Welcome campers! Today begins 2 weeks of the best (at least we think so) camp crafts and activities for you and your kids to try—AT HOME. I have always loved summer camp and cannot wait until my kids are old enough to experience s’mores, cabins, camp crafts and just hanging out in God’s creation! So, I decided, I’m not gonna wait! I’ve taken some of my favorite elements of summer camp and introducing it to my kids right now. Each day for the next 2 weeks, we’re going to share camp crafts, activities and even books all with a wonderful campy feel to them!

Today we’ll start off with a bang! The very best and most camp-y thing of all: S’MORES. My favorite way to make a s’more is by lighting the marshmallow on fire, letting it burn and expand, then blowing it out and smashing the newly blackened marshmallow in between the chocolate and graham crackers. YUM.

A few years ago I read about this cool s’mores experiment and have kept it in the back of my head because I was determined to try it. The idea? S’mores baked by the sun…or as Family Fun calls it, Solar S’mores. We had a camp playdate for some of Lydia’s friends last week to try them out!

All you need is a shallow box with a flip-up lid. A pizza box would work well. I used a shipping box. The first step is to cut a new flap on the top…about 1-2 inches around the inside edge.

Once your new flap is open, spread glue all around & cover with tinfoil.

Try not to get any creases or wrinkles in the tinfoil. You want it to be as smooth as possible. This is our main reflector.

Next, layer more tinfoil in the bottom. Then cover with black paper. (I didn’t glue or tape any of this.)

The last step is the hardest: find some thick plastic like a plastic sheet protector. (Mine was from an old scrapbook…that I never ever finished.) Tape this onto your new opening–make sure to use clear packing tape to seal it on nice and tight.

And the yummy part: layer the s’mores inside!

Finally, send the kids out for a giant stick. You’ll need this to prop up your sun-reflecting top!

It’s time to sit back and relax for about an HOUR!

The result: Well, we didn’t have direct sun. So, after about an hour and a half we opened up the box and the marshmallows were soft. Not melted. Not roasted. Just soft. Kinda the same feeling as if you left them in the car for an hour or so.

I think if you put them in blazing hot sun, directly pointing onto your marshmallows and maybe even sealed the entire box with tape, you’d get a little more “greenhouse effect” going on and they’d melt quicker.

So, we threw them in the oven to broil for about 14 seconds and they browned up quite nice!

The kids were our final judges. And they were pretty happy with them:

How do you eat a s’more?

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