4-H Grab and Go Emotional Wellness and Mindfulness Lessons for Youth
4-H and Youth Programming
Jami Dellifield
Family and Consumer Sciences Educator
Ohio State University
Kenton
Abstract
The National 4-H Council partnered with the All-State Foundation and the authors to create the 4-H at Home Emotional Wellness and Mindfulness lessons. The lessons provide experiential learning activities for youth and require minimal materials to create a safe space for social-emotional learning. The series include six lessons: Meditation Bottles; Stress Less; Expressing Emotions; Healthy Friendships; Digital Vision Boards; and Bouncing Back. The series provides downloadable lessons at no cost that can be used in a variety of settings, including classroom, club, or individually.
These lessons were developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to help children, youth, and families build social-emotional awareness and communication skills. Protective factors are conditions or attributes in individuals, families, and communities that promote the health and well-being of children and families. Six protective factors for children and youth are nurturing and attachment, knowledge of parenting for child and youth development, parental resilience, social connections, concrete supports for parents, and social and emotional competence. The lessons help educators and family members to support the emotional, wellness, and mindfulness growth for youth by providing interactive activities and conversation starters. Each lesson concludes with a “test your knowledge” section. The activities are available at https://4-h.org/clover/activities/emotional-wellness/ and https://4-h.org/clover/activities/learning-the-power-of-mindfulness/
At the national level, the quality indicator for these lessons is shown by the number of interactions with the lessons. The CLOVER data from April 14, 2023 – March 14, 2024 shows that the six lessons have had combined pageviews of 2753 and 105 downloads. Within the county, the authors have used the lessons with 4-H camp counselors, camp participants, and with FFA chapters. 98% of the 248 participants surveyed shared that they learned something that positively impacted their mental well-being. 94% of survey participants reported that they would use what they learned to help a friend.
The presentation objectives are for participants to learn: how to access the free online resource; how to use a digital platform for education; how to implement the lessons with youth, children, and families; how to increase social-emotional learning within existing programming; and how mental health programs can be cross-programmatic.
Authors: Jami Dellifield, Amanda Raines
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Jami Dellifield Family and Consumer Sciences Educator, Ohio State University, Ohio, 43326
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Amanda Raines 4-H Youth Development Educator, Ohio State University, Ohio, 43326