Hedgehog (Porcupine) Tutorial

This was intended to be a hedgehog project for my son's class assignment of bringing in 100 of something to celebrate 100 days of school. But, when I introduced the idea to him, he said it was a porcupine not a hedgehog because hedgehog quills are smaller. Since he knows more about animals than I do, I didn't argue. You call it whatever you want to also.

The idea was to have him bring in 100 toothpicks in a fun and creative way. I love hedgehogs and thought this would be a easy and fun project for both my kids. I love projects that are appropriate for both a six year old and a 3 year old.

Materials:

• air dry dough (I will include the one I used at the end of this tutorial but would have preferred one that didn't turn white when it dries - there is salt in the recipe)
• toothpicks
  

Step 1: Roll the dough into an egg shape. I allowed the kids to play with the play dough for a little while before we started. Shape a pointed nose on one end.

Step 2: Insert lots and lots of "quills" by using the toothpicks. My son, of course, had to count out 100 toothpicks. We did it in groups of 10 at a time because he wanted to jump right into putting them into the clay. My son also put two eyes on his using a toothpick.

Step 3: Let the hedgehog dry several days.

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Air Dry Modeling Clay

2 c flour*

1-1/3 c salt*

4 tsp cream of tarter*

2 c boiling water

4 tsp vegetable oil

food coloring

Combine all the dry ingredients(*) into a large mixing bowl. Add vegetable oil and boiling water and blend well. When the dough stops sticking to the bowl and it becomes cool enough to hold, add food coloring and kneed the dough to mix the color in. This recipe makes a lot of dough. The dough can be stored in an air tight container.

If I had planned this project, I probably would have picked up some of Crayola's air dry dough. But this was a spur of the moment project. If you have a better dough recipe, I'd love to have you share it!