I’m a Cloverbud Volunteer! Now What?

New year, new start!  Are you a new or returning Cloverbud volunteer?  Welcome! We are happy to have you join us in the Ohio 4-H Cloverbud program!

You’ve completed your Cloverbud Volunteer Training and you have a group of Cloverbuds, now what?  Time to plan your meeting activities.  The most valuable resource in your toolkit is The Big Book of 4-H Cloverbud Activities.  The Big Book has 50 lesson plans which you can use during your Cloverbud meetings.  Talk with your Cloverbuds to find out what they want to learn about in 2022.  Give them a list of topics to choose from and ask them to vote.  Your Cloverbud program is more likely to succeed if you consider input from your youth.  The Big Book of 4-H Cloverbud Activities is available for purchase from your county OSU Extension Office or from OSU Publications.

What should your Cloverbud meeting look like?  Once you have identified your topic, use the Cloverbud Meeting Planning Template to plan your meeting.  Decide on the day, time, and location of your meeting.  Be sure that all Cloverbud parents know when the meeting will take place.  Consider your planned activity.  What will you do for each portion of the meeting?  What supplies are needed?  Do the Cloverbuds need to bring anything to the meeting?  Will you have refreshments or recreation?  In general, Cloverbuds can participate in 4-H club meetings for the pledges and roll call.  Once the older 4-H members begin their business meetings, Cloverbuds can be dismissed to complete their own activities.  Upon completion of Cloverbud activities and the older club members’ business meetings, Cloverbuds can rejoin the group for refreshments and recreation, if age-appropriate.  This is a great time for Cloverbuds to present what they learned to the older club members.  This gives Cloverbuds a chance to do public speaking and also share their excitement for their activities.

My 4-H Cloverbud Year is a wonderful activity book for our Cloverbuds.  Cloverbuds enjoy having a book to complete like the older 4-H club members.  The activity book includes pages where the child can include information about themselves and their club, as well as about what they did at each Cloverbud meeting.  At the end of the year, the member has a nice memory book of their year as a Cloverbud. My 4-H Cloverbud Year is available for purchase from your county Ohio State University Extension Office or from OSU Publications.

To see other resources that are available to Cloverbud volunteers, check out the Ohio 4-H Cloverbud Resources link on the left hand side of this page.  You might be interested in Choose and Tell Cards or Clover Cubes.  Both are fun and easy resources to use with your Cloverbuds.

Don’t forget to check out the Ohio 4-H Cloverbud Reading Adventures!  Reading adventures connect Cloverbuds to literacy and include games, activities, and snacks to use with your Cloverbuds.

Fast forward – you’ve completed the year with your Cloverbuds, now what?  Check with your county extension office to see what other opportunities are available.  This might include day camps or fun days, exhibiting at the county fair (non-competitive events), Show and Tell, fair revues, Cloverbud graduation, and more!

Enjoy your time with your Cloverbuds!  They are eager to learn and will not hesitate to share their enthusiasm.  Spending time with Cloverbuds will put a smile on your face!

GETTING ACTIVE IN THE NEW YEAR

According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services publication, Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, youth ages 6 to 17 years of age should be doing a minimum of 60 minutes (1 hour) or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity a day. Physical activity helps strengthen our body and our mind. It makes us feel good and enables us to grow and build resiliency.

So how do we encourage physical activity when we gather as Cloverbuds? Here are a few different ideas that you can use both in-person and virtually.

Obstacle Courses

Obstacle courses are an age-old way to get kids moving. All you need are objects such as furniture, cones, cushions, hula hoops, etc. Create a start and a finish by making lines on the ground with tape or a rope. Then create different elements of the course like weaving through cones, jumping over cushions, or doing 10 jumping jacks.

Let the Cloverbuds help you create the obstacle course. Have them decide what they want to do or what they want to use (of course you should give them some direction and make sure it is safe).

If you are meeting virtually, you could give them ten to fifteen minutes to make their own obstacle course in their homes. Time them to see how long it takes them to complete the course they created.

If you are struggling to come up with a course, you can use this one for inspiration or type “Obstacle Course for kids” into Google or YouTube.

Dance Time

Dancing is a great way to do physical activity and there are many ways to do it. If you have been blessed with the skill, feel free to just put on some music and dance freestyle. Others might need a little more help leading dance time.

One way to teach dances is by using one of the popular video dance games.  They can be played on almost any gaming device.  You can also search dances on YouTube and play them on a screen for kids to follow along with.

Other great sources on YouTube are Kidz Bop and Learning Station. All of these channels and sources are kid and 4-H friendly but you should review the videos for content ahead of time.

Playing Games

Playing games that get Cloverbuds up and moving can be a fun way to keep them physically active.

Sharks and Minnows: This game requires no equipment. Cloverbuds stand on one side of the room touching the wall. They then try to run and touch the wall on the opposite side of the room. One Cloverbud (the shark) chases the rest of the group (the minnows) and tries to tag them before they can touch the wall. If you are tagged, you can either become a shark or seaweed. If they are sharks, they can run around too and help tag youth or seaweed must stand still and try to tag people as they run by. Keep having them run back and forth from wall to wall until one kid is left. Then they can be the first shark in the next game.