Rabbit

Making Tracks

Grades 6-8

In Making Tracks, youth will recognize body types, judge and show rabbits, tattoo a rabbit, keep records, identify diseases, administer medication, record growth rates and market products.

All Ears

Grades 9-12

With All Ears, older youth will develop a breeding program, design a rabbitry, cull based on production, prevent diseases, develop sportsmanship and develop a marketing plan.

The Rabbit Helper’s Guide features group activities and answer keys. The Model Rabbit Pattern is an excellent tool for identifying parts, determining sex, practicing handling, trimming nails and other management practices.

Your Role as a Project Helper

Your role as project helper is to support youth and make learning more fun.   As youth complete activities, you’ll discuss what they did and learned. Sometimes you will need to work with youth to find people, groups, events magazines and books to help them complete an activity.

Ages and Stages of Youth Development

As you work with young people, it is important to take into account where they are in their stage of development. Not all people develop in the same way at the same age.  There are certain patterns within youth development that are commonly expressed. Understanding these characteristics will help you better reach and teach your audience.

Basic Life Skills Development

As a helper for the rabbit project, one of your primary goals is to help youth gain knowledge about rabbits. However, it is equally important to emphasize the learning of “life skills.” These skills transfer beyond the actual activity. Life skills are critical in helping young people become self-directing, productive and contributing members of society. The Targeting Life Skills (TLS) Model (Hendricks, 1996), identifies and divides the major life skills targeted in 4‑H youth development by the four H’s from the 4‑H clover that represent Head, Heart, Hands and Health. These four are further divided into categories and then into specific life skills as shown.