Weather Academy: Solar Oven S’mores

MONROE, La. (KNOE) - This month, we’ve learned all about the power of heat. Today’s experiment will help to show what heat can do. We will be using the power of the sun to cook s’mores using supplies that you most likely already have at home!

What you’ll need:

- Cardboard box (pizza boxes work the best) - Aluminum foil - Plastic wrap - Black construction paper - Tape - Glue stick - Pie tin - Something to prop open your over (pencil, ruler, stick, knitting needle, wooden skewer, or whatever you have handy) - Scissors or utility knife - S’mores ingredients (graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate)

Steps:

1. First, we are going to cut a three-sided flap out of the lid of our pizza box to make the oven door. You’ll want to leave an inch border on all three sides.
2. Use the glue stick to glue the black construction paper to the bottom of the box. Earlier this month, we learned that black is the best absorber of heat and light. Now the black construction paper is going to help the inside of our oven get nice and toasty.
3. Glue tin foil to cover the entire flap that we cut out in step one. Make sure it is as smooth as possible. The foil will help to reflect the sun’s rays directly into the oven.
4. Tape two layers of plastic wrap to the opening we made in the lid. You want one layer on the top of the lid and one layer on the bottom side of the lid. This will trap the air inside of the oven as it heats up.
5. Now it’s time to cook! Set your oven in direct sunlight. This experiment works best when it is at least 85 degrees outside, which should be no issue here in the ArkLaMiss this week.
6. Prop open your oven so that the flap covered in tin foil is reflecting light directly into the oven. You might have to secure your prop up with tape.
7. Let your oven preheat by sitting in direct sunlight for at least 15 minutes.
8. While your oven is preheating, get your s’mores ingredients ready by breaking the graham crackers into squares. Place the desired amount of graham crackers onto the pie tin.
9. Place the marshmallow on top of the graham cracker and then place the pie tin in the oven. We’re leaving the chocolate out for now because it’ll melt much faster than the marshmallow.
10. Close the oven lid tightly and make sure the tin foil flap is reflecting sunlight into the oven.
11. Let the s’mores cook for 30 to 60 minutes or until the marshmallows are at the desired squishiness. An important thing to note is that the marshmallow won’t puff up as it would in a microwave, but it will start to get soft after a while.
12. When they are ready, take the pie tin out of the open and top the marshmallow with a piece of chocolate. Place another graham cracker on top.
13. At this point, you can either eat the s’more as is or place them back into the oven for a few moments to let the chocolate melt.

We hope your s’mores turned out as delicious as ours did! Don’t forget to submit photos of your solar oven here.

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