S’mores are one of my favorite desserts, combine that with my background in science and naturally, I have been dying to make solar oven smores. Solely in the interest of science education of course. 😉
DIY Solar Oven Smores
Easy Solar Oven Smores
It has been CRAZY hot lately, so we took advantage of the scorching sun this past weekend and made a solar oven. The best part is that we already had all the supplies on hand.
Solar Oven DIY
The base of the project was a couple of personal size pizza boxes I saved in my craft stash just for this project. The boys loved making and decorating their own personal solar ovens but a big pizza box would work too.
How to make a solar oven for kids
This project is fairly easy and older kids can do most of the steps themselves. Just have an adult use a craft knife or scissors to cut the solar oven door.
1) Cut the “oven door” flap on the box. The size depends on what you are cooking and how much access you need. Our door was large to maximize our s’mores capacity!
2) Decorate your solar oven with sharpies. This is a fun *optional* step.
DIY Solar Oven For Kids
3) Glue black construction paper to the bottom of the box. The black color absorbs the heat.
4) Glue aluminum foil to the inside of the door. The foil reflects the sun into the oven.
5) Tape the plastic over the opening of the door. This will allow the air inside the box to heat up but keep the heat trapped inside the box.
How to make a solar oven
6) Add a graham cracker, marshmallow, and chocolate inside the oven.
6) Place your oven outside in the sun. I taped a wooden skewer to prop the lid open at an ideal angle.
The chocolate naturally started melting quickly. So our indicator was the marshmallows, we waited until they had puffed up from the heat. It took about 90 minutes to bake our s’mores. When making these in less extreme temperatures, we just waited until the chocolate melted and called it good enough.
Easy Solar Oven Project
This project was easy, a lot of fun and perfect for preschool through middle school. Older kids could design their own boxes, or conduct scientific experiments by varying factors like the box size, oven door size, construction paper color, cooking time, outside temperature, etc. We talked about what was happening while we waited for the s’mores to bake.
Easy Solar Oven Project Supplies:
- Cardboard pizza box
- Aluminum foil
- Plastic wrap or bag
- Black construction paper
- Tape
- Glue stick
- Pencil or wooden skewer
- Scissors or utility knife
- S’mores supplies: chocolate, graham crackers, marshmallows
STEM Solar Oven Project Discussion Points
- The sun as a heat source
- What would happen if you used different color construction paper
- What’s the purpose of the foil
- The purpose of the plastic wrap
- How various weather conditions would affect the result
Then we feasted on our solar oven s’mores, I’m pretty sure everyone can get behind that scientific result. 😉
Have you made a DIY solar oven before?
Post originally published August 15, 2012
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Ashley @ Mama Of All Trades says
August 16, 2012 at 7:15 amSeriously, this is genius! I am so going to try this out next week with the kids! Learning and s’mores? Can’t go wrong with that!! Much better than using a flame, too.
Adiah Mayo says
February 16, 2017 at 3:24 pmI loved making it☺????
Karen says
February 22, 2017 at 11:23 pmAwesome!!
Sara @ Mom Endeavors says
August 16, 2012 at 7:28 amGah–Karen, I LOVE this!!! What a super fab idea in this crazy AZ record heat! This science loving mama will have to do this too! 🙂
Hanan says
August 16, 2012 at 8:00 amThat is the coolest thing I have ever seen for not only making S’mores, but put education into it too, awesome!
Jenny F says
August 16, 2012 at 8:17 amI had never heard of this! What a great idea! I will tuck this away for next summer, brilliant!!!!
Carrie with Children says
August 16, 2012 at 9:40 amThis is so super cool – I love it! What a fun way to incorporate learning into a fun activity… and even better with yummy Smores!
ericka says
September 20, 2016 at 11:53 amyep in our class were bout to make smores in our solar oven its going to be cool.
Cassie says
August 16, 2012 at 12:26 pmThis is really cool! I would have never thought about something like this.
Kerri says
August 16, 2012 at 9:06 pmFood and science equals fun! Great idea!
Becca says
August 20, 2012 at 8:44 pmYum!!! My boys would LOVE this!!!!
Michelle L. says
August 21, 2012 at 6:04 pmOh, this is fantastic! And your ‘feasting’ pictures are the cutest. Thanks for a great idea!
chaderz says
June 2, 2017 at 5:41 amthis is so ool dude
Holly says
August 27, 2012 at 10:41 pmI used to do this with my 8th graders as a fun inquiry project. We’d change all kinds of variables. Makes me miss those days as teacher…
Jennifer says
May 3, 2013 at 1:16 pmVisiting from Let’s Hear it For the Boys. I’d like to invite you to my Friday Flash Blog, where you can share your best blog entry of the week! The party goes on ALL weekend. And who knows, you may just get featured next week.
Jennifer
thejennyevolution.com
Wendy says
May 21, 2013 at 4:49 pmDo pizza boxes work well for this? Or are cereal boxes better? My son’s class is doing these soon. Thank you!
Karen says
May 22, 2013 at 8:37 amI think cereal boxes would work better. I’d love to hear how they turn out for your son’s class!
Jennifer says
July 6, 2017 at 4:43 amThanks for letting me know about this I’m gonna do it with the boys and girls club for. science thank you
Lisa says
July 21, 2017 at 7:30 pmHow did you keep ants and flying insects out?
Karen says
July 22, 2017 at 8:01 pmWe don’t really have a big bug problem here in Arizona, so there was never any problems with that. The plastic wrap does keep anything out that would randomly fly by accidently.
Bella Ward says
March 16, 2018 at 2:57 pmI’m in 6th grade and my class is doing a “Solar Oven” project. This is perfect for me because we have to build and research about Solar Ovens! Thanks! -Bella Ward 6th Grade California
Karen says
April 9, 2018 at 9:00 pmI’m so glad I could help!
Mee2 says
May 3, 2018 at 7:04 pmalso try #10 metal can stove
Isaac says
May 11, 2018 at 11:21 amHi i’m Isaac and i love this solar cooker its a amazing design
Wendy says
August 6, 2018 at 9:51 amWorked great- we did jourals to explain the experiment! Sun was 105° needed coffee cups to keep oven from blowing in the wind! Will use cereal box vs pizza box next time.
Karen says
August 6, 2018 at 9:30 pmGreat idea for next time!
Isabella The Girl Who Didn't Have Science Project Ideas says
April 8, 2019 at 11:00 amTHIS GOT ME AN A
Karen says
April 8, 2019 at 11:12 amAwesome! Great job on your project.
seqoia says
June 5, 2019 at 5:17 pmthat looks yummy