NMSU Innovative Media, Research and Extension offers several services to 4-H agents. We have a considerable collection of apps, games, animations and videos to use in your programming — all are free and online. You can find our full catalog of innovative media resources at https://innovativemedia.nmsu.edu/.
The list below describes our products most applicable to 4-H.
Mobile Apps
4-H Livestock Record (Free iOS app)
Help 4-Hers keep their livestock projects organized. Track and manage individual 4-Hers and livestock project animals in one convenient application. The app also allows users to export their data so they can import it into a spreadsheet or use it for 4-H financial forms.
e-Judging Pro (Free iOS app)
Come prepared to the contest by entering contestants and cuts beforehand. Quickly enter contest data such as placings and scores. Export in CSV format to use in spreadsheets or other data management programs.
Eat-&-Move-o-Matic (free iOS app) Learn about the foods you eat and how they help fuel your body for your favorite activities.
Make new discoveries about your favorite foods.
Get interesting tips on how small changes can make big differences.
Southwest Plant Selector (free iOS app) Select landscape plants that thrive in New Mexico with little or no supplemental water. Browse through a database of 700+ plants or search based on specific criteria. Expert-recommended specifically for New Mexico, El Paso, TX, and surrounding areas.
Kid Eats (free iPad app) Support family members cooking and eating together. Learn how to prepare vegetables and cook safely with children. Includes a fun virtual kitchen experience suitable for ages 8-11.
Night of the Living Debt (free iPad app) Survive the zombie outbreak by managing your finances. Use a credit card, get college loans, buy a car, rent a house: It's your decision. Can be played individually or as a group activity.
Interactive Web Modules and Games
Virtual Insect Collection Lab Practice pinning, pointing, and spreading insects properly, to preserve them for scientific study. Collections are important to science, and each preserved insect gives a snapshot of its population at the time it was collected.
Virtual Food Science Labs Learn basic laboratory techniques and practice methods used by researchers and technicians in a variety of careers, using specific food science lab processes, such as sampling bacteria, gram staining, testing for corn aflatoxin, or measuring and adjusting pH and water activity.
Water Sampling & Water Testing Learn how to sample water at various locations, for later analysis in a lab. Then, learn how to do laboratory testing for E. coli, an indicator of contamination.
MyPlateMyDay Use MyPlateMyDay as a guide for the day and plan what you would like to eat!
Learn how your favorite foods fit into a MyPlate guide, how to split favorite combination foods into the MyPlate categories, and easy ways to eat more of what you need.
Build your understanding of horse behavior and explore the basics of handling horses safely and effectively. Learn about approaching a horse in a stall, catching and haltering, leading, and turning out a horse in a group.
Animations and interactive modules that address common student misconceptions on agricultural science topics, including water infiltration in soils, cation exchange, nitrogen in feeds and fertilizers, the logarithmic scale, multidimensional thinking, and reading graphs.
Smart educational animations, games, and interactive tools that help mid-school learners better understand math concepts.
For an example of a Math Snacks game, check out Agrinautica. Players can terraform planets by adding gorgeous plants, animals, fungi and minerals, each representing a unique mathematical expression. This game is designed for 4th and 5th graders learning mathematical expression-building and order of operations, important pre-algebra skills.
Videos and Animations
Reducing Antibiotic Resistance From Farm to Fork To maintain antibiotics' effectiveness in fighting dangerous bacterial infections for future generations, learn about how new technologies are helping us to better understand the management practices that can help to minimize potential risks of antibiotic resistance.
Everything Is Chemical Plants and animals are mostly composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. These chemicals – and how they are put together – underlie everything around us. That's why chemistry is such a valuable tool for agricultural, environmental and food scientists.
Fresh & Sometimes Dirty
Fresh produce can sometimes be dirty. It’s important to wash it, no matter where you get it. Short, humorous videos aimed at consumers who shop at Farmers’ Markets and suitable for sharing on social media.
Kitchen Knife Skills for Kids This video demonstrates safe techniques for chopping vegetables. Kids can learn to use knives safely, with supervision from an adult.
Kid Eats recipe videos Learn how to prepare vegetables and cook safely with your child with seven healthy recipes and supplemental materials, including videos of each recipe.
Don't Be Gross There is no 5-second rule. Designed for tweens to teens, these videos raise awareness about actions we take each day that are unsafe and about positive steps we can take to prevent illness.
See more videos at our Learning Games Lab YouTube channel and NMSU ACES YouTube channel!
For Clover Kids
Young children can practice skills and abilities that build self-confidence, provide value to others and may eventually lead them to create their own jobs. Part of an ongoing project of the NMSU Arrowhead Center.
Checking Out iPads
The Department of Innovative Media, Research and Extension has kits of iPads for check out: either a set of iPads to use as a group, or the Video iPad kit with tripod, light and mic.
To check out, contact:
Joe Valenzuela
Technology Support Tech, Sr
joev@nmsu.edu
(575) 646-5773
College Website Support
If you need support with your college website, we can help you learn how to edit the web pages yourself, or we can make whatever changes you would like. Call, email, or pop into our always-open Zoom Room to request changes:
Connie Padilla
ACES Webmaster
agwebmaster@nmsu.edu
(575) 646-3216
Zoom Room: https://nmsu.zoom.us/my/aceswebsupport
Social Media Support
If you’d appreciate support with social media, we can help you manage your accounts, develop new resources, and learn the ins and outs of different platforms. You might want to join our monthly social media meetings. Reach out to our extension social media specialist:
Jeffrey Buras
Multi-Media Specialist, Sr
(575) 646-1173
buras@nmsu.edu
We also invite 4-H agents to follow this blog for deeper discussions of our resources, guidance on how to create media, and additional information on what we do, how we do it, and how Extension can best integrate media into their work. The blog homepage includes a full list posts, searchable by topic: https://www.innovativemediablog.nmsu.edu/
Written by Amy Smith Muise and Barbara Chamberlin, PhD