2017-18 Projects

Come join fearless backpacking/hiking leaders in learning about how to plan for an outdoor mountain adventure. Then take your knowledge out with the 4-H group on a ~4 hour East Bay Regional Park excursion.

Mandatory Planning Meeting:  Monday, April 9, 5:00-6:30pm at EBI

April 29:  ~4 hour hike at Huckleberry Botanical Regional Preserve, 8:30am meet at EBI

Ages:  3rd – 9th grade, maximum 10 kids

Project Fee: $10 (covers snacks, lunch and transportation)

Cooking at the Senior Center:  In this project, students will have the opportunity to pick and create their own savory and sweet meal concoctions with recipes that they choose.  Leading this will be professional cooking instructor and nutritionist Maria Acosta.  Let’s get cooking!

Wednesdays, Feb 28, March 21, 28, April 25, May 2, 3:45-5:15

Ages:  8+, maximum 8 kids

Location:  Emeryville Senior Center, 4321 Salem Street

Project Fee:  $25 (includes snack and recipe ingredients)

Get acquainted with leathercraft!  Learn how to cut cut a pattern into a piece of leather, use stamps to shade and decorate the leather, condition your leather and even add color. We’ll start with simple projects like coasters, but kids who enjoy it can move on to more complex projects.

Saturday, Jan 27:  Field trip to Tandy Leather Store in Union City * — 12:15-3:30

Saturday, Feb 10:  Field trip to Tandy Leather Store in Union City * — 12:15-3:30

Saturday, Mar 10:  Finishing projects and learning about leather and leatherwork around the world at Project Leader’s house in Berkeley

Ages: 9+, max 5 kids

Project Fee:  $10 or less.  Students will have the option to purchase their own additional materials or tools, but at student/parent choice.

*  We will be driving in one or two cars on Jan 27 and Feb 10 from a single location in Berkeley/Emeryville/Oakland. Planning to leave about 12:15pm, return to North Bay around 3:30p.

If you are interested in learning how to build and control electronic creations, this is the project for you!  We will go over a variety of components (e.g. LEDs, motors, buzzers, switches, and potentiometers) and code using an IDE and microcontroller provided by Arduino, an open-source platform. We will use what we’ve learned to make several projects such as light-up cards, motorized contraptions, and more. All experience levels welcome.

Laptop required, Mac or PC, not Chromebooks (please let us know if this is an issue).

Saturdays:  Feb 24, Mar 3, 17, 24, 31, 3:00-4:30

Ages:  4th grade and up, max 6 kids

Location:  EBI

Project Fee:  $30

This project offers an introduction to free-hand cursive writing and elements of intricate collage technique. In the second half of the class, we will create art pieces using hand lettering and collage to make a beautiful decorated and framed quotation.

Thursdays:  Feb 15, March 1, 8, 15, 3:45-5:30

Ages: 9+, minimum 4 kids, maximum 8 kids

Location:  EBI

Project Fee:  $25 (includes materials and snack)

Help us care for the EBI chickens!  Last Spring, we placed 5 chickens in the coop our club built at EBI (Escuela Bilingüe International).  This Spring, we will help care for them and learn about lots of chicken and egg-related topics as we prepare a booth for Alameda County’s Small Animal Field Day.  Our booth will showcase egg candlers that we will make, will provide information about what’s inside the egg and egg grading, and will include a game that will test kids’ knowledge of chicken facts.

Mondays, March 5 & 26, April 2 & 9, 3:30-5:00

Supply run to Rivertown Feed and Visit to SoMar Farms:  Sunday, February 11

Egg collecting:  daily sign-up sheet

Coop cleaning: March 24, May 26

Small Animal Field Day:  Saturday, April 28, 12:00-4:00

Ages:  10+, max 8 kids

Location: EBI

Project Fee:  $20

Learn about the amazing healing powers of plants!  We will go on a hike to forage for plants, and then use them in our second session to make lotions, salves or other mixtures.

Saturday, April 7, 12:30-3:30 (field trip) and Sunday, May 6, 11:00-2:00pm (at project leader’s workshop)

Ages: 9+, maximum 6 kids

Project Fee: $10-20 to cover supplies

Come and make piñatas with us! There will be (4) 2-hour sessions to learn how to design, construct and decorate your own piñata. We will read a story as a group and pick characters from the story to make them into piñatas. And we will try to exhibit our creations at the Alameda County Fair in June!

Dates:  Thursday, March 22, April 12, 26, May 3, 3:30-5:00pm

Ages: 7+, 8 kids max

Location: Project Leader’s art studio or EBI

Project Fee: $15 for snacks and materials

In this project, kids will learn about the insects and creatures that help pollinate flowers, what pollination is and why it is important. Activities will focus on helping to attract pollinators by beautifying the garden beds surrounding the Playground at the City Slicker Farms West Oakland Farm Park.

