Next Step AdventureMartha helps you do, what you do, better then you did it before…

Join the Movement

Posted on Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Go outside! It’s spring, and Iowa is joining a broad based movement to renew a close, personal relationship with the out of doors.

April 10-11–As part of Iowa’s “Reconnecting Children with Nature” effort, the Department of [...]

Cross a Chocolate River

Posted on Thursday, February 25th, 2010

This is a great team building activity I’ve used for many years. Once at a 4-H Camp, we used 4-H Box Lids as the “marshmallows.” When I facilitated a program based on the Wizard of [...]

Learn by Doing

Posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009

Only as an adult have I settled into my preferred learning style. A counselor once listened to me describe a daydream of swimming and labeled me a kinesthetic learner. I’ve embraced that definition and learned [...]

Tie a Knot

Posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Yesterday I visited the Junior Bridges Chrysalis After-School Group at Southeast Polk Junior High School. It was really fun to see the girls surfing my Web site and then using some of the ideas they [...]

Go Outdoors!

Posted on Monday, August 24th, 2009

The naturalists at Polk County Conservation are some of my favorite people to work with. I’ve facilitated adventure education programs with them, canoed, and learned to use GPS in parks throughout Polk County. Some of [...]

Learn about Relationships

Posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009

Several years ago we were brainstorming about different approaches to adolescent pregnancy prevention, and came up with the idea of an adventure education program framed around healthy relationships. Part of the rationale is that it [...]

Upset the Stagecoach

Posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

This is a great game I learned when I first started working in Urban 4-H with Rick Hofmaster. It is hilarious and has a sneaky way of helping people become comfortable speaking in front of [...]

Build a Team with Keys

Posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

I had the neighbors talking the day I cleaned and took apart 12 old computer keyboards for the Chrysalis After-School Kits out on my front deck last fall. Each CAS kit has a set of [...]

Bust the Cliques

Posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Cliques, gossip, put downs and relational aggression continue as difficulties for the girls’ groups. On the spring survey, about half the girls said gossip and put downs happen at least sometimes in their groups, and only about [...]

Touch Someone Who…

Posted on Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Yesterday at CAS training we worked on compliments, one aspect of giving and receiving honest feedback. Compliments are difficult to receive, especially for women it seems to me.The Chrysalis After-School mentors and facilitators discussed the [...]