4-H School Enrichment Opportunities
The following 4-H programs are available for you to use in your classroom or doing your club meetings.
Step Up to Leadership – Activities include:
• Elementary Level
o “Put Yourself in Someone Else’s Shoes” – Students learn empathy by exploring physical
differences.
o “Who’s Responsible” – Students explore self-responsibility and plant flowers.
o “Step by Step” - Using only spoken directions, students help a friend complete a task.
o “Untangle the Knot” – The group’s goal is to untangle the human knot.
o “Many Hands Make Light Work” – Students will think creatively and make an invention as a
team.
o Students completing this unit can also develop a community service project and create a
scrapbook page for the county fair exhibit hall.
• Middle School Level
o “I’d Like to Introduce My Buddy” – Students identify differences and similarities in leaders.
o “Trust Goes Hand in Hand” – Students participate in a trust walk.
o “Don’t Drop It” – Students see how many responsibility balloons they can keep in the air at
once.
o “One Minute Magic” – Students learn the parts of a presentation, then practice and deliver a
great speech.
o “The End is in Sight” – Students try to achieve a team goal of getting out of a traffic jam.
o “The Team Work Tightrope” – Each group will balance a tennis ball on top of a ring and then
drop it into a bowl.
o Students completing this unit can also develop a community service project and create a
scrapbook page for the county fair exhibit hall.
Get Moving KY! – This curriculum focuses on safety, nutrition, and physical fitness.
Voices of the Past – Students interview people to find out about events of the past.
Communications (Speech Burgers) – Students learn the parts of a speech by using a hamburger visual aide.
Jump into Foods & Fitness – Elementary curriculum that focuses on nutrition and fitness.
Be the E! – This curriculum is designed to empower youth with the knowledge, skills, and mindsets to meet the
challenges of work and community in the 21st century.
Acres of Adventure - In this agriculture based curriculum, students learn to make ice cream, homemade
pancakes and butter, play dough, and paper.
Aerospace – Students can make paper airplanes, straw rockets, and model rockets as the explore science and
engineering.
Curriculum Boxes Available for Checkout
The following curriculum boxes are available to be checked out from the Carter County Cooperative Extension
Service. The boxes contain all instructions and supplies needed to conduct the following lessons.
IMPORTANT: To allow for delivery of eggs, caterpillars, and embryos, contact the Extension Office at least
four weeks prior to when you want to start the project. Certain animals may not be available at certain times
throughout the year.
Life Cycle Series
Butterflies - Watch caterpillars change into Painted Lady Butterflies right before your eyes. Over a three
week period, watch each caterpillar’s transition as it matures, changes into a chrysalis, and finally
emerges as a butterfly. Butterflies can be released into the environment once the project is complete.
This box also contains the 4-H Butterfly Wings curriculum, Butterflies & Flying Insects DVD, life
cycle poster, and life cycle blocks. The Extension Office will supply 3-5 caterpillars and food.
Praying Mantis – Learn the mantis life cycle as you watch 75-200 nymphs hatch from a live egg case. Keep
one of the adults in your classroom and feed her tiny insects (like aphids) or release them all to forage
for garden pests on their own. This box also contains an insect DVD and life cycle plastic figures.
Egg cases are only available from January – March. The Extension Office will provide the egg
case.
Frogs – Over a 3 month period watch tiny embryos change into wiggling tadpoles and then develop into frogs.
Releasing frogs into the environment is not recommended. This box also contains frog life cycle
blocks. The Extension Office will supply 6-10 frog embryos and food.
Embryology – Set up an incubator and hatch chicken eggs in your classroom. The incubation process takes 21
days. This box also contains the 4-H Embryology in the Classroom curriculum, embryo development
poster, cage, heat lamp, and feeders. The Extension Office will supply 15 eggs and feed for your
classroom if necessary. It is not recommended that you give the chicks to students once they hatch.
The Extension Office can help find local farms to accept the chicks.
4-H2O Series
Watersheds - In this unit, students will identify and learn the characteristics of their local watershed. In the
process, they will use paper wads and fountains to learn about sources of water pollution and their
role in keeping water clean. (Grades K-5)
Human pH Meter – This activity will introduce youth to the concept of pH using common substances by
letting students taste test common beverages. *Note – teachers may have to supply some common
beverages due to refrigeration needs.* (Grades 5-12)
Perusing the Parameters – In this activity, students learn how to test water for the following
parameters: macroinvertebrates, bacteria, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, nitrates,
pH, phosphates, temperature, and turbidity. (Grades 6-12)
Catch and Release & H2O to Go – During this field trip activity, students will conduct chemical water testing,
make observations related to the physical characteristics of a local water body, and identify aquatic
macroinvertebrates. (Grades 6-12)
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Build A Bug – Students dress a classmate as an aquatic insect while they learn about macroinvertebrates and
the adaptations they have which allow them to live in an aquatic environment.
Carbon Footprint - Students will experiment to see how carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere. They
will also learn how increased CO2 levels due to human action have led to global warming, which
could raise the earth’s temperature to the point where significant changes will take place.
Other
Wired for Wind – Students take an in-depth look at renewable energy technologies in the form of wind-power.
This experiment will help students enhance their science, engineering, technology and applied
math skills by allowing them to:
• Design, build and test two different wind turbine models
• Experiment with variables by examining three different blade pitch angles to determine
the effect of pitch on rotor speed
Science Day Activities
Exploring Your Environment Science Day – These activities are designed as 10-20 minutes exploratory
stations for students to rotate through.
• Discussing Erosion & Weathering Explosion
• Build a Food Web
• Making Environmental Choices
• Seed Dispersal
• Classifying Animals
• Cycles in Nature
• Arthropod Mania
• Electricity Circuits
• Electricity Switches
• Fruit Kabobs
• Energy through Nature
• Camouflage ID
• Habitat Inventory
• Climate Investigation
• Tree Measurement
• Compass & Pacing
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