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Chef Tech

Cub Scouts · Adventure, Elective

Printable worksheet (PDF)

Chef Tech mixes cooking with technology. You'll pick a kitchen gadget, learn to use it safely, and make a recipe you found yourself. Then you'll dream up a way to make the appliance even better.

Why it's worth it

Chef Tech mixes cooking with technology. You'll pick a kitchen appliance with smart features, like a microwave, air fryer, or pressure cooker, learn its safety rules from the manual, and find a recipe online with an adult. Then you'll cook it and think like an inventor about how to make the appliance even better. Making a meal is a skill you'll use every day of your life.

Start this week

  1. Walk through your kitchen with your adult and list the appliances that have buttons, timers, or screens.
  2. Find the owner's manual for one of them, on paper or on the company's website.
  3. Wash your hands and tie back long hair before you start any cooking.
  4. Write down three foods you'd like to try making.

Stay safe

  • Cook only with an adult beside you. Use oven mitts, and let an adult handle anything hot or sharp.
  • Wash your hands before cooking and after touching raw eggs or meat.

Requirements · 5

Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab).

  1. Requirement 1

    Pick a kitchen appliance that uses technology to use for the rest of the requirements

    Tip: Pick an appliance like an air fryer, slow cooker, or microwave.

    For example: A microwave works great, and lots of homes have one. An air fryer, slow cooker, rice cooker, or pressure cooker works too. Pick the one your family uses most.

  2. Requirement 2

    With an adult, go over the safety guidelines in the appliance's owner's manual, and follow all of them

    Tip: Read the safety part of the manual with an adult and talk about the rules.

    For example: Read the safety section together. For a microwave it might say: no metal inside, use oven mitts, stir food so it heats evenly, and open covers away from your face so steam escapes.

  3. Requirement 3

    With adult supervision, find a recipe by downloading a cooking app or searching online

    Tip: With an adult, search a cooking app or website for a simple recipe you want to try.

    For example: With your adult, search for a recipe with five ingredients or fewer, like a microwave mug muffin or air-fryer apple chips. Check that it uses tools you have.

  4. Requirement 4

    With adult supervision, follow the recipe you chose and make it

    Tip: Cook with an adult beside you, and wash your hands before you start.

  5. Requirement 5

    Think of a way technology could improve the appliance you used for your recipe

    Tip: Think like an inventor. Could your appliance talk, beep, or show a picture to help cooks?

    For example: Your invention might be an air fryer that reminds you to shake the basket, a microwave that reads the recipe out loud, or a timer that lights up a different color for each step.

Talk about it together

  • What was the most surprising safety rule in the manual?
  • How did your recipe turn out, and what would you change next time?
  • What part of cooking did you do all by yourself?
  • If you could invent any kitchen gadget, what would it do?

Good questions to ask a family cook or chef

  • Which appliance do you use most, and why?
  • What's the most important kitchen safety rule?
  • What's an easy recipe every kid should learn?

Helpful reads

For leaders & parents

  • Have adults handle hot parts and sharp tools while scouts measure and mix.
  • Let scouts share what they cooked and their invention ideas at a den meeting.

People & places that can help

Pairs well with

Counts toward

More Bear adventures

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Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.