Ideas for an online 4-H SPIN club
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EmailHere are some ideas to gather families for 4-H programming completely online.
4-H SPIN clubs are a special interest type of club that typically meet for a short amount of time and focus on a particular topic or set of topics. In a previous article, we explored some considerations for online 4-H SPIN clubs. It may be helpful to look at that article in addition to reading this content.
Choosing a topic for an online 4-H SPIN club can be done in a variety of ways. Here are a few to get you thinking creatively:
- Pick a topic you’re familiar with or offer a series of online opportunities that already exists. When we’re at home, we may have limited resources, so remember to keep any needed materials simplistic.
- Share a hobby, skill or ability you have with others that they could easily do too. Even if your skills, hobbies or talents aren’t something you’re comfortable sharing, consider your friends that have skills, hobbies or talents who would be willing to share on your behalf.
- Utilize information that’s already readily available such as virtual experiences. Educational movies and field trips to national parks, zoos, museums and schools are very popular. There are lots of offerings out there for virtual field trips and all you need to do to find them is Google it or look on social media. Same with educational movies. Just make sure these experiences are offered in a place that people can easily access and don’t need memberships or complicated log-in procedures to access them.
- Get creative! There are so many ways to engage families in online 4-H SPIN club experiences, the list could go on and on. In case you need to get your creativity flowing, here are some additional club ideas: poetry and writing, natural resources and outdoors, community service, physical activities, STEAM, money management, stress management and mindfulness, animal science, cooking and other general life skills.
While we may be dreaming up ideas for online 4-H SPIN clubs, don’t forget to ask the youth you’re hoping to engage what they would like to do. The youth may give you ideas for things they want to do and learn about that you never imagined.
In the next article, “Experiential learning in online 4-H SPIN clubs,” we’ll discuss how to ensure online experiences make connections to educational opportunities too.
