Solar Energy STEAM Activity for the Whole Family to Enjoy
By: Julie Armstrong
You’ve heard it before and you’ll hear it again – Renewable energy is the energy of the future! Doesn’t it make sense then to begin now to teach our children about these energy choices now? Here’s a fun, family STEAM project for you to try at home that has a yummy ending!
First Read Iqbal and his Ingenious Idea: How a Science Project Helps one Family and the Planet by Elizabeth Suneby. You can find that e-book in Hoopla by clicking here and using your library card. This fictional story is about a boy living in Bangladesh who enters a science fair with a sustainable project that helps his family cook with solar energy.
Next, do a little background research about sustainable energy sources by going to our Power Knowledge database here and entering your library care number. Search “Solar Energy” and take some time to look through the content. You can even have this content read to you which is a great tool if you have a younger child who struggles with reading.
You can also watch this National Geographic video about how solar stoves are helping people in underdeveloped countries live healthier lives.
Now for the fun and yummy part…the challenge! Pick a sunny day and gather your supplies. You will need a pizza box (or similar shaped box), aluminum foil, clear plastic wrap, pencil, ruler, tape, scissors, box cutter, wooden dowel rod (or you can just use the ruler), black construction paper and s’more supplies. The instructions to make you solar oven can be found here if you prefer to watch a video or you can read how to construct it at the end of Iqbal and his Ingenious Idea: How a Science Project Helps one Family and the Planet.
That’s it! It may take about an hour for your s’more’s to be ready to eat, but trust me – the wait will be worth it! YUMMY!