Cub Scout Nutrition Activities

Learning about nutrition sounds a lot like school! Make it more fun for the kids with these fun Cub Scout nutrition activities.

The Cub Scout adventure program has several food activities.  For some of them, the Scouts are bringing a nutritious snack to their den meetings.  For others, they are planning and preparing a nutritious meal for their families or for a campout.

Regardless, the Scouts will need to identify healthy foods.  What better way to learn than with Cub Scout nutrition activities!

Cub Scout Adventures Involving Food

• Lion Required Adventure Fun on the Run 1: Identify the five different food groups.
• Tiger Required Adventure Tiger Bites 1: Identify the five different food groups.
• Webelos Required Adventure Stronger, Faster, Higher 1: With your den or family, plan, cook, and eat a balanced meal.
• Arrow of Light Required Adventure Personal Fitness 1: Plan a balanced meal that you would eat when camping. Prepare that meal using the gear you would use on a campout.

It would be easy to just talk to the Scouts about nutritious foods, but it’s even better to learn with one of the Cub Scout nutrition games!

Cub Scout Nutrition Activities & Games

In the past, we relied on the Food Pyramid for guidance in selecting healthy foods. Now, we have MyPlate.

The US Department of Agriculture has some great online games for the Scouts to play. There are also printable activity sheets that you can use as good gathering activities.

My favorites are Cook-Off Craze and Winter Feast. They’re similar to Mad Libs where the kids write some words without knowing the story then read the story with their words inserted. The stories turn out to be hilarious, and the Cub Scouts love them!

But I really wanted an active, off-line Cub Scout nutrition game, and I wasn’t having much success finding one. So, I decided to make my own–the MyPlate Race.

How to Play the MyPlate Race

The Cub Scouts are divided into teams and race to put the food items in the group to which they belong.

Start by getting five large envelopes (or any other type of container you like) and labeling them with each food group.

• Fruits
• Vegetables
• Dairy
• Grains
• Protein Foods

Then, get a stack of colored index cards. Each team will need its own color cards, and you’ll need about fifteen cards of each color.

Write the name of one food item on each card. I used the same foods for each team, but you can also use different foods.

Pick at least three foods from each group. At this USDA website, you can click on each group to see a list of foods in that group.

At the meeting, hang the envelopes about waist high. If you’re indoors, make sure you use painter’s tape.

Divide the Scouts into teams, and assign a parent to work with each team. Give the parent the stack of index cards for that team.

Have the Scouts line up behind a starting line. When the den leader yells “GO!”, the parent will hand a card to the first Scout.

They have to figure out which food group the item belongs to, run to the correct envelope, and insert the card. Then, they run back to their team and tag the next Scout.

Continue the process until all the teams have placed all the cards. The first team to finish isn’t necessarily the winner–their foods must all be placed in the proper groups.

Gather the Scouts together to check the results. Take one food group envelope at a time, and pull out the cards. Hold up a card and ask the Scouts if it’s with the right group.

If a food is with the wrong group, you’ll know which team made the mistake because each team has its own color. If the first team to finish made a mistake, declare the second team the winner!

Just to recap, here are the steps for the Cub Scout nutrition game:

• Write names of food groups on large envelopes
• Write names of foods on colored index cards
• Hang envelopes about waist high at the den meeting
• Divide Scouts into teams & assign parent to each team
• Parent hands card to Scout who races to put the food into the right group
• At end of game, check cards to ensure the winners results are correct

I would love to hear about your Cub Scout nutrition games, so leave a comment to share other food activities you’ve done with your dens.

Yours in Scouting,
Sherry

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