School Science Fair Project: Cardboard Box Solar Oven

A couple of years ago my son and I made a solar oven for his school science fair project. The project was a huge success, and won my son a second prize for the science fair.

What You Will Need

Two cardboard boxes. The outer box should be fairly large. Fortunately I had just bought my son a computer on eBay, and the box it came in was the perfect size. The inner should be at least 15 inches by 15 inches, but it can be bigger. The idea is to set the small box inside the large box so that there's plenty of air space in between the two boxes.

One sheet of cardboard for the lid. These are available at the grocery store. We used scrap cardboard for this step, and the result wasn't really optimal. So I recommend that you go ahead and purchase this large sheet, unless you have some old large sheets of cardboard lying around. If you try to salvage a smaller piece of cardboard, you may not have enough to cover your project completely. This sheet should be about two or three inches wider than your box on all sides.

One roll of aluminum foil.

Black paint. You can use spray paint, although I personally prefer non-toxic craft paint, which I tend to have around anyway. You can use charcoal grey or navy if you don't have black on hand. It's better to use whatever you've got handy than to go out and buy new materials, especially since the point of this project is to be environmentally friendly.

8 ounces of white glue or paste.

One Reynolds Oven Bag. These are also readily available at the grocery store. Use the 19 x 23 1/2 inch size.

Keep in mind your child is going to need lots of help with this project. It's perfectly okay to help him or her as much as he needs. However, be sure to have your child do as much of the work himself as possible, and make sure he understands what he's doing. If you do the whole project yourself, especially if it's for the school science fair, that isn't right. It's cheating.