Solar Power in the Spring

Landmark 11 (Celebrate Each Season)

We have been watching the weather carefully these days, waiting for a sunny day to investigate its rays more thoroughly. Until yesterday, the clouds blocked the strongest of rays-but yesterday was so sunny! We had been saving a pizza box, tape, some plastic wrap and (our favourite part!) tinfoil! With minimal direction, the older friends lead the smaller friends in creating what we hoped would turn into a marshmallow roaster. Step by step, they crumpled, asked for help cutting, lined and taped. We learned a new word – SOLAR! But what did this mean? And the real question really was, why didn’t we just use our campfire to melt our treats?
We found the sunniest spot we could, facing the oven towards the bright sun. We watched. We waited. We kept checking…this was taking a long time. Like, a really long time. We realized that we might have to move our oven slightly as the sun moved, as our cedars shade our hill during the afternoon. It was so cool to watch the friends check back in on their projects during the day. At one point the smallest of pals just plunked himself down and watched the window of the box. Watching solar power is quite time-consuming…
Finally, we decided to check on our marshmallows, they were shriveled up! While the marshmallows weren’t very warm, we were able to see some condensation on the window, and the black paper of the box was warm to the touch. We will be saving our oven, to try and learn more about Solar Energy in the spring, when the world is warmer.

Babbling Brook Daycare – February 15, 2022