Clover Kids are Everywhere! 1/16/2008

HINES-DOCHTERMAN, COLGAN, BURR, FUHRMEISTER, DREESZEN, BOEDING

Posted By: Mistina Christner (email)
Date: 6/21/2018 at 11:36:26

Source: The Gazette 1/16/2008 Community Section D

Clover Kids are Everywhere
Johnson County 4-H program serves as intro to eager kids

By Meredith Hines-Dochterman
The Gazette

Catie Fuhrmeister's fingers were sticky from frosting and smeared with ink. She carried a paper bag in her hands. Inside it were the crafts she's spent the afternoon completing - an indoor snowman, a stand-up valentine and a Rice Cake Cutie.
"It's fun," Catie, 6, a first grade student at Mark Twain Elementary said.
That sums up how Catie felt at the Johnson County Clover Kids Workshop on Saturday and her thoughts about Clover Kids overall. It's a fun organization that lets her meet with friends once a week, make crafts, and prepare for the day she can join 4-H.
Clover Kids is a 4-H program for youth in kindergarten through third grade specifically designed to bring the life-skill building and hands-on learning of 4-H to those not old enough to participate in the traditional 4-H program. The goal of Clover Kids is to promote development through cooperative learning and age-appropriate activities.
Clover Kids was introduced to the Iowa 4-H program in the late 1990s.
"A lot of little brothers and sisters had been coming to meetings and just couldn't wait to become part of things," said Donna Colgan, the Johnson County Extension Office's county youth coordinator.
Clover Kids allows participants to experience many of 4-H's benefits - new friends, introduction to new things and self-discovery - without the pressure of competition.
"We promote interaction with other kids in a positive, caring environment," said Mary Burr, Golden Rule Clover Kids leader.
Clover Kids can take up to two projects to the Johnson County Fair in a non-competitive capacity. The projects aren't judged, but they're displayed for others to see, and each child receives a participation ribbon.
There are currently six Clover Kids groups in Johnson County with a combined 50 members. All were invited to Saturday's workshop, hosted every year by the East Lucas Clovers.
"We invite all the Clover Kids in Johnson County and have some crafts for them to do," said MacKenzie Dreeszen, 16. MacKenzie, a home-schooled student, is the East Lucas Clovers' treasurer and chair of the Clover Kids event. "It's a chance for us to introduce them to more aspects of 4-H and get them thinking about joining once they're older."
Saturday's activities centered around crafts, where the Clover Kids giggled their way through making popcorn strings for birds, stamped artwork, and pipe cleaner sculptures.
Elaine Boeding, one of the East Lucas Clovers leaders, said the event also serves as practice for the 4-H'ers leading the activities. The activities, she said, are called working exhibits - a hands-on presentation that could be a project at the 4-H county fair.
"4-H encompasses so much," Boeding said. "It's clothing, cooking, photography, engineering - it's not exclusively an agricultural club. I think there's a misconception that children can't participate because they don't live on a farm. Anyone is welcome to join."
About 425 Johnson County youth participate in 4-H.