Yes, I know. A Halloween post in November. However, a couple of weeks ago, I had done so much Halloween-related creativity that I wanted to write down and log!  Sooooo… just pretend that I didn’t procrastinate and that this was posted in October 🙂

There are tons of different things I did to celebrate Halloween, (most of them creativity related). Some of these activities included painting my nails Halloween themed, carving watermelon (not pumpkins), and decorating Halloween cookies!

Recently I have been painting my nails every week, in an attempt to get better at it, and to try to be more independent about them (as usually, my Mom will paint them for me). However, soonish, I will be heading out to college, and I really want to be able to acquire this skill by then. I will easily be the first to admit that my nail-painting skills are definitely not the best, and it is a clear area of work in progress for me. It is also a definite area of growth for me. I always have a shaky hand, and sometimes am able to paint my left hand somewhat decently, but my ambidextrous skills are well challenged for painting my right hand. However, despite this, I decided to take on a challenge and attempt to paint a little design for Halloween themed nails. Usually, I would ask my mom to do my nails for me, but I took a stab at it by myself this time. I found chose a design where I painted my nails with little Frankenstein stitches on them. I found it challenging to paint the little stitches, so I decided to use a toothpick for them, which worked out much better. The end result was half-way decent, and I was proud of myself for going through with the nails (as I had to re-paint most of my nails multiple times before it looked anything clear). I was very proud of the results, and I was honestly shocked that I was able to make the nails look decentish. I recognize that some nails are a little wonky, but it was the best I could do. Also, look out for another post talking about my other Nail-Painting Experiences HERE (To be added). Below, you can observe my image for inspiration VS my nails that I painted…

Learning Outcomes:

LO1 Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth Students are able to see themselves as individuals with various abilities and skills, of which some are more developed than others.

LO2 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process A new challenge may be an unfamiliar experience or an extension of an existing one. The newly acquired or developed skills may be shown through experiences that the student has not previously undertaken or through increased expertise in an established area.

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The next Halloween-related activity that I did was carving pumpkins with my family (well… watermelons). Basically, all Halloween season, my brothers and I were desperate to get into the Halloween spirit, and carve some pumpkins! My dad (Jason) had the suggestion for carving watermelons instead of traditional pumpkins. Since the pumpkins we have in Sri Lanka are a little bit more difficult to carve than the ones we would usually carve, in Canada. We then bought a couple of mini watermelons to carve instead. It turned out to be a great idea, as the watermelons carved much easier, and smoother, and they were also easier to hollow.

  I hardly have ever carved a pumpkin before (only a couple of times), and never a watermelon. Carving watermelons was a new skill that I developed, and though it took quite a bit of time, I eventually got the hang of it (somewhat). First, I had to choose my design, and since we carved the watermelons quite late on (In November, because we were locked down during Halloween and couldn’t buy watermelons), I decided that my watermelon carving could be the perfect opportunity to bridge the gap to close the Halloween season and to start the beginning of Christmas season (in November 1st, so we could get the holiday spirit started up!). So, for my design (to the right), I chose to write “Merry X-Mas” on my watermelon! 🙂

Despite the controversial watermelon carving design, I started off my watermelon by writing my message in block letters on the surface. Then, I made a zig-zag on the top, and cut it off. Next, I tediously scooped out the inside so that it was hollow (this was the most challenging part for me, and I was not very good at this part. It helped me to watch my brother Isaac do this, as he was very successful at this, and I learned and improved from him. After this, I had to dry off the watermelon and re-draw the design on it (as the watermelon juice washed it off). Finally, I used a meat-cutting knife to carve out the letters. In the end, it did not look the best, but it was (barely) legible, and people could read a rough “MErry X-MAs” (The letters were a little dis-proportionate). This skill of mine was not very developed. To finalize this, I put a tea light inside and light up my watermelon!

To make our watermelons, my brothers and I worked collaboratively through this process. We both worked together to scoop out the inside of the watermelon, and I helped him come up with a design idea, and we both worked together and helped each other carve. This was very beneficial to work together, and it made the experience much more fun and efficient.

As my brothers and I  recognized and considered the consequences to our actions, and we thought a lot about the waste that watermelon carving would cause, were aware of this idea. To make sure that we were making good ethical decisions, we saved all the inside parts of the watermelon in a large bowl, so that we could save it and eat it. We also had the idea of making the watermelon into popsicles. Additionally, my other brother Ethan helped us out here by eating some of the extra watermelons too. As so much food and resources are wasted daily, we wanted to make sure that we were not being wasteful, and tried to save and eat all the extra watermelon that we could.

Learning Outcomes:

LO2 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process A new challenge may be an unfamiliar experience or an extension of an existing one. The newly acquired or developed skills may be shown through experiences that the student has not previously undertaken or through increased expertise in an established area.

LO5 Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively Students are able to identify, demonstrate and critically discuss the benefits and challenges of collaboration gained through CAS experiences.

LO7 Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions Students show awareness of the consequences of choices and actions in planning and carrying out CAS experiences.

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More recently, a couple of my friends (Sheruni and Ritheek) got together to do some Haloween Cookie decorating! We planned this out, and since Sheruni’s family had bought some cookie decorating kits, we decided to make some Halloween cookies and decorate them! We had the idea to do some decorating anyway, and since it was the week of the SGA Spirit week (the Sheruni and I helped to organize), we thought it would be very appropriate to decorate some cookies, as one of the days itself was Halloween Kitchen day. We then made the plan for this CAS experience and got together to try out cookie decorating. I have hardly ever done this before and it was really nice to try it out and to develop my skills (as I have seriously considered going into culinary and cake decorating after school).

We collaborated together to make the cookies, and it was really useful to have other people there to bounce ideas off of and to help with suggestions for decorations. This really challenged our creative minds, but we managed to make some pretty unique cookies and even some cupcakes. It was a little challenging to have our cookies compared to each other (as some were the same shapes), and it was also challenging to come up with new ideas after seeing Sheruni and Ritheek’s cookies, but they helped me think of new creative decorations, and it was really fun. I found it very useful and helpful to collaborate to make our final plates of cookies and cupcakes and I really benefitted from this experience.

Overall, it was a great experience, and I loved doing this and spending time with my friends. we each made 2 or 3 cookies, and a few cupcakes too.

Enjoy this short (Poorly edited, poorly filmed) vlog of the process of decorating the cookies:

Here are some photos of our decorating:

Learning Outcomes:

LO3 Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience Students can articulate the stages from conceiving an idea to executing a plan for a CAS experience or series of CAS experiences. This may be accomplished in collaboration with other participants. Students may show their knowledge and awareness by building on a previous experience, or by launching a new idea or process.

LO5 Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively Students are able to identify, demonstrate and critically discuss the benefits and challenges of collaboration gained through CAS experiences.