Clay Hedgehog Craft - An easy autumn craft for kids

Making a clay hedgehog craft is a must this Autumn! This cute autumn craft for kids is brilliant for working on fine motor skills and it is easy enough for the youngest toddlers and preschoolers to make. There are several different supplies that you can use to make clay hedgehogs, but they all look adorable. We even made a hedgehog home out of autumn leaves for our clay hedgehogs!

Hedgehog crafts are perfect for autumn. Why not find out some facts about hedgehogs or watch some video clips of real hedgehogs before making your clay hedgehog craft. If you are planning on doing a whole hedgehog project you might like our leaf hedgehog craft and woodland colouring pages too.

Scroll down below to see how we made our clay hedgehog craft and to see some ideas for other supplies that you could use. 

Clay Hedgehog Craft - An easy autumn craft for kids

Clay hedgehog craft supplies

I've supplied links to Amazon for easy purchasing! Just click the links below to be taken to the product pages. As an Amazon Associate if you use the links I will earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our work.

• Air dry clay 
• Coloured craft match sticks
• Googly eyes

How to make a clay hedgehog craft

STEP 1: Gather your supplies

This hedgehog craft is really simple and doesn't need many supplies, but I still suggest getting all your supplies ready and laying them out before inviting your toddler or preschooler to come and make a clay hedgehog. 

STEP 2: Roll clay into a ball and add eyes

Roll your air dry clay into a ball, this will be the hedgehogs body. You could roll your clay into more of an oval shape if you prefer and try to shape the hedgehogs nose, but we were happy with a ball shape! Younger toddlers may need a little help with shaping their clay. Push two googly eyes into the clay. 

STEP 3: Add spikes to your hedgehog

Now for the fun part and the part that will really help your toddlers and preschoolers to work on those oh so important fine motor skills. Provide your child with lots of coloured match sticks and invite them to add spikes to their hedgehog by pushing the match sticks into the clay. 

This is where the fun begins! Your child may choose to add loads of spikes, just a few or they may only use certain colours! Every clay hedgehog that you make will be totally individual! Some of our hedgehogs even had spikes coming out of their face! 

Alternative clay hedgehog supplies

There are so many ways that you can make these clay hedgehogs, all as fun as each other! You could make the hedgehogs body from clay (as shown in our instructions), salt dough, playdough or plastercine and the spikes could be made from twigs collected from outside, cut up pipe cleaners or even broken pieces of dried spaghetti!

However you decide to make you hedgehog craft the important part is that you have fun! (Look how pleased Daisy -aged 2 looks with her hedgehog!)

Make a home for your clay hedgehog 

These clay hedgehogs look so cute that your toddler or preschooler won't be able to resist playing with them. Why not take advantage of this and use this as an opportunity to help your child learn about where hedgehogs live! We made a home for our hedgehogs out of an old box that we painted and added leaves to.

(you can see how faded our clay hedgehog is in the photo as he has been well loved!)

Have fun making your own clay hedgehog craft. This autumn craft for kids is so easy and is a perfect autumn craft for toddlers and preschoolers. It is a fantastic fine motor activity too! Don't forget to take a look at our leaf hedgehog craft !

Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube or Subscribe for free email updates!