4-H Healthy Living Projects

The primary objectives of Healthy Living projects are to:

  • Promote and sustain healthy habits through positive youth development opportunities.
  • Have youth engage in projects that equip youth to make healthy decision for their body and mind.
  • Enable youth to live a healthy lifestyle with confidence and over-all wellbeing.
  • Prepare youth to face challenges in real world environments and display leadership in their lives, club, and community.

Healthy Body

Body: Fitness, Health, Nutrition and Safety Objective: 4‑H fitness, health, nutrition, and safety programs help youth understand the importance of eating right and being active within a safe environment. Mastering basic health principles places young people on the right track to developing healthy habits now as well as managing their long-term health.

Dance projects many times are part of performing arts projects or can be specific disciplines in dance, like folklorico and clogging.

  • 4-H Music and Dance project website from South Dakota State University Extension
  • University of Kentucky Extension's performing arts page with information on dance projects
  • Oregon State University Extension's expressive arts webpage with resources for dance projects

  • Mi Grito en 4-H article on Folklorico clubs in 4-H
  • Video of 4-H Folklorico showcase from North Carolina

Learn the principles of food preservation and ideas for preparation and use of home-preserved foods from beginning to advanced levels in the food preservation project area.

Food safety projects are strongly related to cooking and food science and help youth develop strong food safety skills essential to any food preparation.

Food Science projects are strongly related to food safety and cooking and uses hands-on activities to teach youth the building blocks of food science using chemistry, biology, and math in a “kitchen laboratory” setting.

In the health and fitness project area, youth design a personal fitness plan and track it using their own fitness file. Through interviews and personal experiences youth discover benefits to being fit as they practice making decisions, speaking with others, and managing themselves. Youth learn the importance of first aid as well as techniques for taking care of cuts and scrapes, nosebleeds, stings, burns, and other concerns. This project area is related to many other healthy living projects.

  • Michigan State Univeristy Extension's Foodways Project Guide aims to connect youth to the food traditions in their communities.
  • Guide for incorporating Indigenous food traditions into school and 4-H club activities by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
  • Food Justice activity website from National 4-H Council

  • Outdoor cookery project website from Cornell Cooperative Extension
  • 4-H Cooking 301, which includes a guide on outdoor cooking, from Kansas State Extension
  • Cooking Over Coals project leader guide from Iowa State Extension

This project area  includes dance, theatre, music and other performed events that come from a youth and community members' cultural traditions.

  • Colorado State Extension Weld County's heritage arts website
  • Performing Arts project leader's guide from 4-H Alberta

Healthy Mind

Mind: Social and Emotional Well-Being Objectives: 4‑H’s Healthy Living programs provide youth with a better understanding of how their choices can help themselves, their families, and their communities. With programs focused on issues such as mental health and opportunities for expression through crafts, music, multi-media, and performing arts. 4‑H helps youth build a firm foundation that encourages good decision-making and strong interpersonal skills. Social-emotional health is the cornerstone to confident, caring young leaders who understand how to care for their minds and inner being, which is key to holistic well-being.

  • New Mexico State University Extension's Braiding and Knotting Unit 1
  • New Mexico State University Extension's Braiding and Knotting Unit 2

  • Oregon State University's Cast Ceramics guidebook
  • Ceramics project manual from Colorado State University Extension
  • Ceramics project website from Colorado State University Weld County

Confectionary is a project dealing with the creation of cakes, cookies, and other confections. Learn the basics of cake decorating and move on to creative expression in this exciting project!

The 4-H crochet project is designed for beginners with easy-to-understand diagrams and step-by-step instructions for crochet.

The 4-H Drawing project area is related to other visual arts such as painting, photography, and sculpture.

Fiber Arts Projects includes many different other specific projects including embroidery, sewing and textiles, macrame, clothes you make, crochet and hand work from our heritage

  • Fiber Arts project guidebook from Oregon State University Extension
  • North Dakota State University Extension's fiber arts project sheet

  • Colorado State University Extension's film making project tip sheet
  • 4-H International Film Fest website from University of Minnesota Extension
  • Article on how to start a film making project by Michigan State University Extension

  • Interior design project website from Alabama Cooperative Extension
  • 4-H Interior design leader's guidebook from 4-H Saskatchewan
  • Interior design Decisions,Decisions project curriculum from University of Wisconsin Extension

Macrame is a specific fiber arts project involving the use of knotting techniques to create beautiful textiles. fiber arts projects including embroidery, sewing and textiles, clothes you make, crochet, quilting and hand work from our heritage

  • New Mexico State University Tribal Extension's Native Weaving project curriculum page with extensive resources
  • Video series on 4-H Native Weaving Step by Step by New Mexico State University Extension McKinley County. (9 videos in the series)

The 4-H Painting project area is related to other visual arts such as drawing, photography, and sculpture

Photography teaches youth about photography as an art, a science and a communication tool while developing and applying technical and artistic skills in film-based and digital photography. The 4-H photography project area is related to other visual arts such as painting, drawing, and sculpture

Quilting is a specific fiber arts project involving the use of knotting techniques to create beautiful textiles. fiber arts projects including embroidery, sewing and textiles, macrame, clothes you make , crochet and hand work from our heritage

The 4-H Drawing project area is related to other visual arts such as painting, photography, and drawing

  • Jean Jems is a simple sewing project guide for 4-H youth from University of Arizona Cooperative Extension
  • Sewing for Fun project leader's guide from University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension
  • Sewing project website from Purdue University Extension
  • University of Kentucky Extension's sewing project website

Life Skills

Life Skills Objective: 4‑H Healthy Living programs empower youth to be teachers by growing their leadership skills and serving as champions of health in their communities. Teens as Teachers is an experiential learning model delivering research-based information supported by adult mentors and applying skills and knowledge to initiate change in behaviors for themselves, their families and peers. Participants can engage in opportunities to learn about financial literacy, consumer resources, and overall lifelong skills to carry into future endeavors.

Life Skills Objective: 4‑H Healthy Living programs empower youth to be teachers by growing their leadership skills and serving as champions of health in their communities. Teens as Teachers is an experiential learning model delivering research-based information supported by adult mentors and applying skills and knowledge to initiate change in behaviors for themselves, their families and peers. Participants can engage in opportunities to learn about financial literacy, consumer resources, and overall lifelong skills to carry into future endeavors.

In a personal development project, youth will learn about themselves and how to develop their resilience and interpersonal skills.

  • University of Tennessee Extension's personal development webpage with many resources for projects.
  • Oklahoma State University's personal development website
  • 4-H Adulting 101 resources from University of Michigan Extension

The child development project area is meant to increase a youth's knowledge of human growth and development.