Teaching Children about Solar Energy

Any advice, books, activities for teaching elementary students about Solar Energy? We will have a week long camp on this topic and looking for ways of introduction, activities, art projects, and any other suggestions. Thanks in advance!

http://www.education.com/science-fair/article/design-solar-cooker/

Something nice and direct would be fun. Cook something with a simple solar oven to impress their minds with the power of the sun. maybe pizza or cookies.

Thanks for the link Zack. Looks like a simple solar cooker to make. We do have a Parabolic Solar cooker to use. I haven't used it yet. Definately pizza and nachos. Keep it coming... More info for introducing kids to solar energy?

To get the kids' attention, build a solar death ray.

Wow John, that is a crazy powerful way to harness the suns energy. Never would have thought the inside of a tv could do that. Have you tried it?

Lisa Kohlhepp wrote:Wow John, that is a crazy powerful way to harness the suns energy. Never would have thought the inside of a tv could do that. Have you tried it?

Yes and no. So far I have taken the lens out of my old broken 57" TV and without building a frame tried playing around with it on a somewhat cloudy day in the middle of winter. I was able to singe a stick and melt some snow, but that's about it. On a clear summer day with a frame to keep the focus tighter I would expect much better results.