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Make a Solar Oven from a Cardboard Box

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I’m pretty sure I’ve shared a solar oven project before, but it’s worth repeating because this is such a fun and easy science lesson for kids when it’s hot outside.

The Craft Train made theirs with a shallow cardbord box lined with aluminum foil, as well as a few other supplies you might already have on hand.

While you can cook food in a solar oven it’s a great way to to make project like these Sun Melted Crayons from Mama Smiles. Gather up all your broken crayons for this craft and see what new styles you can make.

(You could also melt chocolate for a fun solar powered snack.)

[Photo: The Craft Train.]

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Getting Ready for a Road Trip? These Ideas May Help

We don’t really have any travel to speak of planned this summer, and my daughter is old enough that any lengthy time in the car is usually spent with an audiobook or watching videos. But I remember the struggle of keeping little kids entertained on long trips, especially if you don’t want them on a screen the whole time.

I recently saw this post from Creating Really Awesome Fun Things, which is a roundup of 26 road trip games, ideas and activities that kids can do. From stringing beads onto pipe cleaners to felt busy boards, travel journals and using a pizza box to contain colors, trains (or cars) and more, there are lots of fun and easy ideas here.

I’m a big fan of printable road trip activities, and even have a whole post all about printables for road trips. I used to always do some kind of license plate game, a map, mazes and I-spy style scavenger hunts, which are fun for everyone in the car to play along with. (You can also find some patriotic road trip mazes here.) If your road trip includes a camping trip, check out these camping themed printable games and activities.

Productive Pete has a super cute map of the United States (pictured above) that kids can use in lots of different ways while on the road. They can color the states you travel through, or all the states they’ve ever visited, or use it to give the license plate game an extra challenge as they try to find each state on the map. You can quiz older kids on the state capitols, which you might need to brush up on yourself (guilty!).

Do you have particular games or activities that you always have on hand when you are doing a road trip with kids? I would love to hear about them!

[Photo: Productive Pete.]

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