Livestock, foods, sewing, scrapbooking, and cake decorating are all fairly popular and well-known 4-H projects. But did you know that 4-H has some pretty unique projects? I decided to look over our family guide book of 4-H projects and choose a few of my unique favorites.
4-H members can have an opportunity to explore their roots with the genealogy project, “Family History Treasure Hunt”. Through the project they explore not only people but interesting events, and special stories from generations previous to them. This project teaches members how to explore history, and guides them in a way that they can learn about their own heritage.
The theater arts have rose to great popularity in recent years. Many youth enjoy acting, and building stages for local theater productions. Through 4-H, members are given the opportunity to choose from three books that focus on the theater arts. Play the Role focuses on acting skills such as voice, speech, movement, and characterization. Puppeteering is another one of the books, and it takes a look at the origins of puppets, types of puppets, and how to make them. Finally, what would acting be without an awesome background? “Set the Stage” teaches 4-H members how to do sets, props, sound, makeup, and stage management. Sounds like all the parts of a good production to me!
Selecting the appropriate furnishings for a room can be hard. Through the home living projects members can explore simple home furnishings, learn the basics about design such as color, flooring, walls, windows, and lighting, or taking those first steps away from your parent’s home in the project, “Your First Home Away from Home”. These projects aim to help members learn not only the principles, but the management of those projects such as a remodel, or living in an apartment.
Public Issues such as hunger, community service, and positive change in communities are just a few of the many things that older members can focus on in the leadership book series. These books are newly revised and/or developed to look at the needs of our communities especially here in Ohio. The books help 4-H members build solutions to problems in their communities and guide them with the proper steps and motivation to do a great job. These projects are just a part of what a member can do, as they open up to projects were they can determine the project for their community.
As you can tell there are many unique 4-H projects that members can choose from. Other unique projects that I didn’t write about include childcare, veterinary sciences, small animals, and costume creation! For more information you can visit Ohio 4-H Project Central at http://ohio4h.org/projectcentral or our local Extension office page at http://vanwert.osu.edu.
