Preserving Our Region: Jaffrey children learn about solar heat with handmade ovens

With a cardboard box, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, construction paper and lots of tape or glue, an array of simple solar ovens came together at the hands of children at the Jaffrey Public Library.

Lined with aluminum foil, and with black construction paper acting as a heat sink, the ovens are designed to hold enough heat to melt marshmellows and chocolate for s’mores or repurpose old, broken crayons by melting and pouring them into new molds.

The kids learned about solar heat as they made their own ovens, which they will get to test out this week as part of a two-part “Exploring Solar Power” event. The project is a collaboration of the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, the Jaffrey Public Library and the Franklin Pierce University Institute for Climate Action, part of the Ledger-Transcript’s ongoing Preserving our Region solutions journalism series.

Pairing up into groups of two or three, children worked together to build their ovens and solve problems along the way.

Will and Annie Sprague, along with their teammate Gwen Kazanovicz, quickly found that they were working with heavy-duty tape and, after some struggles with it sticking to itself, devised a system to make it work.

“We found out that Gwen was the best at cutting, and the best way to cut was to put weight on the tape,” Annie said.

Gwen attached one end of the tape to the table and let the hanging weight of the tape roll provide tension that made it easier to cut into strips. The children then took turns taping down aluminum foil across the entire interior of their cardboard box.

Jaffrey Youth Services Librarian Kayla Charlonne said seeing the children experiment and find solutions on their own is one of the best parts of the library’s STEAM programming.

“Two of our groups were very independent, and they looked like they were having a blast problem-solving,” Charlonne said. “And each group did things a little different.”

A third group, with slightly younger children, worked with assistance from a volunteer from Franklin Pierce University’s Institute for Climate Action, Kateri Ducharme.

“It was an amazing experience working with the children and seeing how well they made the ovens,” Ducharme said. “It’s amazing that they’re being exposed to different energy sources that are better for our earth.”

Will said it wasn’t his first experience with a homemade solar oven. While attending a camp at the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center, he got to experiment with a pre-made one to make an English muffin pizza, but this was his first opportunity to make one of his own.

“I want to experiment and see how powerful it is,” Will said.

He will get his opportunity, as the same children will return this Wednesday to see their ovens in action. Charlonne said the group will be able to dive a little bit more into how solar ovens work and the potential uses for them.