Teaching Nutrition to Rambunctious 10 Year Old Boys

I had the opportunity to teach a group of 10 year old Cub Scouts (Webelos) a nutrition lesson to earn their Fitness badge yesterday. I actually love teaching this one. I have taught it at least 6 times to different cub groups in my area. But those boys are CRAZY!! And cute. And Fun. And super smart! I usually don’t have to teach them much, because their parents have done such a great job teaching them.

While this lesson is patterned after the Webelos requirement (replacing the old MyPyramid with MyPlate of course!!) you could teach this lesson to any children! In fact, home schoolers, public schoolers, and parents just wanting to talk about nutrition with their kids can use this template for sure!

Cub-scout-webelos-fitness-activity-badge Ideas

The requirements:

1) Make a Safety Notebook.

A very clever den leader (which is not me) created this printable that I’ve used.
We fill out the section with important phone numbers.
I start this section by asking these questions:

1. Why is being safe part of being healthy?
2. What are some consequences of not being safe?
3. What are some house rules you have that help everyone be safe?

Lastly, they fill out the section that talks about their own house rules (or for the sake of time, I tell them to do this with their families at home).

2) Plan Meals

In order to plan meals, we have to talk about why each food group is vital to a well balanced diet. I gave them each a plate, and we talked about each food group, and let them taste a little sample from the food group. For each food group (Vegetables, fruit, protein, grains, and dairy), I asked:
1. What are some of your favorite foods from this food group? (they taste the food I brought for them)

- Why is this food group important to eat at your meals?
  - Vegetables: They have vitamins, minerals, and fiber that help our body do it’s job like pump blood through our body, digest food, and clean out our cells.
  - Fruits: They have vitamins and phytonutrients that keep us from getting sick (vitamin C) and even avoid diseases.
  - Protein: Helps us to grow muscles!
  - Grains: Gives us energy to run and play
  - Dairy: Helps build our bones.
Then we fill out the meal planner. This has a section for four meals. The first one I have them write which foods they typically enjoy for breakfast, and include each food group. We also do this for lunch, a snack, and dinner.

3) Keep a Record of Daily Meals

I gave them this 7 day tracker, and tell them they have to go home and record their meals for one week! (I printed page 3 only)
Make sure they remember the importance of eating foods from each food group.

4-6) Effects of smoking, alcohol and drugs

For this, we literally just had a discussion. I asked the questions
1. What effects does smoking, alcohol and drugs have on your body?
2. What are some reasons to avoid these things?
3. What are some good strategies to avoid these things?

And lastly, here is a photo of my very favorite cub scout of them all 🙂