Children will be amazed when they see this carved watermelon hippo safari. Great for a birthday party feature piece but also contains a delicious and healthy fruit salad.
Materials
Long oval shaped watermelon- seeded or seedless
Kitchen & paring knives
Chopping board
Green dry-erase marker pen
Channel knife or top of a vegetable peeler
Melon scoop
Handful of toothpicks
Blueberries
Marshmallows
Serving platter
Blue gelatin
Small dolls or safari themed toys or animals
Instructions
- Rinse and dry the watermelon.
- Cut off about 1/4 inch from one side of the watermelon to create a solid base.
- Take your marker pen and outline the wedge that you will cut out to become the mouth. Use the image above for guidance and make sure the wedge falls downwards as it reaches the edge so that the fruit salad will spill out.
- Carefully cut along the line and then hollow out the inside of the hippo. Save the flesh to use later in the fruit salad and the rind to add details to the hippo.
- Cut out two eyes and two ears from the rind that was removed. For a more 3D look, trim away the dark green rind from the edges of the eyes and ears to allow the lighter rind to show through. Use toothpicks to secure the ears and eyes in place towards the back of the head. Add blueberries for eye balls.
- Carve in the long nose and nostrils using a carving knife.
- Attach 4 marshmallow hippo teeth.
- Position the carving at the back of a serving platter. Fill the back of the tray with blue gelatin for water and then fill the mouth of the hippo and front of the tray with fruit salad.