September is the perfect month to turn an ordinary nature walk into craft-supply shopping, especially when the supplies are FREE. 🍂

These adorable pinecone hedgehogs are easy enough for younger children, still fun for older kids, and give families an excuse to head outside and hunt for the perfect pinecones first.

Age Range: 3–10, with adult help for younger children
Estimated Cost: $0–$5, depending on what you already have
Time Needed: About 20–30 minutes, plus pinecone-hunting time

🛒 Supplies

• Pinecones

• Brown, tan or cream cardstock, construction paper or felt

• Googly eyes

• Small black pom-poms for noses, or black paper

• Glue or low-temperature glue gun with adult supervision

• Scissors

• Pencil

• Optional: markers, tiny bows, leaves, acorns or other decorations

✂️ How to Make Your Pinecone Hedgehog

1. Go pinecone hunting.
Head outside and look for pinecones that are fairly full and can rest on their sides without rolling everywhere.

2. Make the face.
Cut a rounded triangle or cone shape from brown or tan paper or felt. Roll or shape it slightly so the pointed end becomes your hedgehog's nose.

3. Add some personality.
Glue on two googly eyes and a little black pom-pom nose. No googly eyes? Draw them instead.

4. Attach the face.
Glue the wider end of the face to one end of the pinecone.

5. Add tiny feet.
Cut four little oval feet from paper or felt and glue them underneath.

6. Make it YOUR hedgehog.
Add a bow, tiny paper leaf, miniature acorn, name tag or whatever else your little artist dreams up.

7. Give your hedgehog a name.
This step is clearly mandatory. 😂

🐝 Buzzy Tip

Turn the craft into an adventure before you ever get out the glue.

Give each child a small bag and take a Fall Nature Treasure Walk. Look for pinecones, colorful leaves, interesting sticks, acorns and rocks.

When you get home, spread everything across the table and see what else you can create.

🔬 Sneaky Learning Extension

Yep, we're sneaking science into craft time. 🤓

Before crafting, examine the pinecones together. Ask kids to predict what happens to pinecones when they're wet.

Try an experiment:

Place one dry pinecone in a bowl of water and leave another dry.

Watch what happens.

Pinecone scales tend to close when wet and reopen as they dry. Talk about how this helps protect the seeds inside.

For older children, have them record observations at the beginning, after 30 minutes and once the pinecone dries again.

Craft + nature walk + science experiment = a whole little afternoon from one pinecone. 🍂🦔