Suggested Programs for Club Meetings

Suggested Programs for Club Meetings

The following outlines are suggestions and should be modified to fit the needs of the club.


  1. Open the meeting and take care of the items suggested for beginning the first meeting given under "How To Begin Your Entomology Project."
  2. Have members turn to Unit I while you read "What is an insect?" to them. Some of the vocabulary and ideas will be new to the group, so allow time for questions, discussion or further explanation about what was said. How do they affect humans and the environment? If questions are asked that don't pertain to the subject matter on Unit I while you read "What is an insect?", you may want to defer the questions to a later meeting for discussion.
  3. After the group seems to have the concept of what an insect is, have them do the exercise, "Insects & their relatives" in Unit I.
  4. Tell members what the topics of the next meeting will be.
  5. Tell them to bring to the next meeting materials for making a killing jar, some live insects and insect pins.
  6. Tell them to have the exercise, "Insect Body Parts" in Unit I done by the next meeting.


  1. Open the meeting with a demonstration on how to make a killing jar.
  2. Have members make killing jars from materials they have brought.
  3. Have members kill some of the live insects they brought by using the killing jar or some other method suggested in Project Unit I. Compare and discuss the advantages or disadvantages of different killing methods.
  4. Have them pin and put date-locality labels on their insects.
  5. Have the members do "Insect Body Parts" in Unit I and see if they can locate insect parts on the specimens they brought. Discuss how variable insects can be although they have the same basic body plan.
  6. Announce the subject of the next meeting. Tell members to bring materials for making some piece of equipment. Encourage members to give a demonstration on making or using equipment.


  1. Open the meeting by having members answer roll call by naming an insect part or telling how insects differ from their relatives.
  2. Have a demonstration on how a piece of equipment is made and or used.
  3. Have a contest quiz or game activity.
  4. Have members identify insects they have collected and mounted using 4-H literature or other resource literature.
  5. Teach members to identify the order to which their insects belong by using the key in Key to the Order of Insects.


  1. Cover topics selected from "Other Ideas for 4-H Entomology Meetings." The topics should be appropriate to the group's level of progress in the project or special interests members have developed.
  2. Some of the topics can be review of previously covered material to be presented by club members.