Halloween Pumpkin Carving Set Up

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Shana Bethune on behalf of Expert Village and I'm here to talk to you about setting up for pumpkin carving. Now once you've selected your pumpkin and gathered all of your supplies, it's time to set up an area for pumpkin carving. Usually when I carve pumpkins I do it in the kitchen because I have a large table and I'm near the sink in case I need to wash anything off and if anything spills on the floor, it's easy to clean up. The first thing you need to do is clear off the area where you plan on working. Once it's cleared off, put down newspaper. Once you have newspaper down it's time to start cleaning off your pumpkin. To clean off pumpkins, I use a sponge with a little bit of soap and water on it. Scrub the surface gently to get rid of any sort of dirt or markings that might be on it. For spots that are more difficult to clean, you might want to use a little bit more soap and scrub a little bit harder. But don't scrub too hard becuase you don't won't to create scratches that don't already exist. Once you cleaned it off with soap, it's time to rinse it off with a clean sponge with no soap on it to get rid of any remaining soap. And finally dry it off with some paper towels. You want to make sure your pumpkin is thoroughly dried because if it has any soap or water on it, while you're carving it it'll be very difficult to hold and you don't want to have your pumpkin slide out of your hands and end up stabbing your arms. So make sure it's dried. Once you've put down newspaper and once your pumpkin is cleaned off, if you're working with any children now is the best time to talk to them about safety. Explain to them that for the most difficult parts like using knives, you're going to have to do it yourself, but they get to do the fun parts like designing the face that's going to go on the pumpkin and taking out all the seeds and strings."