What happened when 4‑H educators ran Sparks.
In 2025, a pilot with National 4‑H Council’s Shop 4‑H put Sparks in the hands of 4‑H professionals at eight Extension sites. This is what they did with them, and what came after.
Eight sites, five states, 507 youth
In January and February 2025 we shipped 26 Class Packs, at no cost to 4‑H, to educators at Cornell Cooperative Extension in Rensselaer, Orange and Niagara counties, NY; Penn State Extension in Chester County, PA; University of Maryland Extension in Allegany County and UMES 4‑H, MD; Fairfax County 4‑H, VA; and Rutgers 4‑H, NJ. Each educator picked two Sparks from Drawbots, Electric Vehicles, Wind-Up Vehicles, Monster Claws and Straw Structures, and together they planned for 507 youth.
They used them across the 4‑H year. In Orange County, about 15 youth ages 6 to 18 built side by side with their parents at a family club meeting. In Chester County, an after-school Migrant Education club of about 30 third and fourth graders built Wind-Up Vehicles. In Rensselaer County, fourth graders built Drawbots and seventh and eighth graders built Electric Vehicles, and the school asked for a return visit. In Allegany County, the first Drawbots session was a second-grade class on Valentine’s Day, when the teacher was out and had left no plans. Fairfax County tested the kits and planned them for 4‑H summer camp, ages 9 to 13.
“I could grab the box and start teaching without having used any of the background resources, other than clicking on the slide show so that I had talking points for the kids to follow along… All in all, it was a lot of fun!”
4‑H Senior Agent Associate, University of Maryland Extension, Allegany County, MD
What the educators reported
Four educators answered our survey after the pilot. All four said the Sparks connected to their program goals, encouraged teamwork, and that they felt confident leading them. They rated each Spark they ran: all seven ratings said the challenge was right for their youth, and six of seven said youth were engaged. The seventh was Wind-Up Vehicles, where the axle connectors broke.
“I think this is a great kit to give and go, especially educators that don’t feel as strong with STEM, but want to incorporate STEM into their programming after school.”
Four surveys is a small sample, so we also recorded calls with five of the educators. On those calls they told us the instructions were clear, that older youth could pick them up and teach them, and that every young person went home with something they built.
“So even this 12 year old was able to follow these directions and then go teach.”
What they did next
The strongest result came after the pilot ended. Three of the eight sites came back on their own. Rensselaer County asked us to quote Drawbots for 300 fourth graders at three schools for fall 2025, renewed it for winter 2026, and added Sparks to the program offerings it sends to school districts. Fairfax County told us it hopes to buy for about 300 youth across fair season and summer camp. In Allegany County, a fourth-grade teacher asked for Electric Vehicles again by name, and in September 2026 Jessica Mellon wrote that word had gotten out and she was taking them to two more schools. These are requests and plans, not finished orders.
“We were grateful to be asked to pilot this because it gave my kids something that I probably wouldn’t have otherwise spent the money on.”
What we fixed
Not everything worked, and the educators said so. In Chester County, the Wind-Up axle connectors broke for over a third of the group, and the Electric Vehicles rubber bands were hard to handle. In Allegany County, a few motors and batteries failed. We rebuilt the Wind-Up design so the axles no longer break, we now test motors and batteries before they ship, and we moved our educator guides online with troubleshooting tips, prompt questions and printable notetakers.