4-H projects?

[Murphy101]

We recently joined 2 different 4-H groups.

It's a bit over-whelming looking at the list of choices!

 

So I thought I'd ask what all you seasoned folks have done and enjoyed?

 

I have 6 in ages 7 up 14 if it helps to know.

Oh and money is tight - so nothing terribly expensive will be on option this year. Like a horse or cow purchae requirement. :)

[sixglides]

Exploring 4H gives a younger child kind of a snap shot of what is available, little bits in lots of areas.

My oldest is entering his 7th year in 4H...we learned it definately pays to look at last years fair book to get an idea of what will be required come fair time.

They've enjoyed photography, cooking...of course the animal projects are great, but those are a larger investment. Some counties have shared equipment that is available to lend, for shooting sports, etc.

[Audrey]

We recently joined 2 different 4-H groups.

It's a bit over-whelming looking at the list of choices!

 

So I thought I'd ask what all you seasoned folks have done and enjoyed?

 

I have 6 in ages 7 up 14 if it helps to know.

Oh and money is tight - so nothing terribly expensive will be on option this year. Like a horse or cow purchae requirement. :)

 

Any of the cooking or crafts ones are relatively inexpensive. The sewing projects can get pricey if you don't have a good source for cheap fabric, otherwise they're okay. If you have pets, then the small animals project will be no more cost than keeping the animal already is.

 

The photography project is wonderful. In our province, they just did a big overhaul of it and it includes digital format, so if you already have a digital camera, then cost would be just printing or having printed the pictures you choose for your display/final portfolio.

 

Ds is doing woodworking this year. He isn't expected to have his own tools because the leader is letting them all use his workshop, but dh is also helping him here at home with it.

 

Ds would really like to do the small engine project because he wants to make a racer, but we think he's a little young for that yet (he's 10). That would be a more expensive project probably.

[BridgeTea]

We've only been in 4-H a year, so I don't know if our experience is typical of other counties/states and their 4-H clubs, but here goes...

 

Do you plan to show animals? We haven't yet, but our club leader has said we can "borrow" an animal to show if we don't want to purchase one. We have had dairy and beef cattle offered to us for this purpose. TheKid would practice showing the animal prior to the county fair. I'm sure there must be recordkeeping as well, but there wasn't going to be any cost to us. Neighbors have offered us free goats and pigs (to keep) as well, but we're not quite ready for that.

 

TheKid has only made projects for the exhibit building so far. We were given a "fair book" that lists all the categories available to enter. This helps immensely for planning what projects, plants, or crafts to do. We can pick projects for schooling that can also be saved to enter in the fair. The cost, then, can be nominal and spread throughout the year.

 

TheKid has especially enjoyed making woodworking and photography projects in the past, and wants to try her hand at some needlework. She grew things in the garden last year, and will again.

 

I would definitely ask the leaders for guidance, also. We have leaders that really go out of their way to help the kids find whatever they need.

 

Enjoy your 4-H experience!

[Tracy in Ky]

We do 4-H Needlework and 4-H Sewing. I am learning right along with dd! :D

[elegantlion]

We recently joined 4H and as a first year member one of the projects he is required to do is Exploring 4H. I think that is the one, we haven't received our books yet. He is also doing shooting sports.

 

You can check out the project books here.

[FriedClams]

I have younger kids but we did lots of crafts and cooking this year for showing. Our extension office had a list of all the categories for showing and we just picked ones that looked fun for us. You can also do animal judging without owning animals - and it looks to me like a potentially useful skill.I'd find out what your kids love - and then take off from there. We love 4-H here.

[vettechmomof2]

YOu can do any of the projects for fairly cheap, that is one reason why we love 4-H.

Any of the animal projects can be done without actually owning an animal or you can also be set up to borrow/rent an animal or even use a friends.

For the last 2 years my daughter used 1 of our dogs for 4-H but now she will be helping to train our leaders puppy and using her.

My son will be doing a Pet Care one involving his gerbils but he will only be 5 soon so will not be handling them for the meetings and so forth. However he will be using 1 of my dogs for training this year but i will be also hooked up to the leash to help him.

If you are careful you can really do 4-H cheaply by finding out what the interests are and what supplies that you have around.

Have fun.

[Murphy101]

The reason I've joined 2 is because

1 is right around the corner, but is animal based (b/c it's at stable on acreage) and meets every Monday night. I cannot go every monday and not all my kids are interested in animals and I'd have to do somethign with the littles that aren't old enough to go with us.

