By Grammy-on-the-Go, Karen Shadrach
Carving pumpkins with the grandkids is always a fun experience to share!
Special pumpkin-carving tools make cutting the pumpkin safe and kid-friendly. These can be purchased just about anywhere during the fall season and are usually sold as sets of a scoop and a couple of “knives.” Before you begin, place a disposable plastic picnic tablecloth on your workspace for easy cleanup.
To begin, cut off the top of the pumpkin and scrape out the insides, placing the pulp and seeds into a large bowl. Let the kids separate out the seeds — such gooey, messy fun! Seeds can be baked later for a healthy snack.
School-aged grandchildren can draw or trace a stencil onto the pumpkin. For the little ones, I first put together pages of drawn eyes, noses and mouths. I include many different shapes — round, oval and triangular — which can create happy, sad, friendly or spooky pumpkin expressions. The child then chooses the combination they wish to have for their pumpkin face. When final decisions are made (sometimes this takes a while!), you can then draw their chosen faces onto the pumpkin. They can begin to carve the facial features themselves, or you can be the designated carver. The kids love to punch out the pieces after being cut!
At completion, a candle or battery light is placed inside and the pumpkin is tested in a dark room… no one can wait until nighttime to view their lit pumpkin!
If you want to process the pumpkin seeds, rinse off all the remaining pulp and spread on a paper towel to dry. Toss with a small amount of olive oil and seasoning of your choice. Our favorite is cinnamon sugar. Bake these in a 250-degree oven for a half-hour; cool and enjoy!
For lunch or dinner, you can make some special Halloween treats together. We always make mummy hot dogs. From a pack of purchased crescent rolls, make cuts along one perforated wedge. Twist and flatten the pieces into a long wide “bandage.” Then, carefully wrap around the hot dog and bake per directions on the tube of rolls.
For dessert, we make “dirt” which is turned into a pumpkin patch with pumpkin- shaped sugar candies. Dirt consists of a mixture of chocolate pudding and whipped cream, topped with crumbled Oreo cookies to resemble dirt. You can bury some gummy worms inside the dirt, then place the pumpkin candies in rows on top to resemble a pumpkin patch. So sweet!
Karen Shadrach is an on-the-go, in-the-know grandmother of two sets of twins, and she’s our NEO Grandparent columnist/blogger. Her grandkids Jefferson and Tyler are four; Abigail and Brianna just turned two.
