2026 NH 4-H Volunteer Leaders Conference

Workshop

Description

4‑H Growing Entrepreneurs: How to Start an Entrepreneurship Project in Your County

This workshop provides participants with practical tools and frameworks to support the introduction of 4-H Growing Entrepreneurs project within their local clubs. Emphasis is placed on translating concepts into immediate practice, with guided opportunities to consider how the content can be adapted to different club contexts. Participants will leave with a concrete example of a business plan, a curriculum, and strategies they can apply right away to support youth Beyond Ready skills such as planning, collaborating, and decision-making.

Astro Challenge 2026 and Stargazing training

At this year's conference we will be unveiling a new Astro Challenge. You'll learn all about this new set of activities and how to sign up your group and what new activities this new challenge will bring to our budding astronomers. We will also be upping the bar on our stargazing skills and bringing binocular into our toolkits. Binoculars are the best all-around observing tool for beginning stargazers as well as for experienced observers. If you have a pair, please bring them with you to the workshop.

Barn Safety and Managing Risk at the Fair

Keeping 4-H members, volunteers, and the public safe during the fairs around animals is always a top priority. Mike Roina brings his firefighting background to explain the dos and dont’s of safe equipment, barn set up, and crowd management. Holly has a longtime background in 4-H and will share her experiences on how to prepare 4-H members for potential emergency situations. The presentation will also include activities to prepare 4-H members for fair season.

Behind the Bullseye: Exploring 4-H Shooting Sports Physics

Explore the physics behind 4‑H Shooting Sports in this hands‑on, one‑hour workshop for volunteers. Learn simple, youth-friendly ways to demonstrate force, motion, energy, and projectile trajectory through interactive stations. Strengthen safety instruction, enhance coaching skills, and bring engaging STEM connections to your club’s shooting sports activities.

Conflict Resolution

How to maintain a safe, productive, and constructive environment by deescalating upset parents and volunteers. Gain insight to proactively reducing tension points. Receive guidance on navigating conflict when it arises. Leave knowing the steps to take with the 4-H staff after any occurrence.

Demo of NEW 4-H Animal Records in ZSuite

You asked and we heard you- animal records are back! With our new and improved enrollment platform, ZSuite, 4-H members are now able to digitally track and record information about their project animals. In this session, 4-H volunteers will have an opportunity to try out the records, ask questions, and find ways they can implement record-keeping in their 4-H clubs. Volunteers should bring a laptop if possible, to fully experience this session.

Do-Reflect-Apply in the Show Ring

The show ring is a fun time to bring out the 4-H members' competitive spirit, but making sure positive youth development is at the center of their animal shows is the most important. Encouraging judges to use the THRIVE model, along with elements of Do-Reflect-Apply, helps 4-H members hone their skills, and continue to make their best better. In this workshop, volunteers will learn how they can encourage judges, parents, and fellow volunteers to make a well-rounded show experience for everyone involved.

… For my Club, My Community, My Country, and My World

Guiding 4-H Youth Projects Using Problem-Based Learning

Explore how Problem-Based Learning empowers youth in authentic projects like 4-H Lead to Change and Teen Leadership. Learn to coach youth through defining problems, developing solutions, and presenting results. Focus on guiding their learning journey with confidence, rather than providing answers.

From Blossom to Bottle: Apples and Cider Making

Let's explore one of the state's local agricultural products—apples. This quick overview covers how they grow, their uses, and the significant role they play at local, regional, and national levels. Attendants will learn all about apples, but will also participate in not only pressing cider, but get to taste it as well. This will be a hands-on, minds on presentation and a portion of it will take place outside so make sure you can dress warmly!

From Field to Fork: Exploring NH Crops with Harvest of the Month

iSprout: Leadership & Personal Development for Cloverbuds

Join us for an engaging workshop designed to introduce 4-H volunteers and staff to iSprout, a flexible and fun curriculum focused on leadership and personal development for Cloverbud-aged youth. This program helps young members explore three key areas: Knowing Me, Knowing My Family, and Knowing My Community. Each section offers multiple topics—such as Making My Best Better! I Help at Home, and Ideas Matter with a variety of hands-on activities tailored to different settings and resources. During this session, participants will learn how to implement iSprout as part of Cloverbud projects, club meetings, or special events. The curriculum includes a facilitator guide, stickers, reflection sheets, and a project report, making it easy to deliver meaningful experiences that foster confidence, responsibility, and community awareness in youth. We’ll cover practical tips for planning and adapting activities, strategies for engaging families, and ideas for incorporating community service projects. Whether you’re new to Cloverbud programming or looking to refresh your approach, this workshop will provide tools and inspiration to make learning fun and impactful.

Leadership Compass

Give us a vocabulary and a way of thinking about working with each other in our teams. Deepen our appreciation of everyone’s different work styles. Understand the need for a variety of work styles. Reflect on our own individual work styles and identify areas for growth. Understand the negative and positive impacts of each style taken to excess.