The other is a homeschool only 1 that meets once a month in the afternoon and is more welcoming to large families that need to have various osmosis learning littles that tag along but is on the other side of town and has more varied activities available.

 

We coudl be very active with different children in both or we might end up dropping one. Don't know yet.

 

I pulled up that awesome link elegant lion posted - thanks!

Can anyone give specific feedback on these? Already saw rabbits mentioned - thanks Laurel!

 

So far from looking at that the kids want to do:

ds14 electric and microwave.

ds13 woodworking and rabbits.

ds11 veterniary and either arts/crafts or visual arts

ds10 either fishing, pets, or food

 

I also have dd8 and ds7 that might be in what? clover buds? I can't seem to find info on clover buds.. and that might be fine by me anyways. I'm not overly fond of having kids younger than 10 in very many outside activities. They already have swim and music and that's 1 more than I'd normally allow as it is and only b/c we are all already there anyways.

 

ETA: Someone asked about showing and the county fair - I have to admit I'm tentatively willing to explore that option, but it's not my favorite idea and I'd rather not do it. I personally have never enjoyed the fair (or the circus!), even when I was a kid. However, I'm accepting that my kids interests will not be in line with my interests. A question about "showing" does the child get into the fair free if they have an exhibit? I absolutely cannot afford to do this and for the family to attend the fair. The fair is really expensive imo.

Edited October 18, 2009 by Martha

[Murphy101]

Be careful of 4-H projects; they tend to spiral out of control... :D

 

thankfully living low-income offers the blessing of controling much of anything getting out of control.:D

 

my ds11 really wants to get into animals and ds13 wants to do rabbits, that's why we joined 2. The one around the corner offers stalls and such for raising critters that we can't have in the housing addition backyard. And it's within a 15 minute bike ride for the boys.

 

worst case scenario, I'd have to beg my in-laws to let us use some of their 3 acres of golf course like property. I bet they'd say no, but I'd ask anyways.

[sixglides]

It is true that projects can end up paying for themselves. My children make enough on their market lambs to pay for their breeding sheep projects with money to spare. The fair is not my husbands thing, but it does give the kids such satisfaction to see their projects and possibly an award. At our fair, 4H kids who have entered get a free pass. We learned it became more cost effective for the kids to enter the animals in 4H as well as open class as it gave them chance for more premium money.

If you already have a dog, the dog project can be really good...and the family ends up with a very well trained animal (and hopefully, child!)

[jazzyfizzle]

Here are some of our experiences (I did 4-H as a youth, and now my sons are involved).

 

Pets- just to mention as a reminder for the dog project that the dog has to have (at least in our county) a signed health statement from the vet- so the cost of a vet visit/vaccinations/rabies/ect. - that would be a cost if not already doing those at your vet- this runs about $100 here, plus the dog must show proof of county tags -$12 each here.

With this one we did the dog showmanship project.

 

My middle son did the broiler chicken project last year- it did indeed pay for the whole project after the fair auction- (and then a wait of approx. a month for the fair check to arrive) but it was expense to cover the feed, bedding, heat lamps, waterers, ect. With this project you can end up with good quality chicken meat for the freezer, that your child can be proud to have raised. One note on this project- meat chickens eat A LOT.

 

For next year, one project he is planning to take is a duck project. Just a couple ducks do not take a great deal in feed or bedding expense (if you have a pen you can use), so maybe that one could be an option for an animal project. There are small ducks called call ducks that eat next to nothing and make great little pets.

 

For the fair- they give the 4-H member a wristband here- one entry and exit per day- any more than that and they would be charged. We have to pay entry for any other people entering- we purchased weekly passes- but these also had a limited number of 'punches' per pass.

Fair week *can* be expensive IMO, but you can cut down on the cost by taking a cooler in every day (need a cart or such to haul it in).

A lot of the projects here do require at least one day at the fair for interviews and judging.

 

I think it is an invaluable experience :thumbup1:

 

Those are our experiences :001_smile:

Edited October 18, 2009 by jazzyfizzle

[Blessedwithboys]

My boys just started their second year with 4-H. Last year they completed photography, woodworking and baking projects. They also participated in our county wide competition with Lego's and extreme birdhouse building. So far this year, they have completed the photography project (I blogged about it this week) and are currently working on the woodworking project.

 

There are many specialty clubs within our 4-H group that also meet during the school year. We haven't gone to any of those, but if we had more time I'm sure we would enjoy those too.