Revolution of Responsibility

Revolution of Responsibility is more than the 4-H slogan it is the theme for the first day of our 4-H Cloverbud day camp.  4-H volunteer, Jessica Drake has joined us for a week of fun and excitement as we have theme days and get our youth back into a school type schedule.  For those of you not familiar with the terminology in the world of 4-H Cloverbuds are our 5-8 year old youth.  On our first day of Cloverbud camp we did something really special with this group we created our own town that will carry through to the end of the week.

  The first thing we did was learn about a really big word, democracy.  Our youth learned that they would all equally have a say in every thing we did by voting.  Our first task for the day was to come up with a name for our town.  Suggestions ranged from Holly Springs to Robotonicsville and even 4-H is Awesomeville.  When it was all said and done the majority went with Candy Village.

  Our next order of business was to create laws.  Our fist two involved being respectful and having fun.  After that we decided to make them up as we needed them.  After snack we had a special visitor, First Sergeant Larry Russ came in and talked with the campers about law enforcement, laws, and helped them understand the responsibility that comes with building a town.

  We stopped to make our own flag and our own money. The citizens of Candy Village voted on both.  When we were done Our officials flag was designed with google eyes and candy while our official money was known as Peyton Bucks.  

  Mrs. Margaret and Ms Danielle came in to fix us and awesome lunch.  We had spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread.  Everyone got their fill of it.  Then we got a few minutes to let our food digest as we watched Tangled. 

  After lunch we had to decide about our jobs.  We decided we needed a mayor, judges, jury, candy factory workers, law enforcement officers, teachers, firefighters, clean up crew, zoo keepers and a few other odd and ends jobs.  Each person had the chance to vote on salaries and who would receive what job.  In some cases we had ambitious citizens who held more than one position.  We also created the Candy Village bank with an account for each citizen.  At the end of the week they will be able to use their funds to buy items from the Candy Village General Store.

  Our group also decided they would hold court based on tickets that the law enforcement officers wrote.  The tickets would be based on the laws created and we would add talking when other safe talking and sitting incorrectly in your chair to the list of infractions on the tickets.  The jury would determine guilt or innocence and the judges would determine if someone got probation, a fine, or other actions based on the facts of the case.

After working so hard all day it was time for Mrs. Tamika.  Mrs. T, as she likes to be called, is our Expanded Foods and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) Assistant.  She teaches youth about healthy eating, physical activity, and balancing their diets.  Using Chef Carl, a puppet that reinforces these messages, Mrs. T took these youth on an adventure with a passport that teaches them all about fruits, vegetables, and grains.  One of the neat things about her program is that the youth also make a healthy snack while they are with her.  Today their snack involved taking a whole wheat tortilla, spreading peanut butter on it, then filling up a banana in it.  The campers got to eat their creations and thoroughly enjoyed them.

At that point it was time to go home.  We had a full day creating Candy Village and tomorrow we would start to decorate it with Arts and Crafts day.  Stay tuned for more fun as Cloverbud day camp unfolds this week.