Most families today are on the go and children are not learning important life skills such as cooking, cleaning, sharing, and teamwork. The  4-H poultry barbecue day camps held in the summer help with all these life skills. During a three-hour period, the participants learn how to set up an efficient workstation for barbecuing, how to start and maintain charcoal as the cooking source, food safety in the handling of poultry meat (chicken thighs and ground turkey), and proper barbecue technique. Typically, the camps involve the participants working in pairs on a single grill and two teams at a table. There are items specifically for their workstation that the team must use together to cook chicken thighs and turkey burgers. The spices for adding flavor to their poultry were share items for the whole group. In addition, there are items that are shared by the two teams at a single table. For some, working together and sharing equipment was a new concept. For food safety reasons, all items that touch undercooked poultry must be washed before being used again. Each team has two wash basins - one with soap and one for rinsing. There were some participants who indicated they had never washed dishes before. All the participants appeared to enjoy themselves during the day camps and took pride in the products they were able to cook. Many indicated they would be interested in cooking more for their families.

The participants were required to clean up their workstations upon completion of the grilling. For some, this was a new concept and they had to be helped through the process step-by-step. But together, the group got the area cleaned and the equipment loaded back into the van and felt pride in the accomplishment.

While the camps were originally started in order to increase participation in the state 4-H chicken and turkey barbecue contests held the last Saturday in July, they also have the benefit of teaching important life skills regardless of whether or not they compete in either contest.