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Ready, Set, Grow

Cub Scouts · Adventure, Elective

Printable worksheet (PDF)

Ready, Set, Grow helps you learn where food comes from and how to grow something yourself. You'll plant a small garden and meet someone who knows how to help plants grow. Watching your plant sprout is exciting.

Why it's worth it

The apple in your lunch grew on a tree, and the bread started as wheat in a field. In Ready, Set, Grow you'll find out where food comes from, plant your own little garden, and meet someone who grows things. Watching a seed you planted push up out of the dirt is a kind of magic you get to make yourself.

Start this week

  1. Pick three foods from your kitchen and guess with your adult whether each came from a plant or an animal.
  2. Save a clean yogurt cup or find a small pot for planting.
  3. Choose an easy, fast seed to grow, like beans, peas, or sunflowers.

Stay safe

  • Wash your hands after touching soil and before eating, and ask an adult before tasting anything growing in a garden.

Requirements · 3

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

    Find out where the food we eat comes from

    Tip: At the grocery store, pick a food and talk with your adult about whether it came from a plant, an animal, or a farm far away.

    For example: Make a food map with your adult: milk comes from cows on a dairy farm, strawberries grow on low plants in fields, and rice grows in wet fields. Draw a line from each food to where it grew.

  2. Requirement 2

    Plant a small garden outdoors or in a container

    Tip: Plant easy seeds like beans or herbs in a cup or small bed, then water them and watch them grow.

    For example: Poke holes in the bottom of a cup, fill it with soil, push in two bean seeds, and water it. Put it in a sunny window and check it every day. Draw a picture each time something new happens.

  3. Requirement 3

    Visit someone who can show you different ways to garden (outdoors, greenhouse, container, and more) and the basic skills gardening takes

    Tip: Visit a community garden, farm, or garden center and ask someone to show you how they plant and care for things.

    For example: Visit a community garden with your den. A gardener shows you how to plant seeds, pull weeds, and water at the roots. Maybe they let you taste a cherry tomato.

Places to visit

Ask an adult to set it up, and go with your family, den, patrol, or crew.

  • A community garden

    Gardeners there grow food in small spaces and can show you lots of ways to plant.

    How: Your den leader or adult can contact the garden's organizers and ask for a short tour during a workday.

  • A farm or orchard that welcomes visitors

    You can see where fruits, vegetables, eggs, or milk come from before they reach the store.

    How: Have your adult look for farms with school or family tours, or ask your county extension office for ideas.

Talk about it together

  • What food were you surprised to learn grows on a plant?
  • What did your seed need to grow, and how did you help it?
  • How did it feel when you saw your first sprout?
  • What would you like to grow next time?

Helpful reads

For leaders & parents

  • Bring cups, soil, and quick-growing seeds so each Lion can plant at a meeting.
  • Contact a community garden or county extension office about a short visit.

People & places that can help

Pairs well with

Counts toward

More Lion adventures

Into this? Explore more

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