For many young people, 4-H camp is the highlight of their year. Filled with games, workshops, singing, and fun activities, what child wouldn’t love it? As a 4-H camp director preparing for my 21st camping season here in Warren County, I have witn
essed countless smiles and laughter of hundreds of young campers. For many, there’s just something special about the camp experience that keep kids coming back year after year. A question I repeatedly ask at the beginning of the camp planning season is “What training do my camp staff need in order to make this year’s camp successful and have kids want to keep coming back?” This question is especially important when planning activities for Cloverbud campers. Many 5-8 year old campers are experiencing camp for the first time and just beginning to spend time away from their parents and caregivers. They are willing to exploring different social groups and learning how to master their physical skills while being open to trying new things.
The biggest contributor to camp success depends on how welcome and included campers feel, especially at the start of the experience. Creating the camp environment needs to be intentional and well thought through with attention to the details. Below are a few tips to include in the pre camp training of counselors and staff that will help create and sustain a welcoming environment.
Addressing Campers by Their Correct Name: Addressing and correctly pronouncing the name of each camper is very important, especially at the beginning of camp. When campers hear their name, especially by a camp leader, it reinforces their individual value and helps them feel important to the group. This recognition contributes to the creation of a welcoming environment where everyone feels included. Play lots of name games on day one.
Nonverbals Are Important: Research shows that your body language and your tone of voice account for over 90% of what you communicate to others. This is especially true for the young children who may be new at camp. Pay particular attention to your body posture and eye contact when communicating with campers. It often helps to bend down to their level and lean into the encounter. This type of posture demonstrates that your attention is focused on them and communicates they are important and worth your time and focus. Smiles and fist bumps are great too!
“Hands-on” Engagement: Kids love toys and games. Much of camp is about play and fun, but not all kids experience it in the same way. Having a “Discovery Table” where kids can select and pick up items of interest is a great way to stimulate learning and interaction. It is also a great distraction from unwanted feelings like homesickness and fear of not fitting in. You can also apply this concept at the table where campers sit by covering it with craft paper and allowing them to use crayons to draw or doodle. When you add the engagement with a table counselor, it can significantly add to creating a positive welcoming environment.
Here are some of my favorite Games to make campers feel welcome and included.
Group Juggle
The group stands in an inward facing circle and are asked to throw juggling balls amongst the group in a specific order. As the activity develops more juggling balls are introduced and the pressure to work well as a group increases.
Pick-a-Corner
Designate 4 corners around the room with 4 choices. After you pick 4 choices around a topic or theme, ask campers to go to the designated corner that best matches their preference. Make the topics fun. (Example: Favorite Food — 1. Mac and Cheese 2. Pizza 3. Mashed Potatoes 4. Chicken Tenders; Favorite Vacation spot 1. Mountains 2. Beach 3. City 4. Cruise)
Quarter Flip
Have everyone stand up. Tell them they need to select heads or tails. (Illustrate by touching both hands on their head or their “tail”.) Then flip the coin and call it to the group. If they chose incorrect, instruct them to sit. Game continues until one winner. The winner gets to be the new caller. Continue as time permits.
Creating a safe and inclusive environment for campers and staff is the strong foundation for a successful Cloverbud camp. Camp is a great activity to help children transition away from depending on their parents and transfer that dependence to other caring adults. These camp fundamentals of creating a welcoming and inclusive camp should accompany all aspects of pre-camp planning as well as all activities during the camp.
Sources:
Condensed Ages & Stages – Fact Sheet – 5-8years. Retrieved from https://extension.purdue.edu/4h/Documents/1_5-8_Fact_Sheet.pdf
Games Resource: “Find Something To Do” (Jim Cain, 2012) Great Fun and No Prop Games for all ages
Cloverbud aged children often focus on themselves as they are forming their self-concept. As young Cloverbud children (5 – 6 years old) become 7- to 8-year-olds, they start to increase their awareness and concern for others; in particular, they can have empathy toward others. Empathy results from an increase in their emotional understanding skills as thinking abilities develop and through social experiences. In the 4-H Cloverbud program we can help members learn to care for others and grow their empathy skills.
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 
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 
over cushions, or doing 10 jumping jacks.
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.
games that get Cloverbuds up and moving can be a fun way to keep them physically active.
Craft a garland: Hang greeting cards as a garland so that you can enjoy them during the holidays before upcycling the cards in other ways. Use twine, rope, or ribbon of preferred length. Attach greeting cards to garland using small clothespins or tape.
s (red, yellow, or orange); different tree fruit such as apples, acorns, hickory nuts, or walnuts; check off/write down the animals they see such a ladybug, wooly worm, squirrel, rabbit, bird, or deer. If youth are able, have them take a gallon size bag on their hunt to bring back a few items from their adventure. This will give you the opportunity to help them match the leaves and fruit from the same tree or compare the sizes of each object the members found. For a little extra fun, tell them to find the smallest and the largest leaf they can find. It will be fun for them to compare what they found with what others found.
n watch the birds. There are multiple ways to make homemade bird feeders. A simple and clean option is to use pipe cleaners and cereal. To complete the activity, you will need pipe cleaners, cereal, string or ribbon, and scissors. Select a cereal with a loophole that can be strung on the pipe cleaner. Members can bend their pipe cleaner into a shape, such as a heart, star, or circle. Be sure the two ends come back to meet each other. Connect two pipe cleaners together to make a bigger feeder. Members can string cereal on the pipe cleaner, leaving about a half inch on each end. Twist the ends of the pipe cleaner together to secure the cereal in place. Use a piece of string or ribbon to hang the feeder outside.
s. Tie a loop of string or ribbon to the top of the pine cone to hang your feeder with once it is complete. Use your dinner knife to spread peanut butter on the open pine cone layers. Hold the pine cone at each end and roll it through a bowl of bird seed until all peanut butter is covered in bird seed. Members are now ready to hand their completed bird feeder outside. Encourage Cloverbuds to hang their bird feeders where they can watch the birds from inside. As the weather gets colder, members can refill their bird feeders or make new ones and continue watching the birds through the winter months.
o taking care of our children, it is easy to identify their basic physical needs: food, clothing, and shelter. What children need to satisfy their mental and emotional needs may be less obvious. Why is mental health important? Good mental health enables our children to develop their emotional and social skills and to develop other critical life skills.
own yards. Help the Cloverbuds to identify the leaves they find by using a leaf identification book from your local library. Talk to your Cloverbuds about the different kinds of leaves and the trees that each leaf comes from. Why are leaves important? Why do some trees lose their leaves in the fall and others don’t? Give each child a piece of paper and some crayons and have them make leaf rubbings. Place a leaf on the table with the veins up. Put the paper over the leaf and gently color over the leaf with the side of the crayon. It may be helpful to tape the paper to the table. Have your Cloverbuds use different leaves and colors to make their picture.
ill need a one pumpkin, one, one-gallon plastic freezer bag, the “guts” of a pumpkin, and a few small items to put in the bag with the pumpkin guts. Small items such as plastic spiders, googly eyes, small fall themed erasers, etc., work well for this activity. If you decide to have each Cloverbud carve their own pumpkin to retrieve the guts, be sure to have plenty of adult help. Have an adult cut the pumpkin open and then ask the Cloverbuds to scoop out the guts. Place the pumpkin guts and small items in the plastic bag and be sure it is tightly sealed. Lay the bag on the table and have the Cloverbud squish the bag and look for the items inside.