Learning with the Cloverbuds.

Here the Cloverbuds are figuring out how to make a circuit, so the lightbulb turns on.

As a 4-H leader, I, along with another gal, plan and teach/facilitate a project with the youngest members of the club, called Cloverbuds. Cloverbuds 4-Hers  in kindergarten up to 3rd grade. 

We plan an activity for each meeting. You can see what we did last month above.

I have a booklet full of activities, but still, things don't always turn out as planned.

Tonight I did a horticulture project with the kids.
The project was to plant seeds in a clear disposable cup. The seeds are placed next to the edge so they can be observed as they start to grow. The cup is wrapped in black paper, secured with a rubber band, and the child is supposed to take the paper off daily and sketch the progress of each seed.
I created a really nice chart for each kid to take home and do their sketches on. That part turned out the best. It went downhill from there.
I bought green bean seeds, knowing that they are fairly large and white; easy to see.
Well, I opened the seed package and found the variety I chose happened to be dark brown. Very difficult to see in the nearly black soil. Darn.
But we planted them anyways. Then came time to wrap the paper around them. I had bought nice cardstock, since I didn't need a whole pack of construction paper for a few sheets of black.
Well, with the stiffness of the paper and the angle of the side of the cups I bought, the paper would not stay wrapped around the cup for nothing...it kept scooting off the bottom or up over it.
We ended up taping them, which won't be so easy to pull off each day to observe.

A long explanation for a short conclusion: the project just didn't work as smoothly as I expected. Beforehand, I though it was going to be awesome, and in reality, it was rather lackluster.
Experience is good. If I were to do the project again, I'd have it all worked out.

The end.