Let’s Make S’mores! Cooking with Science – Solar Oven STEM Activity

Turn a favorite treat into an engaging hands-on science investigation! In this activity, students explore how light energy can be transformed into heat energy as they construct a simple solar oven from a pizza box and use it to make s’mores.

The presentation begins by encouraging students to brainstorm how they might melt a s’more at school without using a traditional oven, microwave, or fire. Students consider variables such as sunlight, color, foil, enclosed spaces, and oven design before moving through step-by-step instructions for constructing their own solar oven.

Throughout the activity, discussion questions encourage students to think about energy transfer, heat, light, absorption, reflection, and solar energy while making observations about what is happening inside their ovens. The included teacher speaker notes provide additional instructional suggestions, discussion ideas, classroom-management tips, and science connections.

The lesson concludes with students summarizing their investigation using a CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning)response, making this activity more than just a fun STEM build—it gives students an opportunity to connect their observations to scientific reasoning.

This activity works especially well for elementary science, STEM lessons, energy units, solar energy investigations, end-of-year science activities, summer-themed science, or any time you want students learning through hands-on exploration.