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DIY Solar Oven Smores

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August 26, 2024 · Karen · 63 Comments

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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

Try this easy DIY Solar Oven for kids this summer. Learn how to make a solar oven with these plans, perfect for summer fun or a science project. Start with a cardboard pizza box (or shoe box) and you are on your way to a simple experiment that combines STEM with cooking. Other Solar Oven baking ideas include nachos, popcorn or cookies. This post is perfect for teachers looking for how to build a homemade solar oven for a school lesson as well.
Pin this post and use it to study the power of the sun on a sunny day

Easy Solar Oven Smores

It has been CRAZY hot lately, so we took advantage of the scorching sun this past weekend and made the best solar oven. Why is it the best? We already had all the supplies on hand, I love it when a fun plan comes together inexpensively!

cardboard pizza box, markers, foil, plastic wrap and black construction paper for making a DIY solar oven
Use craft supplies and a cardboard pizza box to make a Solar Oven at home.

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 DIY Solar Oven using cardboard boxes

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 top of the pizza 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.

Use tape and a glue stick to add the foil, black paper and plastic window to the solar oven.

DIY Solar Oven For Kids

3) Glue black construction paper to the bottom of the box. The black color absorbs the heat inside of the box.

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.

I used a wood skewer to prop the solar oven lid open and allow the sun to cook the s’mores.

How to make a solar oven

6) Add a graham cracker, marshmallow, and piece of chocolate inside the oven.

7) Place your oven outside in the sun. I taped a wooden skewer to prop the lid open at an ideal angle.

This project works best on hot summer days. The chocolate naturally started melting quickly.

Our ‘done’ 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.

Turn a STEM project into a STEAM project by allowing the kids to decorate their solar ovens.

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 bar, graham crackers, marshmallows
Cardboard solar ovens with Smores
Make Smores in a simple solar cooker and the energy of the sun

Then we feasted on our solar oven s’mores, I’m pretty sure everyone can get behind that scientific result. 😉

Your own solar cooker will not get as hot as a conventional oven but it can still be hot enough to need an oven mitt.

STEM Solar Oven Project Discussion Points

  • The sun as a heat source
  • “A process called nuclear fusion converts hydrogen to helium deep in the sun’s core, where temperatures hit a balmy 18 million degrees Fahrenheit (15.7 million degrees Celsius). Fusion creates energy that travels to the sun’s surface in a journey that lasts a million years. ” Learn more from National Geographic Kids
  • What would happen if you used different color construction paper?
    • We use a sheet of black paper to help absorb the heat. Black absorbs the most heat (white absorbs the least) so any other color would absorb less heat and negatively affect the success of the solar oven.
  • What’s the purpose of the foil?
    • The sun’s rays are collected by the reflective panel and concentrated inside the box. This converts the sun’s energy into thermal energy which is how solar ovens work.
  • The purpose of the plastic wrap?
    • The plastic wrap helps trap the sun’s heat in the pizza box ovens and lessens heat loss.
  • How various weather conditions would affect the result?
    • Direct sunlight gives the best result, cloudy days will lessen the success of solar cooking.

Books about Solar Power

  • The Kids’ Solar Energy Book is recommended for grades 3-7.
  • Running on Sunshine: How Does Solar Energy Work? is recommend for preschool through grade 3.
  • Solar Energy! How Does It Work? is another science book recommendation.
Pin this easy science experiment that combines STEM and a yummy treat

Have you made a DIY solar oven before?

Post originally published August 15, 2012

More fun learning activities like Solar Oven Smores:

  • Pi Day Activities
  • Cardboard Box Party
  • Jelly Bean Activities

kids, crafts, featured, School, Summer

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Comments

  1. Ashley @ Mama Of All Trades says

    August 16, 2012 at 7:15 am

    Seriously, 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.

    Reply
    • Adiah Mayo says

      February 16, 2017 at 3:24 pm

      I loved making it☺????

      Reply
      • Karen says

        February 22, 2017 at 11:23 pm

        Awesome!!

        Reply
  2. Sara @ Mom Endeavors says

    August 16, 2012 at 7:28 am

    Gah–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! 🙂

    Reply
  3. Hanan says

    August 16, 2012 at 8:00 am

    That is the coolest thing I have ever seen for not only making S’mores, but put education into it too, awesome!

    Reply
  4. Jenny F says

    August 16, 2012 at 8:17 am

    I had never heard of this! What a great idea! I will tuck this away for next summer, brilliant!!!!

    Reply
  5. Carrie with Children says

    August 16, 2012 at 9:40 am

    This is so super cool – I love it! What a fun way to incorporate learning into a fun activity… and even better with yummy Smores!

    Reply
    • ericka says

      September 20, 2016 at 11:53 am

      yep in our class were bout to make smores in our solar oven its going to be cool.

      Reply
  6. Cassie says

    August 16, 2012 at 12:26 pm

    This is really cool! I would have never thought about something like this.

    Reply
  7. Kerri says

    August 16, 2012 at 9:06 pm

    Food and science equals fun! Great idea!

    Reply
  8. Becca says

    August 20, 2012 at 8:44 pm

    Yum!!! My boys would LOVE this!!!!

    Reply
  9. Michelle L. says

    August 21, 2012 at 6:04 pm

    Oh, this is fantastic! And your ‘feasting’ pictures are the cutest. Thanks for a great idea!

