Month: May 2019

Summer Fun with Cloverbuds

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Summer is the perfect time to get outside and be active with your children.  Helping youth get into the habit of enjoying fresh air and sunshine can’t start early enough.  Many young people prefer electronics and television in their spare time, but if we break that habit early, fun play time can become the norm.

According to Victoria L. Dunckley, M.D. in a Psychology Today article, numerous screen-related factors trigger stress or hyperarousal.  Some of these factors include reward/addiction pathways, intense sensory stimulation, bright and blue-toned light, media multitasking, interactivity and rapid pace, and electromagnetic radiation.  She goes on to say, “Because chronic stress effectively ‘short circuits’ the frontal lobe, a hyperaroused and mentally depleted child will have trouble paying attention, managing emotions, suppressing impulses, following directions, tolerating frustrations, accessing creativity and compassion, and executing tasks”.

This is reason enough to head outside and enjoy fun play time.  Some things to try with your child:

  • Go fishing
  • Read a book under a tree
  • Dig in the dirt
  • Plant a garden
  • Pick flowers
  • Chase a butterfly
  • Look for bugs and other creepy crawly things
  • Lay on your back and look at the clouds
  • Roll down a hill
  • Go on a picnic
  • Fly a kite
  • Blow bubbles
  • Draw with chalk
  • Play hopscotch
  • Hula hoop
  • Climb a tree
  • Jump rope

This is Your Child’s Brain on Video Games, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mental-wealth/201609/is-your-childs-brain-video-games

So, go outside and explore the great outdoors!

Introducing the Newly Update and Revised 4-H Cloverbud Volunteer Guidebook

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This resource was fully revised and updated just for you, the 4-H Cloverbud Volunteer Leader, to help you be fully prepared and engaged to make a positive impact on our youngest 4-H members.  It provides accurate and readily accessible information that is everything Cloverbuds.  The guidebook explores the goals and strategies for successful implementation of the 4-H Cloverbud program. The guidebook has been evaluated for both content and quality.

The guidebook contains the following sections:

  1. 4-H Traditions
  2. What is the 4-H Cloverbud Program?
  3. 4-H Cloverbud Volunteer Position Description
  4. 4-H Cloverbud Participation
  5. Who Are These 4-H Cloverbud Children?
  6. Eight Essential Elements
  7. 4-H Cloverbud Program Foundations
  8. What Do You Know About the Ohio 4-H Cloverbud Program?
  9. For New Volunteers: Conducting 4-H Cloverbud Sessions
  10. Expanding 4-H Cloverbud Opportunities
  11. Planning Your 4-H Cloverbud Club Activities

When using the guidebook, you will: 1) gain knowledge for best practices; 2) learn enhanced strategies and techniques for conducting 4-H Cloverbud activities; and 3) learn why and how the program is set up to have the most positive impact on Cloverbud kids.

Here is a link to more information from OSU Extension Publications: https://extensionpubs.osu.edu/cloverbud-volunteer-guidebook/ Remember you can always get a discount when your order through your local Ohio county Extension office.

Thank you for making an impact on the lives of Ohio’s children!