Posted in My Homeschool FAQs

Years ago my friend Suzie made a Solar Oven and I have wanted to make one ever since!  (Yet, somehow I have never gotten around to it!  LOL)  Suzie's was made from a big enough box she would actually cook meals in it!  (If I remember right most things that can be cooked in a crock pot can be done in a large solar oven.)  The other day I came across a post at the School For Us blog about making a solar oven from a pizza box!  We went and got pizza right away!  LOL 

We decided to make 2 since we had 2 pizza boxes.  Also I though it would be interesting to see if different circumstances changed the outcome.

Here are the boys working on lining their box with foil.

My daughter starts her oven by applying glue to her pizza box.

The foil is applied and ready to reflect the sun!

The ovens are ready!  (Well, almost we still had to put the black piece of paper under the cooking area.)

We decided S'mores would be a good 1st thing to cook!

Here the oldest 2 are with the 2 ovens.  We decided to put a black trash bag under one to see if it made any difference in the cooking process. (We also included a oven thermometer in each of our pizza boxes.)


Here are the kids hypothesis they made before we cooked the S'mores:

6 year old: 
It will get really heated up and melt in maybe 1 hour.  I think the one on black will cook faster.  It is possible they could cook at the same speed.

12 year old:
I think pretty much the same as my sister, but I think it will take 2 hours.  I think the black one will cook faster.

3 year old:
I think the pizza box will explode and go to the floor! (Said with a big grin and a giggle!  LOL)

Here is our chart of what happened:

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TIME      TEMP                                      WHAT'S COOKING?      CHANGES

2:15         102 degrees (outside)      S'mores                              Just put out in the sun.
2:30         Black 125 - White 125                                                    Chocolate slightly melted
2:45         Black 127 - White 127                                                    Chocolate slightly melted
3:15         Black 160 - White 140                                                    Black - ready to eat!
3:45         White 150                                                                          White - ready to eat!

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Opening the oven after the S'mores are cooked

First taste!

Yummy!
When asked by her dad later in the day how she liked making the solar ovens my 6 year old replied "It was awesome sauce!"  (Which is a strange, but popular saying my kids are currently fond of! LOL)

HERE are the step by step instructions for making the Pizza Box Solar Oven.

Now I would like to come up with something that would really "cook" in the solar oven.  (Instead of just heating up like the S'mores did. ) I am wondering about making brownies?  I will let you know if we try it!

Thanks so much to Dana at School For Us for getting us going on this project!

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Comments

Posted by drewsfamilytx

I remember making solar hot dog cookers when I was in jr. high. It worked okay... not as good as a grill of course, but it did get get warm.

It was similar to this:

http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/solardogs.html

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Posted by Jimmie

that you're SUPER HOMESCHOOL MOM!
Fantastic, Jamin! :-)
WOW! 105?? I don't know that you need an oven to cook anything -- just set it outside. LOL

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Posted by Leigh2

I am going to have to try this. My kids would love it!

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Posted by Anonymous

I think we're on the same heat wavelength! I was just waiting for "pizza night" to get the boxes for this project. Glad to know it actually works. My kids will love it. In the recipe we saw they also made hot dogs.

Jamie

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Posted by briarwren

That really looks like a lot of fun. I'll have to try it with my little goobers. My oldest is learning about the moon and some astronomy this week, so that might be a good add in, with sun and and stuff.

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Posted by A Note From Theresa

That is the coolest thing. I'll have to do that with my children. All though, August is the hottest month here in Texas. So the s'mores may burn lol.

http://www.theresamcentire.blogspot.com

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Posted by Diane

Oh you guys are just so much fun! Can you be my teacher?!. :)

Cool experiment.

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Posted by picluvinmom

that is awesome thanks for sharing

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Posted by diamondsintherough

Hi Jamin,
Thanks for your comment and post on things for the child to do! I had to go see who you are, and wow, am I impressed. You have so much useful stuff posted! I have to come back here for recipes and other ideas. We have to do this oven. Please let us know how the brownies turn out. I am thinking you would have to cover them with foil wihle they are baking, so they aren't brick hard from the dry air...? We live in the desert, too, AZ-type desert. Is that where you are?
I'll be back...
Sally

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Posted by Anonymous

I'm so glad it worked for you! I like how you added the experiment with the white & black underneath it and how that turned out. I didn't even think of trying something like brownies. Please do let us know!
Dana, www.alexml.blogspot.com

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Posted by redmom

Now THAT looks fun! We're going to do that!

I was literally laughing out loud at your three year old's hypothesis. Too funny!

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Posted by homeschoolingmommaof4

This is very cool! I think I'm going to have to give this a shot with the boys. Thanks for sharing.

Have a great week!
JoAnn

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Posted by Anonymous

in school we are working on building a solar oven and i want to know how long do you think it would take to make cookies? How hot can it get?

please write back

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Posted by by hds

we need your help please tell me how hot it hot and how long did it take to get hot? We are working on this in school and me and my group really want a good grade.
PLEASE WRITE BACK!!!

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Posted by jaminacema

The hottest ours got was 150 degrees. A lot will depend on your outside temp and where you place your ovens. You can also try things to increase the temp like putting it on the black trash bag. The best thing to do is play with it and see what happens in different conditions. That is what makes experiments FUN!

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Posted by Anonymous

Thanks for the wonderful experiment and the detailed analysis. If you try this again this summer, have you thought of ..

[1] Sealing the corners inside and outside with tape or to make it airtight?

[2] Adding more foil collectors to the left and right sides from the other pizza box to improve collection efficiency?

[3] Wrapping the bottom and sides in black paper or paint it black.

I'm sure the above modifications will reduce cooking time in half ..

I want to try but not for another month or so ..

Thanks again!
solar lover

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Posted by Guam reader

Oh, this is cool!
I'm doing this as a science project here on Guam.

Year round, it's over 90 degrees outside.
So it should work like a charm.

Imagine during summer though.
It get's to about 100 degrees daily.
Sad huh?
haha.

Thanks for the info.
I'll be sure to try it!
=)

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