Remember Wellness Club lesson plans can be used for After School Enrichment classes, Girl Scout and Boy Scout meetings, and more. This one combines using your imagination to design a super hero’s control panel with making a finger-licking-good Energy Ball snack…what more could a kid ask for in a meeting?!
Since this meeting involves food, make sure you send out the ingredient list to parents ahead of time and check for any food allergies. The recipe for the raw Energy Balls was inspired by one of my favorite healthy treats, Coco-roons. They are too expensive to buy regularly so I concocted a a recipe similar. Obviously, any other healthy snack idea could be substituted for the Energy Balls.
I must say my favorite part was hearing what the kids and parents had to share for their favorite healthy snacks. Lots of creative ideas and everyone went home inspired!
Items needed for this meeting:
- Plain white paper for craft and butcher paper for snack
- Colored pencils, markers, crayons
- Measuring spoons and cups
- Small and large bowls to put ingredients in
- Zip lock baggies to take some snacks home
- Paper towels or wet washcloths for cleanup
- Ingredients as listed below, each family brings in one or two
- One parent helper for every 4-6 kids
Lesson Plan for Meeting #2: How Super Heroes Snack
Part 1, 15 minutes: Super Hero Control Panel Design
As the kids come in, direct them to a table with paper, pencils, and anything else wanted to let their imaginations go wild. Let them know their first meeting mission is to design a control panel for a super hero. Similar to what Batman might have in his secret bat cave or his bat vehicle. Let them know that afterwards, they will be sharing the super powers of these buttons and levers with their friends.
Take this time to get set up for making the snack! Cover another table with butcher paper and have a bowl and spoon out for each child. Place the following ingredients into larger bowls if needed so that children can scoop out ingredients easily. The quantities listed will make about 4 big “Energy Balls” per child.
- 1/2 cup Almond Flour (Blanched)
- 1/4 cup Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
- 4 t. Maple Syrup
- 2 t. Vanilla Flavor (Frontier brand without alcohol)
- 1 t. Coconut Oil
- 5 dashes sea salt (like Redmond RealSalt)
- Optional: cocoa powder, chocolate chips, raw cocao chips, dried fruit
Part 2, 15-20 minutes: Sharing
Sitting in a circle with their control panel design plans, take turns going around sharing name, grade, favorite healthy snack and unhealthy snack, as well as 2-3 ideas from their design. Make sure to set a rule that you can’t say, “gross” to anyone’s snack. After someone shared their snack idea, we often asked for a show of hands to see who else had ever tried it or who else also liked it.
Make sure parents share too! Maybe ask if they think their family has a unique way to make a snack that other families might be interested in learning about… such as secret smoothie or muffin ingredients! After our meeting, parents were asking each other to email out their secret popcorn topping recipe and where they buy certain ingredients.
To transition to snack making, let them know that the Energy Ball snack they are making today would be “super hero approved” because it contains coconut oil which is a healthy fat that is super for their brain cells and a natural sweetener, maple syrup, that has lots of minerals to keep bones strong. This snack even contains lots of protein from the almond flour to support muscle growth.
Part 3, 30 minutes: Making the Energy Balls
After everyone washes hands, pass down the ingredients one at a time to each parent who will then help their group put the correct quantity into their bowls. No need to have exact measurements and feel free to leave out ingredients such as shredded coconut. Once kids start forming their balls, if they are too wet, add more flour or coconut, etc.
These are one-of-a-kind kid creations…see if they want to hide a dark chocolate chip in the center of one or turn another into a chocolate brownie energy ball by adding some cocoa powder. Adding raw cocao nibs makes them taste and look a bit like chocolate chip cookies. Roll balls in more coconut shreds or cocoa powder for a fancy finishing touch. Ask the kids if they can think of any other ideas for making their energy balls delicious. Lemon or mint essential oil? Dried fruit? Peanut butter with jelly inside?
Let them try one or two and put the remainder in a zip lock bag to bring home. The balls will firm up more if they are in the frig or freezer for awhile. There was lots of smiles and finger-licking at our meeting! One parent even brought homemade frozen smoothie pops to share with everyone too.
Even if you don’t do a meeting with this idea, try out the recipe, you’ll love it!!!
Matrix Wellness Club 