves and sensitivity to younger children while the younger ones enjoy the positive attention of the older children while learning new skills.

  ¥ Use small group activities: Allow children to work in small groups according to their interests, rather than age, and involve them in planning and problem-solving discussions. All children can benefit from listening to one another's ideas and valuing their contributions.

Authored by: Pushpanjali Dashora,

Graduate Student in Child Development, The Ohio State University.

Edited by: Kirk Bloir, M.S., HDFS Extension Associate, OSU Extension,

and Kathy Reschke, Ph.D., State Specialist in Early Development and Care,

Ohio State University Extension, Columbus, Ohio

Reference: Bredekamp, S & Copple, C. Developmentally Appropriate

Practice in Early Childhood Programs. 1997. NAEYC,

Washington, D.C.

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The Importance of Fathers

      Recent research investigating father-child relationships, fathers' influence on the intellectual achievement of their children and the influence of divorced or single fathers has shown that children benefit from having two highly involved parents. As parents, fathers have a unique opportunity to shape the lives of their children by learning fathering the way they would learn to play ball, set up a business or cook a gourmet meal - early and with lots of practice, patience and encouragement. Fathers do have their own special way of interacting with their children.

      Communication between a father and child begins very early. Research on early brain development indicates that it is extremely important for parents to begin communicating with children from the day they are born (if not before) noted Texas A & M University Extension. As children grow older, their ability to communicate and their knowledge of the rules of communication rapidly expand, thus fathers can be more effective in communicating when doing these:

• Think about whom you are communicating with and the age of the child. Remember, they can only rationalize in simplistic terms until they reach later years when they comprehend complex messages.
• Pay attention to non-verbal messages from the father to the child. Children do not always possess the vocabulary necessary to articulate their emotions.
• Be an active listener when your child speaks because your child is a little person too and deserves the same respect that you give adults that communicate with you. Remember we were given two ears and one mouth for a reason – listen twice as much!
• Communicating frequently will enable a father to know the needs of his child. An ideal place to communicate is at the dinner table, in the car, at bedtime tuck in, and in the home's learning laboratory – the kitchen. Fathers can really teach their children math skills by working together in the kitchen preparing a snack or meal together. Children really learn fractions from fathers in the kitchen when reading a recipe.
• Use “I” messages to reflect to your child that you understand what they are saying in a non-threatening and non-judgmental mode.

      Emphasize the positive no matter what the child's behavior. Positive messages build strong relationships even if the child is stepping outside of the limits that have been set. In his book The 7 Secrets of Effective Fathers, Canfield (1992), identified the secrets that you should know in order to become the father your children need. They are:

1. Commitment
2. Knowing your child
3. Consistency
4. Protecting and providing
5. Loving their mother
6. Active listening
7. Spiritual equipping

       Most researchers studying the importance of fathers support the seven secrets that Canfield wrote about in his book. A pattern that is consistent with positive father/child relationships is the ability to be effective communicators and listeners with each other. Fathers are extremely important in the eyes of their children, and, fathers need to be really committed to making sure their children are involved in educational programs that develop their full potential and knowledge.

Jim Jordan

Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development

Ohio State University Extension, Butler County, Ohio

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Rubber Stamping

Note Cards

Items needed : various rubber stamps, stamp pads, cardstock cut in half, envelopes, jute string, table cover, meat trays, wet paper towels, dry paper towels

¶ Give each participant a set of four pieces of card stock and envelopes for   stamping. Show example cards and allow the class some time to create four cards and matching envelopes.

¶ Campers need to clean the stampers between colors by stamping on a wet paper towel several times, followed by a dry towel.

¶ Use the “hand stamped by…” stamp. Stamp the back of each card and sign name.

¶ Stack set of four cards and tie together with a piece of jute string.

Homemade Stamper

Items needed : Cut 1 x 3 inch furring strip into squares and slightly sand edges, sheets of fun foam with peel and stick side, scissors, patterns, stencils, pencils

1. Give each participant a piece of wood for their stamping block.
2. Have them begin thinking about what they want to put on their stamping block– letters, picture, clover, initials, shapes, etc. This can be drawn on a piece of scrap paper.
3. Draw design onto foam and cut out the shapes.
4. Peel and stick designs onto stamping block.
5. If time allows, participants can create more designs and stick them onto other sides and edges of the block!

Developed by: Bruce Zimmer

Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development

Ohio State University Extension, Monroe County, Ohio

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Planning Your Cloverbud Recognition Event

      Recognition, you may be wondering what's the big deal? . . . Research shows that a sense of belonging is why youth stay involved in an organization. What better way to show that they belong than to provide recognition both formally and informally? Of course, you recognize members and say “Hi” calling them by name at the grocery store and when they arrive at your meeting. But what else could you do? Pictures, certificates, ribbons all say recognition. But keep in mind with Cloverbuds that it is not a competition. All need equal kinds of recognition.

      Have an event. . . make it a big deal. Celebrate participation and bring closure to the activity or year's work. Who could celebrate with you? For the Cloverbud age youth the answer is probably parents, grandparents, and even siblings. Invite them not only by word of mouth but do a special invitation. A follow-up phone call will probably ensure that everyone will have someone there to celebrate with them. Remember, that the Cloverbud still has a short attention span so make your program in segments: something fun, formal presentation, and even refreshments.

      Take the opportunity to inform those Cloverbuds who are too old to join next year how to get involved in “project” clubs and when the county Cloverbud Graduation is if your county has one. Don't forget to get photos and have an article put into the local newspaper.

Brenda Young

Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development

Ohio State University Extension, Wyandot County, Ohio

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Campus Connections

Hello again! It feels good to make another 4-H Cloverbud Connection with you!

      OK, the summer months are upon us and most Cloverbud children have been exercising their bodies and enjoying the great outdoors, but let's not forget about their minds! A sure fire way to promote overall healthy development is to expand beyond the physical realm and include the mental world by using “reading” and “retelling” as additional 4-H Cloverbud activities.

      Many of the 4-H Cloverbud activity pieces in Series I and II give reading recommendations and suggestions. Reading with children helps them to stimulate their minds, imaginations, and thought processes, all of which are important for developing children.

      You might be asking what is “retelling” or why do it? Retelling involves asking children to retell the story or book that was just read to them. Children learn the following skills through the process of retelling - a) remembering events from the story, b) learning new vocabulary words, c) remembering facts, d) learning about sequencing and timing, and e) developing the love for reading (Glazer, 1998).  Reading and retelling is a perfect way to bring closure to your 4-H Cloverbud get-together.

      Until next time, take care and have fun. Thanks for all you do as 4-H Cloverbud Leaders for improving the lives of children throughout Ohio!!

Scott D. Scheer, Ph.D.

State Extension Specialist, Preadolescent Education

4-H Youth Development, The Ohio State University

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Ice Cream in a Bag

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla
6 tbsp. salt
Ice
2 sealable food storage bags (1-quart size-1-gallon size)

Instructions:

• Place sugar, vanilla and milk in small plastic bag.
• Place little bag inside big bag
• Put the salt and ice in the big bag.
• Close the big plastic bag.
• Make sure there are no holes in the bags. Shake the bags for approximately 15 minutes or until the mixture becomes thick or hard like ice cream.
• Eat and enjoy!

Source: "Dairy Promotion Quarterly", Spring 1999, American

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