About the 4-H Foods Project

Have fun in the kitchen as you prepare and taste different foods, do fun experiments, and go on fact-finding missions! Learn all about healthy food selection, smart food purchasing, food safety and science, food preparation, food preservation, careers, and food around the world.

Questions?

Contact the Marion County 4-H office:

marion4h@purdue.edu
317-275-9305

Foods Project Resources

You can learn more about foods by completing one of the project activity guides, based on your grade level:

Levels and grades for foods projects are just suggestions. Be sure to read the exhibit guidelines linked below thoroughly before starting work on any project!

Project manuals may also be available to purchase at the Marion County Extension office, and older editions of manuals (if available) are free. Contact us to ask about availability!

Keep track of what you learn by using a record sheet found on the Indiana 4-H foods project page (scroll down to “Record Sheets”).

You can also join the Marion County 4-H Artistic Chefs Foods Club! Contact club leader Linda Bauknecht to join.


Showcasing What You’ve Learned

You can create a project exhibit to showcase what you’ve learned while working your project. Project exhibits are submitted for judging at the annual Marion County 4-H Showcase. You can enter food you have prepared in one of three categories:

  1. Baked: Cookies, cakes, breads, pies, etc.
  2. Preserved: Canned, dried, or frozen foods
  3. Creative Cookery (not eligible to advance to the State Fair): Any food that does not fit in the Baked or Preserved categories, such as food prepared in a microwave, crockpot, blender, grill, wok, etc.

You can also create a poster or display showcasing what you’ve learned.

Exhibit Guidelines

Score Cards

Advancing to the State Fair

  • Yes! Foods projects exhibits in the Baked and Preserved categories from 4-H members grades 3-12 are eligible to advance to the State Fair. Entries in Creative Cookery are judged at the county level only.

Cloverbuds (Grades K-2)

Exhibits

  • You may enter any food you have made in the Baked, Preserved, or Creative Cookery categories, or create an exhibit such as a poster or notebook showing what you have learned about a foods-related topic.
  • Cloverbud projects are for exhibition only (not judged), so there are no score cards, and exhibits are not eligible to advance to the State Fair.

More Foods Project Resources