Oct 28, 1:30-3:00:  Pollinator intro, Butterflies, Scavenger Hunt and Sun Sheets

Nov 18, 2:00-3:30:  Bulbs and Flowers (Paper-white Bulb Project)

Feb 24, 2:00-3:30:  Garden Clean-up, begin weeding and planning what we will plant

March 24, 2:00-3:30:  Begin to Plant and continue Clean up / we will also learn about other Pollinators

April 28, 2:00-3:30:  Bees/Continue to Plant

May 26, 2:00-3:30:  Project wrap up, children will each present (in a sentence or two) what they learned from the Project. Pot luck!

Ages: 5-8

What does it take to design and build your own fitness tracker? In this national science day challenge, kids will use a basic three-step engineering design process to design, build and test wearable fitness trackers and adjust them depending on the results. Get ready to build your own fitbit-type device, test it, and collect data by jumping rope, hula hooping, dribbling a basketball or other activities that will vary your heart rate.

This activity has been developed for National 4-H Youth Science Day, an annual event that promotes hands-on STEM learning. Come explore wearable technology with us!

Date:  Saturday, November 18

Ages: 9+, maximum 8 kids

Location: Project Leader’s House

Activity Fee: $7

Knit 1, purl 2! Join a veteran knitting instructor and others from the Emeryville Senior Center as they teach the basics of this ancient craft. Project participants will learn basic knitting stitches and how to cast on and off. They will likely make their own scarves or other simple project.

Thursdays, Sept 28, Oct 5, 12, 19, Nov 2, 9, 3:45-5:00

Ages: 10+, 3-6 kids

Location: Emeryville Senior Center, 4321 Salem Street, Emeryville

Project Fee:  $20

Gain important life skills! Learn how to treat minor injuries and how to identify more serious emergencies – including head injuries, allergic reactions, strokes, diabetic emergencies, burns and more!

Wednesdays, October 4 & 11, November 1, 8, 15 & 29, December 6 (or maybe one Saturday TBD), 3:30-5:30

Ages: 8+, minimum 4 kids

Location: EBI, San Pablo

Project Fee: TBD

Learn the basics of 4 shaft weaving. Students will be introduced to history and background on weaving. Then, using a table loom, borrowed for the period of the project, they will weave a basic scarf learning a variety of weave structures.

Saturday, October 28 (1:00-3:00), Sunday, November 5 (10:00-12:00), 3rd date TBD

Ages: 9+, 4-6 kids

Location: Project Leader’s house

Project Fee: TBD

Join us as we have fun making art and crafts to package and sell at EBI’s Grandperson’s Day on November 22!  We hope to have the kids themselves lead portions of this project, which may include Art Cards, Slime, Soaps, Small Stuffed Animals and more. We’ll see what the kids want to do!

The event is Wednesday, November 22 at EBI, 8:15am-noon.  The proceeds will go towards supplies for the chickens at EBI.

Wednesdays, October 4, 11, 18, November 8, 15, 3:45-5:30-ish

Ages 9+, 3-10 kids

Location: EBI and Project Leader’s house

Project Fee: $15 for snack and supplies

Help us care for the EBI chickens!  Last Spring, we placed 5 chickens in the coop our club built at EBI (Escuela Bilingüe International).  This year, we will help care for them and learn about lots of chicken and egg-related topics.  Potential activities/topics may include:  egg collecting, egg raffle, coop cleaning and maintenance, fun facts about chickens, chicken anatomy and biology, cooking with eggs, composting, poultry industry, farm visit and feed store visits, technology for the coop, and participation in Small Animal Field Day and/or the County Fair.

Fall Session: Mondays, Oct 30, Nov 6, 27, Dec 4, 3:30-5:00, Saturday Nov 18 2:00-4:00, Saturday Jan 20 1:00-4:00, plus 1 additional day for a field trip TBD

Spring Session: dates TBD

Ages: roughly 5-10 for Fall Session, roughly 10+ for Spring Session

Location: EBI, plus 2-3 potential field trips

Project Fee: TBD

Learn about the amazing healing powers of plants. We will make our own lip balm, soap, salve for itches and scrapes, teas and sprays (to help you sleep, have more energy, or focus when you’re doing homework!). We can come up with other ideas together too. We will take a field trip to Alembique, a local apothecary. Some of our projects could go to the fundraising sale also.

Saturdays, Sept 23 (10-11:30), Nov 11 (12-3), Sunday Dec 10 (10-11:30)

Ages: 8+, 12 kids

Location: Project Leader’s house

Project Fee: $10-20 to cover supplies