Skip to Content

4 Healthy and Simple Pinewood Derby Snacks

Add some excitement to the big race with these 4 healthy Pinewood Derby snacks. Cub Scouts and parents both will love them!

Cub Scout Healthy Pinewood Derby Snacks f

The Pinewood Derby is such a fun event for our Cub Scouts. It gives parents and kids an opportunity to work together to build something fun.

And it's a great learning opportunity. I shared three lessons that the Pinewood Derby taught us–creativity, challenge, and collaboration.

But this event can last a long time–especially if you have a big pack. It's a great idea to have some snacks available so that we don't have “hangry” Cub Scouts or younger siblings.

I shared some fun Pinewood Derby treats made from Little Debbie cakes and some made from Rice Krispies treats, but they weren't exactly healthy. I promised to share some that are a bit more healthy.

Several of our Cub Scout adventures have requirements about eating healthy snacks.

Tiger  Required Adventure Games Tigers Play 2. Talk with your den or family about why good nutrition helps you to be strong and active. Bring a nutritious snack to a den meeting. Share why you picked it and what makes it a good snack choice.

Tiger Required Adventure Tiger Bites 6. With your parent, guardian, or other caring adult, plan and make a good snack choice or other nutritious food to share with your den.

apple orange healthy pinewood derby snack

Bear Elective Adventure Bear Picnic Basket 1. Create your own Bear cookbook using at least five recipes you might cook or prepare either on your own or with some adult help. Include at least one recipe each for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a nutritious snack.

Bear Elective Adventure Bear Picnic Basket 3. Select and prepare two nutritious snacks for yourself, your family, or your den.

Having healthy Pinewood Derby snacks is a great way to show our Cub Scouts that healthy can be fun. Read on to discover four treats that your Cub Scouts will love.

Pinewood Derby Snacks Made with Apples or Oranges and Grapes

Making race cars out of apples or oranges with grape wheels is super easy. All you have to do is cut the fruit and attach the wheels using toothpicks.

Start by gathering your ingredients and supplies. Here's what you'll need.

fruit healthy pinewood derby snack ingredients

You'll probably want to wash your fruit before you begin cutting it.

My apples and oranges were big, so I cut them into 8 pieces each. If your fruit is small, you may decide to cut it into sixths rather than eighths.

I start by cutting the fruit in half. I then lay the flat side down onto the cutting board and cut it in half, making fourths.

Next, I cut the core out of each fourth. Finally, I cut each fourth in half making eighths.

After you've finished cutting your fruit, it's time to add the wheels.

Lay a piece of the fruit skin side down. Push two toothpicks through the apple or orange as shown in this picture. Then add a grape to each end of both toothpicks.

apple healthy pinewood derby snacks toothpick placement

The toothpicks will most likely have some excess sticking out of the grapes. You'll probably want to cut the toothpicks so that there is no excess poking out of the grape.

I tried doing this two different ways, and I'm not sure which is best. Experiment with both ways, and decide which you like.

After I attached the first grape, I pushed the toothpick through the apple so that all of the excess would be on one side. Basically, I pushed it until the grape covered all of the toothpick.

I added a grape on the other side then used my kitchen shears to cut the excess off so that the end of the toothpick was flush with the grape.

That was a little awkward for me, so I tried another method.

I added the grape on one side and pushed the toothpick through just like the first time. But before I added the second grape, I cut the excess toothpick off first.

fruit healthy pinewood derby snack

The second method was a little faster for me because I didn't have to make sure the scissors were as close to the grape as possible.

Your apples will start to turn brown, but there are two things you can do to slow down that process. You can toss them in a little lemon juice or you sprinkle Ball Fruit-Fresh on them. The Fruit-Fresh is probably the best option because the apples won't taste like lemon juice.

After I added the wheels to the cars, I added a black and white checkerboard toothpick flag. Make sure you angle them so that it looks like it's flying behind the car as it races down the road. ?

celery cream cheese healthy pinewood derby snack

Pinewood Derby Snacks Made with Celery and Cream Cheese or Peanut Butter

Note: Please be cautious about Cub Scouts with allergies if you make these. If one of your Scouts has a dairy allergy, you can purchase dairy-free cream cheese like the kind we used in our dairy-free armpit fudge.

celery healthy pinewood derby snack ingredients

Here's what you'll need:

Start by washing and cutting the celery. I didn't measure the celery–I just estimated how long I thought it would need to be and started cutting.

Next, push the toothpicks through the celery. This was harder to do by hand. I pushed the toothpick into the celery a little bit then put the end of the toothpick on the cutting board and pushed down on the celery stick.

This worked, but go slowly. If you push at an angle rather than straight down, the toothpick won't go straight through–it'll be at an angle. This will cause the wheel to be too low or too high, and the racers won't sit level.

assembly of celery peanut butter healthy pinewood derby snack
I took this picture before I figured out that it's easier to insert the toothpicks first then add the peanut butter or cream cheese.

After you've inserted the toothpicks, use a small spreader or spoon to add the cream cheese or peanut butter.

For the final touch, add a Teddy Graham driver. While I was doing this step, I discovered that some Teddy Grahams have their legs together and their arms down as if they're standing at attention. Other have their arms up and their legs spread like they're doing a jumping jack or making a snow angel.

teddy graham leg position difference

The celery pieces from the stalks closest to the middle have very narrow centers. The Teddy Grahams with their legs apart are too wide to push down into the cream cheese or peanut butter, so you'll want to use the ones with their legs together.

celery peanut butter healthy pinewood derby snack

Final Note: Because these Pinewood Derby snacks have toothpicks, you'll want to monitor the small children when they're eating them.

What do you think about these healthy Pinewood Derby snacks?

Yours in Scouting,
Sherry

P.S. Check out all these Pinewood Derby supplies!

4 Fun and Free Pinewood Derby Printable Activities ~ Cub Scout Ideas

Monday 26th of October 2020

[…] Pinewood Derby snacks made with apples, oranges, and […]

98 of the Most Awesome Pinewood Derby Award Ideas ~ Cub Scout Ideas

Friday 23rd of October 2020

[…] We can serve Pinewood Derby-themed food like these rice krispies treats, these race cars made out of snack cakes, or even healthy snacks made with fruit or celery! […]

17 Pinewood Derby Food Ideas Your Cub Scouts Will Love | Cub Scout Ideas

Saturday 6th of April 2019

[…] Butter or Cream Cheese Filled Celery – Recently, I put together some healthy Pinewood Derby treats. Fill celery sticks with either peanut butter or cream cheese and add grapes as wheels. Add a Teddy […]

How to Make Rice Krispie Treat Pinewood Derby Refreshments | Cub Scout Ideas

Saturday 6th of April 2019

[…] can find lots of themed Pinewood Derby refreshments. Check out my posts with healthy Pinewood Derby snacks and with cool Pinewood Derby […]