Incorporating youth voice into planning your 4-H club activities
Print
EmailA simple process for generating ideas with youth and determining which you will pursue as a 4-H club.
Have you ever been in a situation where you don’t know what to do at your 4-H club meeting? Or are you in a situation where the adults are deciding what to do at each meeting with little input from the 4-H members? Michigan State University Extension has a process for generating ideas that can get input from everyone. Preferably, this can be led by a youth, but adults can lead it, too.
Start by discussing the activities that your club does every year, such as a summer picnic, Halloween party or caroling. Just because the club has done those activities for many years does not mean they have to be continued. You might want to discuss each of those items and hold a vote on whether you wish to pursue them again.
Then it is time for brainstorming. Give each youth a bunch of sticky notes. Ask them to write one idea for a club meeting on a sticky note, filling up as many sticky notes as desired. Explain that the group should be quiet for two minutes, as some people need silence to come up with their ideas. If club members cannot write, they can draw a picture or work with an older member or an adult to help write down their ideas.
Next, go around the room and have each youth share one of their ideas. They can put their sticky notes up on a wall, or they can be re-written on a board. If an idea is a repeat or a similar idea, group it together. Keep going around the room until all ideas are shared. During this stage of the process, do not discourage the ideas, even if they seem impossible.
From here, take some time to discuss the ideas. Are there items that are similar or that can be combined in one meeting? How much do the ideas cost? If the club wants to take a trip to Hawaii, how will they raise the money? If the group seems determined, they can do many things which seem difficult.
Then, have the group vote on the ideas. Depending on the size of your group, it might vary how many votes each person gets. Decide as a group if an individual can put all of their votes on one idea, or if they need to spread them out. You can vote with sticky dots, checkmarks or by secret ballot.
After the votes are tallied, have more discussion. It might be obvious which topics are in, or there might be ties. As a group, discuss the next steps. It might involve another round of voting, with perhaps a different number of votes. The goal is to have a topic for each club meeting.
Once narrowed down, decide what activities you will do in which month. A sledding trip wouldn’t make much sense in July! Write down the list of what happens each month and post it somewhere that everyone has access to it. This could be an online space or a physical space. It should be an agenda item to discuss at every meeting, so you can make sure you are planning for the future.
