The sun is a star. And it’s more than 5,000 degrees Celsius, so why wouldn’t we use it to cook? To bake for an hour in a regular oven costs about sixteen cents, but the oven is big and needs an alternate energy source, like gas or electricity. You can build your own solar oven that captures the energy of the sun for free, and you don’t need to plug it in anywhere.
What you need:
• A shoebox or a clean pizza box
• Plastic wrap or a sheet of acetate
• Tape (painter’s tape, duct tape, or electrical tape)
• Black construction paper
• Aluminum foil
• Two wooden dowels, rulers, or sticks, measuring 12 inches
• S’mores fixings: graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows
What you do:
1.Turn the opening of your box away from you.
2.Cut a rectangular flap out of the top of the box, so the flap is still attached at the back of the box near you, leaving about 2 inches from the front and side edges on the lid of the box.
3.Bend that new flap up and cover the entire bottom
with aluminum foil.
4.Cover the remaining hole with plastic wrap.
5.Seal all the edges with tape.
6.Open the box and line the bottom with black
construction paper.
7.Arrange a few open-face s’mores (no graham cracker
on top) on the black paper.
8.Close the lid, but lift up the flap with the aluminum foil,
and prop that flap open with a wooden dowel or stick
so the sunlight can reflect off the aluminum foil and
towards your s’mores.
9.Watch and wait as your chocolate and marshmallows melt.
10.When the chocolate and marshmallows have melted, enjoy eating your star-powered, kid-made snack with friends!
