Abstract The measurement of mid‐upper arm circumference ( MUAC ) using CIMDER tapes to assess the nutritional status of children aged 5 years and younger first occurred nearly 40 years ago. In this study, new CIMDER tapes were developed to assess severe and moderate malnutrition, mild malnutrition and, for the first time using the MUAC method, overweight in children aged less than 5 years, based on the World Health Organization ( WHO ) MUAC (2006) reference standards. The tapes were developed for boys and girls and specified for four age ranges: 3–6 months, 6.1–18 months, 18.1–36 months and 36.1–60 months. The weight, age and MUAC of 1283 children were assessed to evaluate the accuracy and concordance of the new CIMDER tapes with the WHO weight‐for‐age reference standards. The new CIMDER tapes were found to have good accuracy and concordance with the WHO weight‐for‐age reference standards across all age and sex groups. These results suggest that the new CIMDER tapes can be used in place of WHO weight‐for‐age growth charts for screening nutritional status of children less than 5 years of age, including for risk of malnutrition and overweight.