    Reply
    • chaderz says

      June 2, 2017 at 5:41 am

      this is so ool dude

      Reply
  10. Holly says

    August 27, 2012 at 10:41 pm

    I 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…

    Reply
  11. Jennifer says

    May 3, 2013 at 1:16 pm

    Visiting 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

    Reply
  12. Wendy says

    May 21, 2013 at 4:49 pm

    Do pizza boxes work well for this? Or are cereal boxes better? My son’s class is doing these soon. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      May 22, 2013 at 8:37 am

      I think cereal boxes would work better. I’d love to hear how they turn out for your son’s class!

      Reply
  13. Jennifer says

    July 6, 2017 at 4:43 am

    Thanks for letting me know about this I’m gonna do it with the boys and girls club for. science thank you

    Reply
  14. Lisa says

    July 21, 2017 at 7:30 pm

    How did you keep ants and flying insects out?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      July 22, 2017 at 8:01 pm

      We 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.

      Reply
  15. Bella Ward says

    March 16, 2018 at 2:57 pm

    I’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

    Reply
    • Karen says

      April 9, 2018 at 9:00 pm

      I’m so glad I could help!

      Reply
  16. Mee2 says

    May 3, 2018 at 7:04 pm

    also try #10 metal can stove

    Reply
  17. Isaac says

    May 11, 2018 at 11:21 am

    Hi i’m Isaac and i love this solar cooker its a amazing design

    Reply
  18. Wendy says

    August 6, 2018 at 9:51 am

    Worked 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.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      August 6, 2018 at 9:30 pm

      Great idea for next time!

      Reply
  19. Isabella The Girl Who Didn't Have Science Project Ideas says

    April 8, 2019 at 11:00 am

    THIS GOT ME AN A

    Reply
    • Karen says

      April 8, 2019 at 11:12 am

      Awesome! Great job on your project.

      Reply
  20. seqoia says

    June 5, 2019 at 5:17 pm

    that looks yummy

    Reply
  21. Cecelia M Teague says

    July 12, 2019 at 11:09 am

    I don’t have black construction paper but I do have black paper cake plates (from a 50th birthday party). I’m going to try this with grandsons tomorrow!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      July 12, 2019 at 1:36 pm

      That sounds like a reasonable substitution. Good luck!

      Reply
  22. Tacopants Kid says

    September 30, 2019 at 10:21 am

    This is going to be great! Our STEM class is using many types of solar oven recipes, and this looks perfect!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 1, 2019 at 7:14 am

      So glad I can help!!

      Reply
  23. E.J Allen says

    November 25, 2019 at 11:46 am

    This Is awesome. This is my science project

    Reply
    • Karen says

      November 26, 2019 at 8:54 am

      Glad I can help!

      Reply
  24. Scarlet says

    January 24, 2020 at 7:08 am

    What a great idea to cook smores in the solar oven. That makes science is more fun!

    Reply
  25. Ella says

    March 10, 2020 at 1:50 pm

    I’m using this for my 5th grade science fair so I hope it will be good.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      March 11, 2020 at 9:57 am

      Good Luck!

      Reply
  26. Kitty Mainia says

    April 26, 2021 at 1:09 pm

    Our class is getting ready to do this. I can’t wait to try it out!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      April 29, 2021 at 7:03 pm

      Awesome!!

      Reply
  27. sonya says

    June 2, 2021 at 9:28 am

    I use this activity as a summer literacy activity. We read a book about solar power and did this activity.
    The kids enjoyed it. Super fun.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      June 2, 2021 at 2:06 pm

      That’s a great idea!

      Reply
  28. Zantaniel Priel says

    October 9, 2021 at 1:42 am

    Thanks.
    This’s gonna be awesome.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 15, 2021 at 10:04 am

      Yay!!!

      Reply
  29. lizzy says

    October 3, 2022 at 9:25 am

    That looks so cool

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 16, 2022 at 8:14 am

      Thanks!

      Reply
  30. Rahil Ahmadi says

    October 8, 2022 at 10:11 pm

    I loved making this! Super fun and sooooooo educational. It was also a great treat. I liked how the materials were everyday materials. But what else can our kids make with this solar oven?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      October 16, 2022 at 8:14 am

      We haven’t tried anything else but nachos should be easy enough to melt.

      Reply
  31. Nash says

    March 4, 2023 at 11:14 am

    Is there no way to print the directions?

    Reply
    • Karen says

      March 17, 2023 at 5:33 pm

      You can print the webpage, I’ll consider adding a printable pdf in the future.

      Reply
  32. Tinley says

    April 16, 2023 at 8:54 am

    Will the project work in 60 degree weather I am in 4th grade and using this as a science project for my science fair it’s not that hot in Montana right now. P.S. this is a genius idea for any age.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      April 17, 2023 at 7:04 pm

      I think it would work eventually on a sunny day, it might take a lot longer. But if its for the science fair, you can just test the theory. Good Luck!

      Reply
  33. Ranae says

    May 24, 2023 at 7:51 am

    Thank you for this simple and very cool idea. I now have the perfect activity for the end of the year for my science students. This will be a sanity saver for me.

    Reply
    • Karen says

      May 24, 2023 at 1:48 pm

      So happy I could help!!

      Reply
  34. Mollie says

    August 30, 2023 at 6:45 pm

    Hello! Thank you So much for this! I am doing this as my First Ever meeting for a STEM club at my elementary school! Well actually 2 meetings, first meeting they are decorating, then the next week we are makin’ the s’mores!

    Reply
    • Karen says

      August 31, 2023 at 3:31 pm

      That’s so awesome! You can’t go wrong with s’mores! 🙂

      Reply

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Hi! I’m Karen.

I'm a mom to two boys, Arizona native, and travel lover. Desert Chica is my place to share a peek into our life and the easy and inexpensive costumes, crafts and desserts I like to make. “If I can do it, anyone can!” Learn more about me here.

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