DIY Solar Oven for Kids – Fun Science Project
Love science? Love s’mores? Try this fun and easy DIY Solar Oven for Kids. Use your creativity to make some delicious s’mores and memories.
Make memories with the kids all while learning a little science with this fun DIY Solar Oven for Kids. Harness the power of the sun and use it to melt some marshmallows and chocolate for s’mores with this easy and fun project.
Supplies
For this project you will need some things that you likely already have on hand.
- Box with flip top lid (pizza, doughnut, shoe, etc.)
- aluminum foil
- plastic wrap or page protector
- bamboo skewer
- Tape
- scissors
- pencil
- ruler
- (Whatever you want to cook in your oven. We did s’mores.)
Instructions
Take a look at your box. It is going to have a window in the lid to allow the sun to come in. Using your ruler mark three sides of your window. Left, Right, and bottom. You want your window to be large. Leave about 1 -2 inches of box around the perimeter.
Using your scissors to cut the lid on three sides to create a flap in the lid. Fold the cut flap on the lid back.
Line the inside bottom of the box with aluminum foil. Also, attach aluminum foil to the underside of the cut flap on the lid to reflect sunlight into the box.
Now, attach the plastic wrap or page protector to the opening in the lid using tape. This will create a window.
Poke a hole through the lid of the box to lean against the cut flap to hold the flap up.
Your oven is ready to rock!
How to Use
Now that you have made your oven it is time to get cooking. You need to find a sunny spot in your yard. Set your oven on a small table or on a blanket.
We chose to make s’mores in ours.
Place the graham crackers inside the box with a piece of chocolate bar and a marshmallow on top. Close the box and position the box to face the sun with the flap up. The chocolate will melt quickly. The marshmallow will soften but it will take longer.
When the marshmallow is soft enough, press another graham cracker square against the top of the s’more. Enjoy!
Science
This is so cool, but how does it work?
Some fun key concepts in this project are learning about heatwaves, the sun, even recycling.
As simply as possible the aluminum foil reflects the heat waves onto the item in the box. The box helps to contain the heat cooking the item. I suggest getting your kids involved in some online research or hitting your local library to dig up some info on heatwaves and solar to turn this into a fun learning experience.
These work so well that they actually sell solar ovens on Amazon for camping and more. Check them out.
Things to Cook
Now that you have created your own DIY Solar Box Oven it is time to getting cooking. Experiment with different items to see how they cook up! Here are a few things that work well.
- melting cheese for a sandwich
- melting chocolate
- heating up a hot dog
- warming up a cold cookie
- nachos
Love s’mores? So do we…Check out our hidden s’mores category with tons of s’more goodness.
Solar Box Oven
Ingredients
- 1 box with an attached flip top lid pizza box, doughnut box, shoebox, gift box, etc.
- Aluminum foil
- Plastic page protector or plastic wrap
- Tape
- Scissors
- Ruler or other straight edge
- Pencil
- Bamboo skewer
Smores
- Chocolate candy bars
- Graham crackers broken into squares
- Marshmallows
Instructions
- Mark the top of the box for the approximate dimensions of the window, leaving enough space along the edges to attach the page protector or plastic wrap. It doesn’t need to be an exact measurement.
- Cut the lid on three sides to create a flap in the lid. Fold the cut flap on the lid back.
- Line the inside bottom of the box with aluminum foil. Also attach aluminum foil to the underside of the cut flap on the lid to reflect sunlight into the box.
- Attach the page protector or plastic wrap to the opening of the lid.
- Poke a hole through the lid of the box to lean against the cut flap to hold the flap up.
Smores
- Place the graham crackers inside the box with a piece of chocolate bar and a marshmallow on top. Close the box and position the box to face the sun with the flap up. The chocolate will melt quickly. The marshmallow will soften but it will take longer.
- When the marshmallow is soft enough, press another graham cracker square against the top of the s’more. Enjoy!
