- Author: Chris M. Webb
The US Forest Service has a wealth of information, including a section titled Just for Kids. It is a great place for students, parents and teachers to find youth-orientated information about natural resources and the environment. Many of these fun and educational materials can be downloaded or ordered for free. Some examples include:
- Discover the Forest, designed to share what is available in our parks, including a great place to learn and be physically active.
- Backyard conservation for learning how to do our part to improve natural resources.
- Kids’ Science Page introduces and encourages the joy of learning. Also a great place to explore careers in science.
- Natural Inquirer is a science education journal written to share research conducted by USDA Forest Service scientists.
- Nature Watch is a collection of photos, live video cams, educational programs and resources.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
GreenMyParents has set an ambitious, yet achievable goal of reducing energy use. The reduction will be measured in dollars saved. The year-long, nationwide goal is to save $100 million in energy costs.
The National 4-H program is one of the youth organizations involved with the project. As part of the Science Engineering and Technology (SET) program, a list has been created of 10 things youth are doing to reduce energy consumption in their own homes. After reading the list, it is clear that the goal of saving $100 million in energy costs throughout the year is certainly achievable with a few small changes in our behaviors.
In addition to the gratification of working on a collective energy-saving goal, GreenMyParents provides youth a structured way to become involved in family savings funds. More about the this program can be found on the GreenMyParents website.
For those without children at home, plenty of ideas are available at the links above to green yourself – both environmentally and financially!
- Author: Chris M. Webb
The USDA has a collection of materials designed to improve nutrition and increase physical activity. Each curriculum focuses on a different target audience, but all share the goal of reducing our country’s obesity problem. Some of the materials are available in English and Spanish. A summary of each is shown below. Follow the links to learn more!
- Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family: How to Eat, How to Raise Good Eaters, How to Cook is a book written to bring back the joy of eating and cooking. This book has thirteen chapters which address topics of cooking, attitudes about food, and eating behaviors.
- Fruit, Vegetable, and Physical Activity Toolbox for Community Educators is a tool kit complete with nutrition and physical activity lessons, handouts, poster, produce guide, playing cards, media disc, discussion guide, small pamphlets, and learning tools. The lessons are well organized and include a variety of topics such as grocery shopping, recipe preparation, and healthy eating on the go
- Instant Recess DVD and Users' Guide is a 15 minute DVD which includes exercises that can be done anywhere. The exercises do not require any equipment and are done at a slow pace so anyone can participate. Along with the DVD, a small booklet for educators is included that provides information and tips on exercise, hydration, and how to use the DVD effectively.
- Nutrition Detectives is a DVD geared towards elementary-aged school children. This curriculum teaches children the importance of food labels and how to read them. The DVD is rich with animation and entertaining games, and features a question/answer section toward the end which explains how the DVD can be used effectively with children.
- Pyramid Plus: Real life nutrition for teens is a curriculum to help motivate teens to make healthy nutrition choices. This resource includes 9 lessons and a CD with supporting materials. The lessons are very diverse and cover topics such as nutrient rich foods to body acceptance.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
Robert Hammond, a 4-H parent with Bardsdale 4-H Club shares with us his experience with the 4-H SET (Science Technology and Engineering) program.
Did you know that using a pencil, a basic pinwheel made from paper, some tape, three paper clips, a piece of string and some wind (provided by household fan) that you could actually hoist a paper cup filled with about a dozen pennies, almost three feet off of the ground?
As a member of a small team, using the materials listed above, we were able not only to lift the pennies, we were able to compete with other teams to see which design could lift the most and perform in the fastest time. This was only one of the activities that took place at a workshop designed for 4-H Volunteers to learn how to facilitate or assist in leading a “Power of Wind” club project.
The workshop was intense (8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. on a Saturday). It was an interactive and an activities-filled exploration of wind and its uses. Led by Dr. Cynthia Barnett, 4-H youth Development Advisor for San Bernardino County and Dr. Keith Nathaniel, 4-H Youth Development Advisor for Los Angeles County, the workshop was not only a wonderful learning experience, it was fun.
The Power of the Wind Curriculum is part of the National 4-H Curriculum Collection and is designed for middle-school-aged youth to learn about the wind and its uses. This project has young people work as a team to design, create, build, and test wind-powered devices and they are given opportunities to explore wind as a potential energy source in their community.
Part of 4-H SET (Science Engineering and Technology), the components of this program include: learning about and using the engineering design process, achieving scientific goals, unifying concepts across science curricula, participating in investigative, exploratory and challenge activities, using an engineering design notebook, learning questioning techniques, using scientific terms, finding out about careers as well as including an online component.
My family is new to 4-H (my eleven-year-old son joined the Bardsdale 4-H this past year), so I wasn’t expecting to do more than support his participation. We own on a small citrus ranch in the Fillmore area, and happened to become involved with wind power when we decided to convert our wind machine (for frost protection) to an energy producing wind turbine.
While I’m a novice to 4-H and to wind power, I spent 34 years as a teacher and administrator in public schools in California, and am impressed with the quality of the Wind Power program. Not only is it a great opportunity to learn useful skills, the hands on activities are fun. I am pleased to recommend the program and would be happy to help anybody interested in getting started.
This article is part of Cloverlines, our 4-H newsletter. These newsletters can be found on our office website.
- Author: Chris M. Webb
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has nutrition information and educational resources available for individuals and organizations under their Making Your Calories Count program. Publications and shipping are free of charge.
The website provides good information for people looking to learn more about how to improve their food choices. The resources are flexible allowing people to use on their own, or as a training guide for groups. It is full of good suggestions to improve long-term eating habits and nutrition.
The Spot the Block campaign is a sub-section that is designed specifically to reach the 9-13 year-old age group.