Animal Ed-Ventures At Home: Hedgehog in the Dark!

Make Your Very Own Glowing Hedgehog with Salt Dough!

• Salt Dough: ½ cup of salt, ½ cup of water and 1 cup of flour
• Dry, uncooked spaghetti
• Googly eyes
• Elmer's Glow in the Dark Glue
• Cardboard
• Aluminum foil
• Vegetable oil
• Tempera nontoxic, washable paint
• Elmer's School Glue or Mod Podge (optional)

1. Follow along with our Animal Ed-Ventures At Home video on AHS' Facebook page! The video will premiere on Wednesday, May 20 at 10 a.m.
2. Mix the ingredients for salt dough in a bowl. Pour 1 cup of flour and ½ cup of salt in the bowl and mix with the spoon. Slowly add the water and mix. Once mixed, knead the dough for about 10 minutes until dough is smooth and easy to handle. If the dough a little dry, add some water. If the dough is a little wet, add some flour. If the dough sticks to your hands, dust them in a little flour. IMPORTANT: This activity might feel like you are cooking, but salt dough contains a lot of salt and it will make you sick if you try to eat it! Eating this much salt is also toxic for pets, so keep this activity away from your pets.
3. Let the dough sit for about 20 minutes. This will make it easier to work with!
4. Prepare you baking sheet. Cover some cardboard in foil and wipe with a little vegetable oil.
5. Make the hedgehog body. Roll out a small ball of dough in your hands. Place on the baking tray and push down a little to flatten the shape.
6. Break the dry spaghetti into small pieces, about one inch long.
7. To make the ears, take a small piece of dough and roll it in your hands. Secure them to the body by pushing a small spaghetti piece halfway into the ball (ear) and push the exposed spaghetti piece into the body. Repeat for the other ear.
8. Gently pull out some of the dough to form the face in front of the ears.
9. Make the nose the same way as you made the ears
10. Make the spines by pushing the small pieces of spaghetti into the hedgehog body.
11. Bake the hedgehogs outside in the sun on the oiled foil covering cardboard for one full day. Remember to place somewhere out of reach of your pets!
12. Seal the salt dough by painting a thin layer of Elmer's School Glue or lightly spray with Mod Podge. You can decide skip this step, but without the sealer, the paint will bleed into the dough and won’t be as vibrant.
13. Paint your hedgehog! Mixing brown paint with a little yellow and white paint should create a color similar to a hedgehog's body. Then paint the face, nose, mouth and ears. Carefully stipple the brush between the spines. Let the hedgehog dry completely.
14. Stick on the googly eyes with a little Elmer's School Glue.
15. Make the spines glow by carefully painting a little bit of Elmer's Glow in the Dark Glue to the ends of the spines. You can use a paintbrush, but make sure you wash it out really well after using paint.
16. At night, watch your hedgehogs glow in the dark! You can "recharge" the hedgehogs' glow by placing them under a lamp for a few minutes!
17. Share your glowing hedgehogs with us on AHS' Facebook page!

We have received such a great response from young animal lovers for our Animal Ed-Ventures At Home activities that we have decided to offer an even more interactive experience through our new Animal Ed-Ventures At Home Kits! This program will engage your child with fun activities each week beginning on June 1, 2020. For just $25 per week, your young animal lover will receive a surprise box to open and explore the world of animals through hands-on crafts, activities, learning opportunities, and links for online videos, virtual classroom and animal meet-and-greets. You can choose to either have your box delivered to your home, or pickup from our Campus for Compassion location. Click the button below to learn more!

Animal Ed-Ventures At Home Kit