Meeting Kids Where They're At

Meeting Kids Where They’re At introduces 4‑H volunteers to a strengths‑based coaching approach that empowers young people to grow with confidence. In this workshop, participants will learn practical strategies—and simple, effective questions—they can use during club meetings, projects, and events to help youth set meaningful goals, reflect on their experiences, and take ownership of their learning. Volunteers will leave with tools they can use right away to support positive youth development and life‑skill growth.

Minds‑On, Hands‑On Agroforestry: Bringing Sustainable Agriculture to 4‑H Clubs

Join in with our cohort of professional educators to learn not only about different agroforestry principles and products, but how to engage youth in hands-on, minds-on activities that will help solidify concepts of sustainable agriculture, natural resources use and traditional NH farming concepts that work with our natural environment. Participants will be learning by doing, and will be able to bring these experiences back to their clubs

Outdoors with Positive Youth Development

Learn how Positive Youth Development (PYD) strengthens youth experiences and supports growth through outdoor programs. This interactive session equips volunteers with practical tools to build connection, confidence, and competence in youth. Explore real scenarios and simple strategies that create safe, supportive, and engaging environments where young people thrive.

Partners in Growth: Working with Parents to Support Positive Youth Development

This workshop equips adult volunteers with practical strategies to partner effectively with parents in ways that support Positive Youth Development (PYD). Volunteers learn how to communicate expectations clearly, recognize parent behaviors that help or hinder youth growth, and coach parents toward supportive involvement that builds youth independence, leadership, and resilience. 

Record Keeping for Club Officers: Why and How you should be using them.

NH 4‑H record books help youth set goals, reflect, and document growth. This workshop prepares volunteers to understand the purpose of the NH 4‑H Record Book and confidently support members in a youth‑led, age‑appropriate way that builds life skills and strengthens project learning across the 4‑H year in New Hampshire.

Roll Into Robotics: Exploring STEM with Sphero

Youth explore robotics and coding through hands‑on challenges using Sphero robots. Participants learn to program movement, lights, and behaviors while practicing teamwork, problem‑solving, and the engineering design process. This engaging STEM workshop empowers youth to experiment creatively, test ideas, and see their code come to life in motion. Learn how you can borrow a kit to use with your club.

Rustic Furniture Design with Simple Tools for 4‑H Agroforestry Education

Discover how simple tools, natural materials, and hands‑on creativity can help youth connect more deeply with the land around them. This workshop introduces 4‑H volunteers to rustic furniture projects—such as stools, frames, tables, and benches—that use downed branches, saplings from managed thinning, driftwood, and reclaimed wood to teach environmental stewardship in engaging, age‑appropriate ways. Participants will learn how these projects support lessons in agroforestry, sustainable land management, and place‑based learning while building essential 4‑H life skills like teamwork, problem‑solving, and craftsmanship. Volunteers will leave with practical ideas, safety tips, and ready‑to‑use project concepts they can confidently bring back to their clubs, camps, and community programs.

Social Media Tips and Tricks for 4-H Clubs

Lucie Legro, State 4-H Office Social Media Intern, will share her tips and tricks for making engaging social media posts to highlight the work of 4-H clubs. 4-H volunteers will learn about scheduling posts, how to create eye-catching content, creating Facebook and Instagram Accounts, and brand guidelines for 4-H and UNH.

Topic

Description

4-H STEM CoLab 

The 4-H STEM CoLAB is a volunteer development and support program with the goal of sustaining a thriving community of 4-H volunteers who are confident in creating, mentoring and teaching STEM programs and activities for youth.   The 4-H STEM CoLAB will recruit, train and support adult 4-H volunteers in a Community of Practice built around a love of STEM and an interest in mentoring and supporting youth.  This Community of Practice will be a supportive place for adult volunteers to learn from experts and each other to help them gain experience and confidence in science learning and youth development.

Anyone curious or interested in the CoLAB may gather with to spend some time practicing ways to bring science to our youth.  Our day will involve STEM activities, discussion and maybe a field trip.

Animal Science

Animal Science volunteers are invited for the round table session on Sunday morning. This will be an open meeting of the NH 4-H Animal Science Advisory Council, where all volunteers are invited to meet and engage with their species representatives. Hannah Majewski, 4-H Animal Science Field Specialist, will give updates and an overview of the program from a statewide perspective, and volunteers on the council will help lead guided discussions about the trends and patterns seen to help assess needs throughout the state. Time will also be allotted for individual species groups to meet to prepare for the show season ahead.

Sights, Signs, and Skills: 4-H Shooting Sports

Wild Guides

This outdoor workshop will guide participants through an engaging short hike while exploring the core principles of positive youth development, risk assessment, and outdoor education. Along the trail, facilitators will lead discussions on how to foster youth growth, ensure safety in outdoor activities, and create meaningful learning experiences in nature. Participants will have the opportunity to share ideas, reflect on real-world scenarios, and practice applying these principles in an interactive, hands-on setting surrounded by the natural environment.

Granite State Grown "Green"