Children cook smores in the afternoon sun

More than 30 children of Sunshine and Rainbows in Gardnerville used the summer sun to please their taste buds on Wednesday.

With the help of facility director Lisa Gillespie, the children built a solar oven out of a pizza box and cooked s'mores on the playground pavement in the bright afternoon sunlight.

"For the month of June, we had a space theme," Gillespie said.

She said the kids went to the planetarium in Reno, made edible moon rocks and Blame It on El Nino pudding, plus paper towel telescopes.

The solar ovens were related to the study of the sun, Gillespie said. She said students tried them three weeks ago, but the sky was too cloudy; so they planned another attempt for July.

"The top flap of the pizza box is wrapped in tinfoil," Gillespie explained. "Underneath, in the bottom of the box, is black construction paper that absorbs the heat."

She also pointed out the layer of saran wrap between the tinfoil and construction paper that acted as a lens on the food. She propped the flap up with a pencil.

"We're also going to put a marshmallow in the open, on a paper plate with tinfoil, to see which method works better," she said.

The kids gathered on the playground as they waited for a single marshmallow to cook on a piece of graham cracker. They were careful not to knock the contraption over and were also careful to keep their chocolate bar out of direct sunlight.

Alexa Field, 8, said she enjoys cooking s'mores in her parents' backyard barbecue pit, but she likes the new, smokeless way, too.

"Last time wasn't very good," she said. "We learned to face the box towards the sun better."

Ryan Henman, 5, was concerned about keeping the chocolate safe.

"You put the cracker there, then the marshmallow in the box," he said. "You have to wait to put the chocolate in, or else it will melt."

Within 15 minutes, the marshmallows turned soft and mushy - the solar oven was working. Unfortunately, the children had already filled up on s'mores last month, so only one s'mores was made this time around in the spirit of experiment.

"It could go to one lucky child, or it could go to one very lucky staff member," Gillespie said with a grin.