Carving A Jack O'Lantern

Turning a pumpkin into a Jack O'Lantern is lots of fun... but it feels really gross.  For a fun science experiment we carved a pumpkin and read the pumpkin carving prayer to guide us along.  And boy was the prayer right when it talked about cleaning all of the yucky stuff out.  The children were so surprised to find out just how sticky and gooey and stringy the inside of a pumpkin actually is.  We each took a turn cleaning out the inside to make room for our candle.  We looked at the seeds and talked about how they can be recycled to grow more pumpkins OR can be toasted in the oven to make a yummy treat.  We also talked about the different ways you can eat pumpkin.  (But in all honesty... the smell of the pumpkin made it hard to convince the children that this is actually how a delicious pumpkin pie begins...)

So... to finish our carving experiment, we turned off the lights in the room and turned on our Jack O'Lantern.  We welcomed his bright smile by singing "This Little Light of Mine."