The inside scoop on how to use upHalloween pumpkins
INSTEAD OF THROWING JACK O’ LANTERNS IN THE BIN AFTER OCTOBER 31, TRY THESE IDEAS TO REDUCE WASTE ...AND HAVE FUN DOING IT SAYS
ELPING to carve a scary face out of a pumpkin is a big part of the Halloween fun for kids. But most of them, and their parents, don’t give a thought about how much pumpkin flesh they’re wasting, and what could be done with it instead of just throwing it in the bin.
Every Halloween more than 18,000 tonnes of edible pumpkin is thrown away in the UK alone. But there are many ways of using the fruit (and yes, it is a fruit because it contains seeds, although it’s nutritionally more similar to a vegetable) and not just by eating it, despite its impressive nutritional credentials.
Childcare expert Deena Billings, head of quality at Busy Bees Childcare (busybeeschildcare. co.uk), which last year ensured more than 1,000 pumpkins were put to good use after Halloween, says: “Children love Halloween and pumpkins are always part of the fun, but it’s such a shame that so many go to waste each year.
“There are lots of ways to reduce how many we throw away and it doesn’t just have to be cooking with them. Showing children different ways to use their pumpkins after Halloween teaches them a really valuable lesson about reducing waste.”
Here, Deena uses her imagination and creativity to suggest eight ways children can use pumpkins after Halloween: figures of spiders, frogs, cats and even laminated images of apples, cauldrons or other Halloweenthemed objects. You can talk about what they can see, introducing new words to their vocabulary.
Children must be supervised throughout as these items can pose a risk if they are left unattended.
WHY not give back to the environment once Halloween is over by making a pumpkin bird feeder? Simply add holes in the pumpkin for the string and place some bird feed into the bottom before hanging it in the garden. This activity isn’t suitable for children under three and the pumpkin should be hung somewhere they don’t have access to.
PARENTS can help over-threes make a necklace out of the pumpkin’s seeds. Dry them out before letting children paint the seeds in their favourite colours. Help them with the tricky part and use a needle to make holes in the centre of the seeds so they can thread them on to some string.
Remember the seeds should only be used under adult supervision.
BUDDING young artists can use the firm part of the pumpkin to make stamps to dip into paint and create their own masterpieces. This is great for learning about different shapes and an ideal fine motor exercise for little hands.