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Spring 2006
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Ohio
4-H Cloverbud Kits Provide a New Teaching
Tool for 4-H Volunteers
Do you want to provide your 4-H Cloverbuds
more fun and hands-on activities? Ohio 4-H Cloverbud Volunteers
now have the opportunity to borrow 4-H Cloverbud Kits from their local
OSU Extension Office. As a result of a generous grant from the Ohio 4-H
Foundation, three kits have been developed for each county in Ohio. The
kits focus on lessons taken directly from the Ohio 4-H Cloverbud Curriculum
– Series II. Volunteers will now have access to timely and easy-to-use
teaching resources for 4-H Cloverbud Club meetings.
The three kits include:
- Our Country – children will learn about our
country and how to fold a flag, put
together a floor puzzle of the United States, learn about the history
of the 4-H
flag, weave a 4-H flag, sing patriotic songs with a CD, learn fun facts
about
Ohio and enjoy a children’s book about America Is…
The kit also contains a
teacher’s notebook with the Our Country Curriculum.
- The Science of Sound – Cloverbuds will learn
all about sound through experiments,
activities, playing music on pipe chimes, coloring their way through
a listening skills activity, playing games, learning about Sounds
All Around - a children’s book, and having fun with sound
clips on a CD. The kit also contains a teacher’s notebook with
The Science of Sound Curriculum.
-
Food Fun – children will learn
about the new MyPyramid, play food bingo, enjoy a music CD, read Eating
the Alphabet - a children’s book, experience healthy snack
ideas, and understand serving sizes using food models. The kit also
contains a teacher’s notebook with the Food Fun Curriculum.
Do you need meeting ideas? Want more games, music, books, and fun
activities to share with your 4-H Cloverbuds?
Contact your Extension Office
for availability and length of time you can borrow a kit.
Bruce Zimmer
Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development
Ohio State University Extension, Monroe County, Ohio
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Why
don’t you listen to me?
How
many parents or 4-H Cloverbud leaders have heard this? Young people tell
me I am different than most adults because I listen to them. Adolescents
who openly communicate with close adults feel trusted and are less likely
to abuse people or drugs. Tips from Dr. Ken Canfield’s “The
7 Secrets of Effective Fathers: Becoming the father your children need,”
(1992) for communicating with adolescents include:
Have open posture
Maintain eye contact
Learn to read your child’s nonverbal behavior
Give your child nonverbal feedback by nodding or raising your eyebrows
Paraphrase what he/she said
Activity: Ducks Fly
This game helps children improve listening skills.
Objective: To keep from becoming “it”
by listening carefully.
Who: Children who are active and have a tough
time listening or paying attention.
Group size: 3 or more
Materials needed: None
Description: Select someone to be “it”
and ask him/her to stand in front of the group. This person calls out
“Ducks fly! Seagulls fly!” (Any animal is fine. It can jump
or crawl instead.)
Whenever “it” says an animal that flies, everyone flaps their
wings in a flying motion. When he/she says an animal that doesn’t
fly, everyone should stop “flying” and put their arms down
to their sides. Whoever keeps “flying” when a non-flying animal
is mentioned is eliminated, or can become “it” for the next
round.
Activity Source: 104 Activities that Build: Self-Esteem,
Teamwork, Communication,
Anger Management, Self –Discovery, Coping Skills (p. 142), by A.
Jones, 1998, WA; Rec. Room Publishing. Copyright 1998 by Alanna Jones.
Reprinted with permission.
Jim Jordan
Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development
Ohio State University Extension, Butler County, Ohio
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Tips
for Working with Homesick 4-H Cloverbuds
While
at Camp
For many Cloverbuds, 4-H camp will be their first time away from
home. Some may get homesick. Homesickness occurs in all ages. It is anxiety
that people experience when they are away from home. Symptoms include:
stomach aches, headaches, or even minor aches and pains. Homesick children
may be misinterpreted as being physically sick and needing medical
attention. Children do not understand that homesickness is temporary.
There are ways to help 4-H Cloverbuds prepare
for being away from home. Encourage parents to talk with their children
about how long they will be away. Make sure they understand it will not
be forever. Parents should let their children know what time they will
see them. Use calendars to help children keep track of time and when they
will be going home. This helps them focus on the future and not how they
are feeling at the moment.
Parent(s) should let the kids help pack
for 4-H camp. This allows them to decide whether to bring a favorite stuffed
animal or t-shirt. With familiar items, campers feel more at-home. While
at 4-H camp, make sure the children have a buddy. The more involved Cloverbuds
are, the less likely they will get homesick.
Many 4-H Cloverbuds are not ready for camp their first or even
second year of 4-H, so do not push children into 4-H camp (especially
if it is overnight). Staying at a strange place without parents, can be
hard for many 4H’ers. Over time and with the help of caring adults,
the feelings of homesickness will pass and children will not want 4-H
camp to end.
