Youth Services Librarian Kayla Charlonne tests whether crayons softened in solar ovens while children watch. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript 
Will Sprague eats a s’more cooked in a solar oven. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript 
Annie Sprague eats a s’more cooked in a solar oven. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript 
Gwen Kazanovicz and Annie Sprague open their solar oven. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript 
Annie Sprague, Gwen Kazanovicz and Will Sprague open their solar oven. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript 
Children move their solar ovens to the sunniest areas. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript 
Franklin Pierce University student and volunteer Gianna Wilson helps Mateo McNeill fill out worksheets about solar ovens. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript 
Annie Sprague peers into her solar oven to check whether her s’more is cooking. Credit: ASHLEY SAARI / Ledger-Transcript
The sun valiantly attempted to peak out from cloudy conditions as children at the Jaffrey Public Library chased sunbeams across the front lawn on Wednesday, attempting to get the most power possible for their homemade solar ovens.
The ovens, made from cardboard boxes lined in aluminum foil, housed a few experiments for the children to observe. One melted broken crayons into molds. Another, which the kids watched extra closely, was filled with graham crackers topped with chocolate and marshmallows.
The project was for more than fun — eight children got hands-on education about solar heat at the second day of this two-part project put together by the library, the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript and Franklin Pierce University’s Institute for Climate Action. It’s part of the Ledger-Transcript’s Preserving Our Region solutions journalism project.
On an ideal day with bright sun, solar ovens can reach up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Those were not the conditions Wednesday, with temperatures about 65 degrees and cloudy.
“What effect do you think the weather conditions will have on the experiment?” Youth Services Librarian Kayla Charlonne asked the participating children as they tested their ovens.
Not a good one, the kids generally agreed.
That’s one of the limitations of solar power, Charlonne explained. Like anything else, it needs a power source — in this case, the sun — but there are ways to combat that limitation. Charlonne set up the ovens in advance to give them a chance to “pre-heat” as much as possible and lined them with newspaper to help insulate them and retain the heat.
After allowing them to heat as much as possible, children got out thermometers and checked the progress. The ovens were definitely hotter than the outside temperature, by more than 10 degrees, and were noticably warmer when opened.
As for the experiments? A bit of mixed results.
“The chocolate melted really well, but the crayons didn’t really melt the way we expected them to, because we needed them to get very, very hot, but it wasn’t very sunny,” said 9-year-old Gwen Kazanovicz.
The chocolate, with the lowest melting point, thoroughly melted at the edges and softened in the middle. The marshmallows, with a melting point of about 95 degrees, warmed and softened slightly but didn’t melt. The crayons, which have a melting point of more than100 degrees, only slightly warped.
The children enjoyed the s’mores anyway.