It’s a favorite Halloween tradition, and kids young and old will be deciding on what they will carve on their Halloween pumpkins over the next week. Whether it’s a silly or scary face, proper precautions should be taken while carving pumpkins, no matter what age you are.
According to a study published by the journal Pediatrics, injuries to the hand and fingers are the most common accidents on Halloween. The study also found that most Halloween carving accidents happen to kids ages 10 to 14.
Pumpkin carving should always be supervised by an adult and the following precautions can be taken to reduce the risk of carving accidents. With a few easy tips to remember, you can help avoid an injury this Halloween:
- Don’t let children under 14 carve pumpkins. Instead, have your child draw the pattern on the pumpkin, while an adult does the carving.
- Allow kids over the age of 14 to use carving kits, which have pumpkin carving knifes that are slightly safer than regular kitchen knives, and easier to control, according to Consumer Reports. But make sure they are still supervised while cutting the pumpkin.
- Make sure that whoever is doing the scooping of the inside of the pumpkin is using a spoon or an ice cream scoop and not a knife to avoid any accidents as the inside of a pumpkin can be slippery.
And, if you want to avoid carving all-together, you can still get creative with how to decorate a pumpkin. Paint, glitter, embellishments…here are a few links to give you some ideas to transform your pumpkins and have some fun with your kids without using a knife:
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Gauze and felt can easily turn your pumpkin into a mummy at your doorstep! There are a lot of ideas out there for no-carve pumpkin decorating. See what you can come up with…get creative this Halloween!