Imagination sprouts during 4-H traveling program
Published 11:48 am Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Students put finishing touches on their plant people. (Photos by KEITH MCCOY/ ADVERTISER)
Chilton County Extension Office intern Trevor Cofer shows off his plant person.
A student holds a nylon sock while seeds are poured in to make a plant person.
Trevor Cofer ties a knot, so the soil will stay in place.
Children think about how to decorate their plant people during "Ready. Set. Grow with 4-H."
Noses were the first step in shaping a plant person at "Ready. Set. Grow with 4-H."
Joan McGriff helps students hot glue eyes and accessories to their plant people.
Joan McGriff helps a student put the finishing touches on her plant person.
A student holds her completed plant person. The grass hair will begin to grow in about a week, if it is watered properly.
A student holds her completed plant person. The grass hair will begin to grow in about a week, if it is watered properly.
Gay West of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System Chilton County office reads "Tops and Bottoms," a light-hearted book about growing vegetables to children at the Clanton kick-off of the Extension Office's roadshow "Ready. Set. Grow with 4-H."
By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer
The Alabama Cooperative Extension System Chilton County office is taking their educational programs on the road this summer through “Ready. Set. Grow with 4-H.”
The group’s first stop was in Clanton on June 6.
Pam Ousley of the Extension said many of the other locations will coincide with summer reading programs in the area. The traveling program is similar to what the Extension office has offered at Maplesville’s summer reading program in previous years.
“We had a staff meeting and we talked about how we could reach more children that don’t always get a chance to come to the office for our programs, so we decided to try to travel to them,” Ousley said.
Extension Agent Gay West opened the event by reading a humorous, children’s book “Tops and Bottoms” about a vegetable garden. Several of the children said they liked to eat vegetables.
Children then created plant people from grass seeds, potting soil, a nylon sock and craft supplies. Seeds were placed in the bottom of the nylon sock and then covered with potting soil. The sock was then tied closed and flipped over, so the seeds were at the top.
“Make it as personalized as you want to,” Extension Office intern Trevor Cofer said.
The plant people were placed in Styrofoam cups. Cofer told children to pour water into the cup when they got home and water the seeds.
“After it grows a couple of inches, you can actually cut his hair with scissors and it will keep growing,” Cofer said.
Cofer showed off his finished plant person, whose seed hair had just begun to sprout.
The project was adapted from the Junior Master Gardener program.
Many of the children liked his person’s pipe cleaner glasses and added this feature to their own. Feathers and googly eyes were also used to complete the face.
“They are having fun and learning about plants and growing seeds, and that’s what we want them to do is to know about how things grow that helps them later on to know where their food comes from,” West said
To find out when the 4-H roadshow will be in your town, contact the Extension Office at 205- 280-6268.
