Arapahoe County In/After School Programming

Program types

• Mad Science
  • This program engages participants through fun hands-on science experiments and observations. The beauty of our experiments are that most are composed of household items, making it easy for youth to recreate the experiment at home to share with friends and family. Building their own lava lamps, robots, slime, rockets, roller coasters, and volcanoes are just a few of the fun things that our young scientists will be doing!
• Entomology
  • Discover the differences between insects, arachnids, and other arthropods through this hands-on program. This program exposes students to a variety of insects with options for students to witness metamorphism, learn about insect life cycles, watch ants working together, understand insects’ role in our ecosystem, and meet some of our friendly bug zoo members.
• Embryology
  • Science comes alive with the Embryology program. For 21 days youth will watch and wait for the chicks to develop and hatch. Through this program they will learn the parts and functions of the egg, observation skill, and about the chicken life cycle. 4-H staff will teach youth how the chicks develop, candle the eggs so the they can view the embryos’ progress, and lead “EGGciting” experiments. Egg incubation supplies, hatching equipment, and extra curriculum resources will be provided. Bring the miracle of life to your school or program today!
• Pollinators
  • We all know that pollinators are a critical part of the ecosystem. This program, available in the spring, will help children grades P-5 identify the most common pollinators, understand their importance and identify some of the plants that nurture pollinators in our area. Each program has both an instructional element and an activity to help children remember the information presented.
• Gardening
  • Does your school have a garden? This program provides hands-on educational opportunities that helps students discover the wonders of plants. What do plants need to grow? What are the life cycles of plants? What are the parts of a plant? What do different fruits and vegetables taste like? These are some of the questions that we will explore with this program that makes the garden come alive! This program is offered through a partnership with Colorado Master Gardeners.
• Ag in the Classroom
  • Where does your food come from? Youth will answer this question as they learn where and how meat animals are raised and handled, their life cycles, and what kind of foods and products they provide. This program also includes a short history of agriculture in Colorado, and what the industry looks like today.

Customize your program

We have a variety of options to choose from to help customize a program that best fits your needs. Below is a list of just some of the possibilities: