Youth & Family News

West Virginia 4-H is excited to announce the 2024 State 4-H Beekeeping Essay Contest!

Ten 4-H teen leaders and their teams have pledged their hands to larger service in the coming months as they implement the service projects outlined in their winning mini-grant applications. The West Virginia 4-H All Stars have committed $2,000 to support the ten mini-grants to enhance communities in Berkeley, Harrison, Monongalia, Morgan, Ohio, Preston, Putnam, Raleigh, and Randolph counties.

Cooper Knott and the Scrabble Scramblers 4-H Club in Berkeley County plan to update athletic equipment at the Camp Frame. This facility attracts the tri-county community for year-round social, educational, and recreational gatherings. The basketball hoop and backboard at the facility are broken and need to be replaced for the facility users to enjoy for years to come.

For several years the West Virginia 4-H All Stars have generously funded to eleven mini-grants for West Virginia 4-H teens/teen leader groups to assist in the planning and completion of a community service project through the My Hands to Larger Service 4-H Project.

West Virginia individuals or teams (up to four persons) of students in grades 9-12 from traditional, virtual or homeschool environments, or those attending career and technical centers are invited to compete in the 2023 Natural Resources and Agriculture Business Pioneer Competition.

Registration is now open for the 2023 4-H Volunteer Retreat! WV 4-H Volunteers, All Stars, Adult Leaders, and Alumni (18 years or older) who serve, or want to learn more about serving, as volunteers with the West Virginia 4-H program are invited.

Monday, July 24, 2023, 5:30 p.m.   

To kick off today’s episode, Jen Robertson-Honecker, WVU Extension STEM Specialist, and Ben, the flashlight wizard, lead a STEM activity, teaching us how to make our own flashlights. For this activity, you will need jumbo craft sticks, LEDs, coin cell batteries, jumbo paper clips, copper tape, masking tape, scissors. If all that science worked up an appetite, you’re in luck! Susan Lily, a nutrition instructor with the WVU Extension Family Nutrition Program, walks us through how to make some delicious energy bars. For this recipe, you will need rice cereal, quick cooking oats, toasted nuts, dried cranberries, unsweetened coconut, honey, low-fat peanut butter and vanilla.  

Monday, July 17, 2023, 5:30 p.m.   

This episode is a rerun from season 3. 

As part of the 50+ year USDA Forest Service tradition, Monongahela National Forest is providing the 2023 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, which will grace the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, along with smaller trees for federal offices in Washington, D.C. How do all of these trees get decorated? With lots and lots of handmade ornaments! We need your help to create ornaments for the 2023 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree and smaller trees that will be displayed this holiday season in Washington, D.C.

Monday, July 10, 2023, 5:30 p.m.   

Get out your tiny wallets! It’s time to learn about financial literacy with Lauren Weatherford, family and community development agent in Fayette and Nicholas counties. She walks us through how to identify our wants versus our needs and how to make smart choices with our money. Next, Summers County Extension Agent Lesley Woodrum shows us how to make our own piggy banks at home using materials that are often just thrown away. For this activity, you will need a container with a lid, such as a peanut butter jar, a box or even an empty disinfectant wipes canister, markers, colorful paper or stickers for decoration, and an adult to help you cut a hole in the top of your bank. 

Monday, July 3, 2023, 5:30 p.m.   

Today we’re learning all about the creepy crawlies in the world around us. Elizabeth Rowen, a service assistant professor of entomology, guides us on a tour of WVU’s insect zoo, getting up close and personal with some tarantulas, scorpions and more. Next, 4-H youth and development agent Jocelyn Crawford teaches us all about what makes up an ecosystem and shows us how to make one in a jar! For this activity, all you need is a jar, a scoop of water from an outdoor water source, like a creek or pond, and objects around the water source, like leaves or rocks. Then we jump back to Elizabeth Rowen to go on a scavenger hunt for insects that you can find in your own backyard.