Who’s ready for some fun in the sun? A favorite practical life activity that we’ve used in Upper Elementary is making some tasty treats using solar oven cooking. The kids LOVED this activity and anticipated any day when this was an option.
We’ve used both a homemade pizza-box style and a pre-constructed oven that was on loan to us from another teacher, with mixed results. Nevertheless, it made for some fun, and fingers covered in melted chocolate. S’mores was the recipe of choice for this – simple yet delicious!
This was typically a “fun Friday” choice when students had completed their work goals for the week (but it could also make for a fun end-of-the-year activity, too). Several students made solar ovens using a pizza box. Here is a great YouTube video with clear instructions on how to make a pizza box solar oven.
What I love about this project is that it requires very few materials and is easy for the kids to construct and use independently. Building and testing their ovens, noticing what works and what doesn’t in terms of the position of the sun is hands-on science in action!
Below are some photos from our most recent solar oven experience. We were out of marshmallows, so we just used chocolate chips on graham crackers. After 15 minutes in the solar oven, the chocolate chips were 137 degrees. Ouch!
The ruler helps keep the lid at the just the right angle to reflect more sun
Carefully removing the finished product
Wow! After 15 minutes in the solar oven, the chocolate chips registered at 137 degrees.
Have you tried solar oven cooking? If not, give it a go and have some fun in the process!
