Week five: Create a solar oven
No campfires = no s’mores? Let your kid show off their independent streak and use the sun to cook up this sweet camp favorite instead.
Life skill: Independence
Supplies
You will need:
• a sheet of any color construction paper
• several sheets of black construction paper
• clean pizza box
• pencil, pen, or a marker
• a pair of scissors
• large piece of aluminum foil
• two pieces of plastic wrap
• tape
• several pieces of newspaper
Step 1: Make the oven door.
—Place a sheet of construction paper on the top center of a closed clean pizza box.
—Trace the outline of the paper with a pencil, pen, or a marker.
—Cut three sides of the traced shape. Do not cut the side closest to the hinge of the box. (An adult should do this for younger children.)
—Make a “door” by lifting the flap and folding it along the edge you did not cut.
—Cut a piece of aluminum foil the size of the flap and tape it to its underside, keeping it as wrinkle-free as possible. (The foil will direct the sun’s energy into the oven.)
Step 2: Make the oven window.
—Cut two pieces of plastic wrap a little larger than the flap opening (the hole you made when you cut the flap).
—Tape one piece of plastic wrap tightly over the outside of the flap opening.
—Open the pizza box and tape the second piece of plastic wrap tightly on the underside of the flap opening. (The plastic wrap window will trap the heat inside the solar oven.)
Step 3: Make the oven.
—Tape several sheets of black construction paper inside the box on the bottom. (The black paper will absorb the sun’s energy and help heat the solar oven.)
—Roll several pieces of newspaper into tubes.
—Stuff them into the sides of the box around the outside of the black paper. (This insulates your oven.) Make sure you can still close the lid.
Step 4: Fire up your oven!
—Find a sunny spot to put your oven between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the sun is strongest.
—Tape a stick to the flap to prop it open.
—Face the open oven in the sun’s direction.
Step 5: Make s’mores.
—Place an aluminum pie pan inside the oven.
• Set a graham cracker on top the pie pan.
• Place a piece of chocolate on top of the graham cracker.
• Put one or two large marshmallows on top of the chocolate. (Small marshmallows work, too.)
• Top it with a second graham cracker.
—Close the lid.
The s’mores will be ready to eat in about 30 to 60 minutes, when the marshmallows are squishy and the chocolate is melted. The oven and s’mores will be hot, so make sure kids wear oven mitts to remove the snack from the solar oven. (An adult should do this for younger children.)
This excerpt and other activities are from the book Make This: Building, Thinking, and Tinkering Projects for the Amazing Maker in You. Copyright © 2019 National Geographic Partners, LLC. Adapted for Nat Geo Family Camp by Ruth Musgrave.
