As a response to COVID-19 school and community closings, Allen County Cooperative Extension Service and 4-H Program sought to meet a community need to provide continued education opportunities amid the new social and distance learning climate.  Due to the COVID-19 social distancing period, the 4-H and Extension Programs developed an “Extension Tool Box” that helped to keep clients informed and continuously involved with 4-H and Extension programs with Take-n-Go Education kits.

In our effort to quickly adapt learning opportunities for youth while learning remotely with NTI (Non-Traditional Instruction) Days, the Allen County 4-H program developed a variety of Boredom Busters Education Kits, Cooking Challenges and instructional education videos to continue to provide engaging learning experiences for the youth of Allen County.  One of the greatest undertakings of the 4-H program was the output of over 610 Boredom Buster Take-n-Go Educational Kits, which allowed youth to continue to engage in high quality hands-on-learning activities that could be completed from the safety and comfort of their homes.  Over a ten week period, these “fun and educational” kits encouraged youth to explore and continue to learn through a wide variety of subjects widely ranging from: natural resources, expressive arts, physical fitness, mental health, photography, cultural awareness, baking, sewing, robotics, communications, science, engineering, physics, technology and so much more!   

From the 4-H Kit surveys collected, families identified that the activities “increased family involvement”, were “brand new, never experienced learning opportunities,” and that “youth [found] independence in completing tasks on their own.”   Two families indicated that as a result of the Boredom Buster kits, their children engaged in extended learning and community service opportunities triggered by the kit lessons.   According to the Scott Family, after completing the notecard & calligraphy kit, “the girls have decided to be pen pals with a lady from the nursing home dropping her a note once a week.”  The Falica family which received the Eco-Bristle Bots Kit, put their engineering and creativity skills to use by constructing implements for the robot to clean up oil spills in their kit scenario.  Parent, Michelle Falica shared that “it sparked a rabbit trail of learning about oil spills, garbage in waterways around the world and an Amazon order for more pager vibrator motors [for continued kit usage].”

The 4-H Program also successfully hosted an Allen County Bakes Cooking Challenge which encouraged youth to put their baking skills to practice with a variety of beginner and advanced recipes.  Allen County 4-H had eighteen youth to participate in these challenges.   All baking recipes aligned with County and State Fair eligible 4-H Project submissions which develop youth’s skills related to: following directions, measurement, attention to detail, decision making and comparing choices.   Numerous 4-H Education videos were developed to highlight 4-H core competencies learning areas including but not limited to gardening, culture, dairy science, robotics, agriculture, mental health and more.  In culmination, these videos received over 800 engagements on our Extension social media platforms.   

Photo collage above: Allen County 4-Her’s show off some of their Boredom Buster Educational Kit activities.  Members are making cookies, documenting family memories in scrapbooks, watercolor paintings, completing sidewalk fitness challenges, starting tomato seedlings and using creativity in color pencil artwork.