Adapted from:
Garst, B., & Carson, A. (2004) Frequently Asked Questions (F.A.Q.)
about 4-H Camp for Parents/Guardians. Virginia Cooperative Extension.
Retrieved on 17 Feb 2006 http://www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/airfield/faq.html#Q21.
Homesickness. (2005). Kids Health for Parents. Nemours Foundation. Retrieved
on 17 Feb 2006 http://kidshealth.orgPageManager.jsp?
dn=KidsHealth&lic=1&article_set=20875&cat_id=145&
Kelly Nichols
Extension Program Assistant
4-H, Agriculture, & Horticulture
Ohio State University Extension, Washington County, Ohio
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“Just
for You” Bath Salts – a Great Idea for Mother’s Day
Cloverbud age 4-H members love
to make and give presents to others. Here is a fun and educational idea
that was shared with me by 4-H advisor Karen Bruggeman of Mercer County.
This activity teaches measuring skills, practices counting, provides an
opportunity for decision-making and can be used to discuss mixing colors
to create a “new” color.
Materials needed:
- Equal parts of Epsom Salts and Course Bath or Sea Salts (available
in larger grocery and department stores)
- 10-20 drops of essential oils (available at craft and health food
stores) and an eye dropper
- 5-10 drops of food coloring (too many drops makes a “wet”
salt that clumps together!)
- Measuring cups
- Funnel
- A copy of the color wheel or a poster indicating what colors, if mixed,
result in a new color
- Shakers (plastic jars with lids) – a jar per essential oil
scent so that you are not mixing odors together. Use food containers
with lids, such as plastic mayonnaise jars, that have been thoroughly
washed and dried. Label each with the essential oil name so that jars
do not get mixed up!
- A pretty container to place the finished product into such as washed
and dried drink bottles with screw type lids (individual sized drinks
will work well for this part of the activity)
- Gift tags, ribbon, stickers, etc for container decoration are optional
Directions:
Set up the room into stations – having
each ingredient and step in the process at a specific location. The children
move their shaker to each station to complete their activity.
**Start at the essential oils station. Allow member
to smell the scents and select their favorite.
**Have member drop 10-20 drops of oil into their shaker.
The member will take the correctly labeled shaker with them.
**Place equal parts of the Epsom salts and sea salts
into the shaker and mix well (1 cup each)
**At the color station, review the color wheel information
with the member and then allow them to place 5-10 drops of the color
or colors into the shaker. (may wish to mix the colors together in the
small dish and then add to the salt mixture, but this is not really
necessary if the child shakes the mixture well once the drops are added)
*note: Red turns out rather orange!
**Using the funnel, place completed salts into your
container. Tighten cap.
**Decorate
and attach gift tag. Enjoy!
Barbara Phares
Extension Educator, 4-H Youth Development
Ohio State University Extension, Mercer County, Ohio
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Campus
Connections
Hello again! It feels good to make another 4-H Cloverbud Connection with
you!
Go ahead take a hike!!! Get out of here!!!
Well, taking a hike or a walk with our
4-H Cloverbud groups and clubs is just the right thing to do now in beautiful
Ohio as nature comes springing into life. We can stimulate and enhance
practically all of our 4-H Cloverbud life skill goals by taking a hike
with a purpose. Advancing physical mastery skills are obvious with the
gross motor activity needed for walking. Other skills such as getting
along with others are necessary to walk and observe nature as a group,
while self-confidence is nurtured through understanding and learning about
the environment that
surrounds the Cloverbud children.
So what kind of walk or hike do you want
to take with your Cloverbud Kids? In the latest Young Children issue,
Janet Humphreys (2000) suggests six types of walks/hikes with a focus
for children to experience. Here they are:
Theme Hikes - focus on a particular theme - such as colors, shadows,
seeds, insects, rocks, or whatever you and the group decide.
Sense Hikes - explore the senses, what smells, sights, sounds, etc.
do you encounter on the walk.
Weather Hikes - focus on whatever weather is occurring, check out the
sky, wind, or rain that might be going on at the time of the hike.
- Search-for-life Hikes - look for all types of life that is present
in the air, nests in the trees, tracks, burrow holes, etc.
Intellectual Hikes - focus on processing or gaining new information,
change in seasons, path directions with a compass (North, South, East,
and West).
Clean-the-environment-Hikes - clean up nature. Take along trash bags
and plastic gloves. Talk about how pollution can be a problem.
Scott D. Scheer, Ph.D.
State Extension Specialist, Preadolescent Education
4-H Youth Development, The Ohio State University
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Tuna
Treat
1 12 oz. can water-packed tuna,
drained
¼ cup pickle relish
¼ cup diced celery
low-fat or fat-free mayonnaise
Mix first three ingredients together. Add enough mayonnaise to moisten
and make spreading consistency. Refrigerate until served. Serve on crackers
or toast with tomato or vegetable juice as the beverage.
Submitted
by: Joyce Shriner, Extension Educator, FCS,
OSU Extension, Hocking County, Ohio
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