Pizza Box Solar Oven: Weekly Science Activity

In this week's spotlight: an energy-focused family science activity that doubles as an alternative energy experiment and a recycling project. Using a pizza box (or other shipping box), foil, a few other readily available materials, and the power of the sun, you can make a functional solar-powered oven. Cooking will take longer than in a kitchen appliance, but with some planning, you can cook a meal or prepare a campsite batch of s'mores with your own homemade solar oven! How does a solar oven work? How does the design of a solar oven work to trap and use radiated heat? Build your own to find out. You might discover a solar oven has something in common with a greenhouse, too!

• Now You're Cooking! Building a Simple Solar Oven (full Science Buddies Project Idea)
• Sunny Science: Build a Pizza Box Solar Oven (science activity at Scientific American)