Are you looking for additional ideas to expand your current Cloverbud program? Do you have 4-H clubs with one or two Cloverbud members that would benefit from opportunities beyond the community club? Consider hosting a county-based Cloverbud Club to maximize outreach efforts.
Each year, Union County, Ohio, hosts a county-wide Cloverbud Club. To accommodate the large number of Cloverbuds in their county, two sessions are offered: one on Wednesday evening and one on Saturday morning. Meetings are held at the beginning of each month, February through May, with an additional session at the end of May to conclude the Cloverbud year. The theme for 2023 is “In My Backyard”. The meeting schedule utilizes a camp approach in which the Cloverbuds rotate in groups to different stations. Teens serve as counselors and supervise the Cloverbuds as they rotate through the activitie
s. Adult volunteers lead the sessions and teach the Cloverbuds about the selected topics.
The February meeting topic was “All About Bees”. Cloverbuds learned about the life cycle of a bee, made beeswax candles, learned about pollination, and had a honey tasting station. The March meeting focused on worms. Cloverbuds conducted experiments with Red Wiggler Worms. During the April meeting, Cloverbuds learned about gardening. They planted lettuce seeds, made fruit pizza, and did a fruit and vegetable taste test. May’s meeting focused on animals. Volunteers brought a dog, horse, lamb, goat, pig, and turkeys. The final meeting in May included a visit to a local farm and fishing. 
The Cloverbud Club is a huge success, thanks to the teens and adult volunteers, and continues to grow each year. Consider adding a county-based Cloverbud Club to your existing Cloverbud opportunities and expand your 4-H outreach.
Magnetic Slime
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.
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.
ppy birthday, MyPlate! MyPlate is 10 years old this year. It’s a good reminder to think about how MyPlate concepts can be incorporated into Cloverbud activities.
ear-olds are generally within the range of recommended intakes for protein, fruits, and grains (although this is achieved with refined grains, not whole grains), but below in vegetables and dairy. Vegetable intake is especially low in children, and increasing vegetable consumption tends to be particularly difficult. In addition, most diets exceed the recommended limits for added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium.
