The name is as exciting as the product, rocket stove! A perfect addition to your permaculture living laboratory.

Rocket stoves are an excellent way to teach children about fire, energy, and survival skills.

A rocket stove is different from other stoves as it uses less wood. Using less wood means reducing the smoke and harmful emissions going into the atmosphere. Most importantly, more trees are kept in the forest! 

Makes good eco-sense

Now you don’t need expensive materials to make rocket stoves.

Ingredients are simple:

• clay soil + sand + water
• Wooden to hold the stove whilst drying
• Two aluminium cans

Step 1: Add water to the clay. Feel the texture. The mixture must have at least 20% clay.

If the clay is too stiff, add a small portion of sand. Keep adding sand and mixing until the clay mixture is malleable and easy to mould. If the mixture is too difficult for children to mix be hand, why not try mixing with feet. 

Option: If you do not have access to clay and sand, you can purchase fire-clay from hardware stores.

Step 2: Place a handful of clay mixture onto the wooden square. Mould the clay into a round base of approximately 2-3 cm. At this moment you can go freestyle and make the sides.

Step 3: The second way is to position an aluminium can so it sits vertically on the clay base. Then position the other aluminium can horizontally.

 Step 4: Securing the cans in position, use clay to mould around the cans. Keep moulding until the cans are enclosed.

Step 5: Make little ridges to support a pot (as per photo).

Step 6: Once the clay has started to dry, gently remove the cans. Remove the wooden base from the rocket stove.

Now it’s time to experiment!

You can start a small fire from the top of the stove. Once the fire has begun, you can start feeding the rocket stove from the horizontal opening. Enjoy a snack on your stove!

Permaculture Journals

We have four journals to make the permaculture adventure a great learning experience. Have a look at sample pages here. Pre-order here: