It's easy to learn how to make a scary Jack-O-Lantern for Halloween this year. All you need is some creativity, a little imagination, and not mind getting your hands a little messy in the process.

1. Smaller children can draw instead of carve

2. Carved Jack-O-Lanterns will only last outside about a week

3. Be careful with the sharp knife while carving

4. Save the pumpkin seeds for cooking later

Halloween is that time of year when children dress in costumes, candy is given for treats, and if you're not careful, someone just might play a trick on you. It's also the time of year for pumpkin carving, and making scary Halloween Jack-O-Lanterns.

It's reported that the Irish brought the Jack-O-Lantern concept to America. Of course, the Jack-O-Lantern then was a turnip, but when the Irish settlers came to American, they discovered pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve then turnips or other gourde type roots.

Now, let's move forward with making your very own pumpkin carved scary Halloween Jack-O-Lantern.

This video can show you how to carve a pumpkin, step by step, but also has some nifty tips for how to preserve the pumpkin so it will last longer once you're Jack-O-Lantern masterpiece has been created.

There are also a few other helpful hints about making Jack-O-Lanterns, such as where to cut the hole to clean out the insides and how to cut around the drawing lines.

Required

• 1 Pumpkin
• 1 Permanent marker (Black works best)
• 1 Large metal spoon
• 1 Sharp knife (X-Acto knives work great)
• 1 Tea light candle

Optional

• Stencils
• Colored markers
• Decorations such as buttons, sequins, and glitter

You'll also want to keep some paper towels or wash cloths handy for cleaning up. To help prevent messes, crave the pumpkin on a table covered with plastic or a plastic backed tablecloth.

If you are working with small children, you might choose to decorate a Jack-O-Lantern-like pumpkin instead of using a knife to carve the pumpkin. Otherwise, small children can draw faces on the pumpkin and an adult can carve it.

Before you can carve the Jack-O-Lantern face, you have to prepare the pumpkin first. Wash the pumpkin and dry it thoroughly before starting.

Place the pumpkin on the table with the stem facing up. About three inches from the stem, slide the knife into the pumpkin, until it goes all the way through the skin. Carve around the the stem, keeping about three inches from it the enter time, until you have carved all the way back to the first cut and can remove a 'cap' from the pumpkin by lifting it at the stem.

For a more creative flare, you can make the cap zig-zagged or in a design shape.

Once you've removed the cap, you'll want to dig out all the seeds and guts from the inside of the pumpkin. The seeds and guts will feel slimy, so be sure to use those wash clothes you kept close by.

Set the seeds aside, and you can use them for roasting pumpkin seeds later.

Use the metal spoon to scrape a good portion of the white part of the inside of the pumpkin out and discard.

Next, you want to use the permanent marker to draw the scary face on the Jack-O-Lantern. Be sure to draw large enough features that they can be cut with the knife and not collapse or be too small for the light to be seen through them once cut. If you mess up, you can use alcohol to wipe the marker off and redraw.

If you aren't great at free hand drawing, you can use pumpkin carving stencils to draw your scary face.

Now that you've drawn the face, you can use the sharp knife to carve around the outlines of the face. The carving should go all the way through the shell of the pumpkin, and then poke out the features, like eyes, nose, mouth and teeth, so they are open all the way through to the inside of the pumpkin.

Once your pumpkin is carved into a scary Halloween Jack-O-Lantern, you can add a tea light candle to the inside of the pumpkin, light it, replace the carved lid and stem, and you're ready to display its scariness for the world to see.

If you want to add color, buttons, glitter or other decorations, this is the time to do so.