HOW TO CARVE: A STEGOSAURUS

We’re only one month away from the start of summer, which means the big bin of watermelons has officially returned to grocery stores everywhere. And when the big bin of watermelons returns, it means I can restart my monthly tradition of carving demonstrations here on the blog.

To kick off the 2015 carving season, I’ve decided to ease into things with a carving that’s a little less ambitious than others that I’ll work on later this summer. It’s sort of like stretching before a big race.

To warm up, I’ve created a Watermelon Stegosaurus. As you’ll see from the photos below, on a difficulty scale of one to 10, this one is somewhere around a four, which is right where you want to start when you’re warming up for a busy summer of carving.

For this carving, you’ll need a larger, oblong watermelon. As always, you’ll want to give your watermelon a thorough cleaning before you start cutting!

The first step is to cut out your Stegosaurus body. To do that, cut out the middle section of the watermelon (cutting lengthwise). Your slice should be about two inches thick. Once you’ve got your slice, cut off the bottom portion to create a flat base so your carving can stand upright.

Using some of rind you cut off in the step above, cut off two pieces of rind and clean off the watermelon. After you’ve got those two pieces, you’ll use them to create your dinosaur head and tail.

All that’s left now is to attach the head, tail and Stegosaurus plates on the back (the strawberries). Toothpicks will be used for this step, along with one toothpick for a Stegosaurus eye. You’ll also need to slice a few oranges for feet and use raisins for the toes.

For more watermelon-carving ideas, check out the carvings page of the National Watermelon Promotion Board website!

UP NEXT: Growing the world’s largest watermelon (part one)