Fall ideas for 4-H club meetings

Michelle Neff<hydemich@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension -

It is fall and that means 4-H clubs have started meetings for the new year. Here are some ideas to keep your fall club meetings fun.

Fall is a great time of year to get together with people and enjoy the weather. Since the new 4-H year starts Sept. 1, many 4-H leaders are having 4-H club meetings as well. Fall is a great time to start planning what 4-H members want to do for the year. Provide opportunities for youth to share their thoughts and voices about topics or projects they might want to explore.

If you have younger members in your 4-H club, it might be good to have some fun activities planned for your 4-H club meetings. Having hands-on activities during each meeting is important to keep youth engage and interested. Michigan State University Extension suggests these fall themed ideas:

  • Carve pumpkins or paint pumpkins. Explore the different parts of a pumpkin and discuss why each part is important. Talk about pumpkin uses and research the history of pumpkins.
  • Visit an apple orchard with your club. Explore an apple tree and see how producers store their apples in crates. If the orchard makes cider, get a tour of where they make cider and a sample. If you can’t get to an orchard, you can still talk about apples. Talk about the nutritional value of apples and why an apple a day keeps the doctor away. Do an apple sampling party and try different types of apples to find your favorite.
  • Go on a hayride. This is a great time of year to explore a field or take a ride in the woods. Observe all the colors, tracks or other signs of wilderness you might see. Discuss different ways wagons were used in the past and different ways we use them today.

After your club meeting, talk about what happened. Use questions to help youth process what it is they did or experience. Questions should come from the Experiential Learning Model or that the leader has developed to help youth process what they have learned as well as generalize and apply it to everyday life.

Contact your local MSU Extension office for more 4-H club fall ideas.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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