Program: Grow Your Own Hedgehog

You've probably seen it by now, the series of pictures of a green striped hedgehog with grass growing out of his back for spikes. I spotted it on Pinterest and knew I wanted to make it into a program. I had a lot of success last year with a terrarium program on Earth Day, so I planned on making this hedgehog program an Earth Day event.

The problem with that adorable and enticing picture is that no instructions are given. Granted, the photos look pretty straightforward, but I still had to go through a slight trial and error period to figure it out exactly. The secret is in the grass seed!

The program was pretty simple - kids brought their own sock (or socks, or I had a limited number of extras) and I provided everything else. Really, the everything else wasn't much, simply potting soil and grass seed. But, after my first attempt didn't sprout, I discovered that the kind of grass seed used is important. I think I started with Bermuda grass - no luck. Then my supervisor suggest rye grass and huzzah! We were in business! The rest is a piece of cake: scoop potting soil into the sock, make it hedgehog-shaped, then very carefully sprinkle grass seed between the sock and the top of the potting soil, pressing the seed in slightly. Then, it's just a matter of keeping your hedgehog watered and soon he'll have lovely grass spikes. We, of course, made faces for our hedgehogs as well, using buttons and googly eyes. This was another very simple and very successful program! I aimed it at tweens, but with assistance, younger children would certainly enjoy this as well.