Nuts and Bolts of Planning Your Club Activities

Why is This a Key?

Well-planned activities help provide a secure learning environment for youth.

Planning allows the 4-H Leader to look for the most opportunities for involving Club members in decision making.

Planning allows the group to enjoy a variety of hands-on learning experiences to keep the members fully involved.

Keys to Understanding

Involve members in planning

Help them choose possible topics for meetings, and think of possible ways of presenting a topic that would be of greatest interest to them.

Choose the best way to present the material you would like to “get across” and the special considerations of using each method.

For more information and ideas on how to add variety with these techniques, see Keys for Leaders #7: Making Learning Fun and Exciting to Young People.

Divide roles and responsibilities for each activity.

Task sharing keeps more youth involved and gives them more of a “stake” in the success of the activity. It also develops skills in youth and helps adults share the workload. But make sure to have someone in charge of checking to see that “all systems are go” before the activity takes place.

Consider your space.

Make sure the space you plan to use is the most suitable place for any special events you might be planning. Make sure that the room is open before the meeting or event to allow time for set-up. Are chairs and tables set up in the best way for the activity planned? Is the room a comfortable temperature?

Get the word out!

Make sure someone in the group contacts members and reminds them. This may be by mail at first; flyers, phone calls, and “face-to-face” reminders are good follow-ups, and they can help to make everyone feel the group really cares that they come and take part.

Details matter!

In the case of field trips or of group activities at the “home base” that might involve risks that might not normally be a consideration:

• Make sure each child’s parent or guardian has signed the necessary permission slips, health information forms, and waivers of liability. Check with 4-H or your sponsoring organization for details.
• Consider whether to purchase inexpensive group medical insurance for the day of the event. Contact your sponsoring organization for details.

Don’t be TOO focused!

Many times adults try to plan too “tight” a schedule that is task-oriented; often youth involved in planning want to try too many things. Leave enough time for FUN!

A Few Words About Safety

• Make sure to have a first aid kit at all times, and know where the nearest emergency room facility is located.
• Go over safety rules for all field trips and events at the beginning of the activity.
• Visualize possible hazards and warn volunteers and members to avoid them.
• Make sure everyone, whether adult or youth, wears proper safety equipment.
• Make sure adults serve as role models and avoid risky behaviors.

What Key People are Saying

A lot of our activities involve taking the group to places where adults are positive and say positive things. They offer the members a look at new roles for themselves they didn’t think about before. — Mary Ellen Dale, Cuyahoga County 4-H Advisor, 1999

Our members choose their own officers and serve on committees in the Club. They learn responsibility and the need for peer support. This makes the project learning experience better for them. It helps them to be leaders later in school clubs. — Elizabeth Williams-Young, Cuyahoga County 4-H Advisor, 1999

An important part of learning occurs after the information has been offered. The final step is taking the time to review what the group has learned. Celebrate successes, no matter how small — praise is a powerful reward in all settings. — Larry Hall, 4-H Agent, Knox County, 1998

Keying In

Use this worksheet to help you collect your thoughts as you plan to get your group or Club started:

Select “TRUE” or “FALSE”, whichever is the answer that matches the information on planning group activities contained in this Key:

1. TRUE FALSE Adults should always look for some way to involve the youth members in planning each activity.
   TRUE | FALSE
2. TRUE FALSE Safety is an important concern for field trips, but not for meetings — what could possibly go wrong?
   TRUE | FALSE
3. TRUE FALSE Acoustics and arrangement of chairs can sometimes affect how well an activity works.
   TRUE | FALSE
4. TRUE FALSE It is the responsibility of the adult leaders to bring all supplies and refreshments for all meetings and activities.
   TRUE | FALSE
5. TRUE FALSE Group interest stays higher if there is time for socialization and “fun” built into each meeting or activity.
   TRUE | FALSE
6. TRUE FALSE If the group or club is taking a field trip, it is important to go over what is expected at some point before the trip and to discuss what was learned after the return.
   TRUE | FALSE

Contact Info

Your interest and efforts are worth rewarding!

To claim your free prize recognizing your response, please fill in the information below and click the “Send Survey!” buttonplease return this sheet to the address shown below.

4-H Keys for Leaders
2490 Lee Boulevard, Suite 108
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118

Your Name:	_________________________________________
Email Address:	_________________________________________
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Key Resources

• Hall, Larry, Nonformal Teaching Methods, (1999) Extension Fact Sheet 4H-018-99
  Columbus, OH, The Ohio State University
• “Method Demonstration,” A Tool Kit for Volunteer Leaders
  University of Nebraska, Lincoln
• 4-H Green Pages 4-H Advisor’s Handbook (1995)
  Columbus, OH, The Ohio State University, pp. 4—8

Teaching Outlines

We hope you found this material helpful. If you did and would like to use it as the topic of a training session with other youth leaders (time - Approx. 1 hour), select the topic(s) of interest to you below, fill in your E-mail Address and click “Send!”send this page to us at the address below:

4-H Keys for Leaders
2490 Lee Boulevard, Suite 108
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118

We will contact you with more information about our Teaching Outlines.

E-mail Address: ____________________________

I would like Teaching Outline information for the following Keys:

1. What is 4-H Youth Development?
2. Getting Started
3. Nuts & Bolts of Planning Your Club Activities
4. Conducting 4-H Meetings
5. Planning Your Program
6. Ages & Stages of Youth Development
7. Keys for Leaders
8. Developing Assets In and Around Young People

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1. What is 4-H Youth Development? | 2. Getting Started | 3. Nuts and Bolts of Planning Your Club Activities
4. Conducting 4-H Meetings | 5. Planning Your Program | 6. Ages & Stages of Youth Development
7. Making Learning Fun and Exciting to Young People | 8. Developing Assets in and Around Young People

This youth leader's guide my be reproduced and distributed for educational purposes if the following attribution is made under the title of the guide:

A PUBLICATION OF
Brandyce Cogar, Program Assistant, 4-H Youth Development. and
Gregory P. Siek, Extension Educator. 4-H Youth Development, Cuyahoga County
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION, CUYAHOGA COUNTY

Unless otherwise noted, all material within may be distributed freely for educational purposes. Anyone redistributing the material must include this copyright notice and must use the appropriate citation including the URL. Credit should also given to Diamond Advertising, Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio, for development of web-based format. Also, we would appreciate users sending notice to Gregory P. Siek as to how the material is being used. No reproduction for commercial use is given without a written permission agreement.

Series developed with grant support from Ohio 4-H Foundation, 2004.