Activity Overview: 4-H

By Stacy DeBroff 

4-H is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with more than 6.8 million youth participants ages 5 to 19, and over 495,000 adult volunteers and 116,000 teen leaders. More than 45 million people are 4-H alumni.

Activity Overview: Camp Fire USA

By Stacy DeBroff

Camp Fire USA, organized into 120 local councils across the nation has over 650,000 kids participating, 46% male and 54% female. Camp Fire is unique because it offers coed programming in club activities. Camp Fire offers a great opportunity for families with both a son and daughter to get together as a unit and enjoy the club program.

Activity Overview: Boy and Girl Scouts

By Stacy DeBroff

An informal educational organization dedicated solely to girls ages 5-17, the Girl Scouts comprise the largest girls-only group in the world, with over 2.8 million girls, and nearly 1 million adult members and volunteers. More than 40 million American women were Girl Scouts during their childhood.

All activities have four primary program goals: developing self-potential, relating to others, developing values, and contributing to society. The activities through which girls earn badges are aimed at building self-confidence, responsibility, integrity, creativity, decision-making skills, teamwork, and leadership abilities.

Activity Overview: Foreign Language Study

By Stacy DeBroff

The benefits of learning a second language are linguistic, cognitive, social and cultural, including: heightened creativity, enhanced problem solving and spatial relations skills, improved listening skills, and ability to learn a third or fourth language more easily.

Activity Overview: Chess

By Stacy DeBroff

Chess teaches logic based on strategic planning of actions and reactions. It also helps your child anticipate the consequences of his actions and think creatively.

• It improves concentration, focus, self-discipline, calculation, and critical thinking skills.

• Chess enhances memory skills as a player must remember prior moves and strategies to plan an attack and also because there are so many moves one can make in the first 10 moves of the game.

• As players must be keenly aware of position and an opponent’s responses, reactions, and strategies, chess develops awareness and analysis and teaches pattern recognition.

• When played competitively, chess helps children make quick decisions under a great amount of pressure.

Dance Safety

By Stacy DeBroff 

You may be overjoyed watching your child in his or her dance recital, but all that practice can take its toll on a young child's body. Here are a few things to look for in your child to prevent injury.