This crumpled paper hedgehog craft is super easy to make and great for young kids to exercise their fine motor muscles as they scrunch up paper!

When you’re a parent, you’ll hear the term ‘fine motor muscles’ tossed around a lot. You know it’s important to strengthen them, but do you know why?

Fine motor muscles are the small muscles in kids’ hands, which are used in everyday tasks like holding a pencil, picking up small objects, fastening buttons and many more.

There are many ways you can strengthen your child’s fine motor muscles, but our personal preference is one of the easiest – crumpling paper!

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Why is paper crumpling such a great exercise?

Paper crumpling strengthens the palmar arches, which are crucial for writing and handling buttons or laces
When kids try to use their non-dominant hand to crumple paper, it strengthens their brain too
Crumpling paper with both hands promotes bilateral coordination
Picking up a piece of paper and crumpling it involves hand-eye coordination
Crumpling paper improves the pincer grasp as well as concentration

Since kids today spend so much time on screens, their fine motor muscles don’t get enough exercise, which is where crafts come in. We’ve already got a few crumpled paper crafts on the blog, including a crumpled paper turtle, a crumpled paper sunflower and a crumpled paper Mother’s Day card. Today, we add a new one to the list – a crumpled paper hedgehog craft!

Cute Crumpled Paper Hedgehog Craft for Kids

Supplies required:

Craft paper in black, light brown and dark brown
Tissue paper in brown
Googly eye
Sharpies or markers in different colors
Pencil
Scissors
Craft glue

How to make the Crumpled Paper Hedgehog Craft:

1. Download and print the crumpled paper hedgehog craft template. The template contains parts of the hedgehog, including the body, the spine area, the ear, the feet and the nose. What about the spines, you ask? Well, that’s what the crumpling is for!

2. Trace the parts of the template on craft paper and cut them out. Choose different shades of brown so you can demarcate the area for the spines clearly. We’ve chosen a light brown for the body, the ear and the feet and a darker brown for the spine area. The little button nose is black, but you can also make it grey.

3. Let’s begin our crumpled paper hedgehog craft by sticking the spine area on the hedgehog’s body, as shown below.

4. Attach the ear along the line that separates the light and brown parts of the hedgehog. Then stick on the nose at the front end of the hedgehog’s face.

5. Your crumpled paper hedgehog craft is taking shape! Now stick on the little feet at the bottom of the hedgehog’s body, applying glue on the back.

6. Let’s put aside the hedgehog for now – it’s time for crumpling! Take the squares of brown tissue paper – you’ll need many squares to fill in the hedgehog’s body.

7. Now’s the fun part – take a square and crumple it into a little ball. You can do one at a time or two in one go, using both hands together. Any of these versions is a good fine motor exercise!

8. Once you’ve crumpled all the tissue paper squares, it’s time to bring back the hedgehog. Apply glue along the outline of the dark brown area on the hedgehog’s body.

9. Start sticking the crumpled paper pieces along this outline. Next, fill in the space inside the outline with more glue.

10. Stick on the remaining crumpled paper pieces to fill up the dark brown area completely. If you notice any gaps, use more tissue paper to crumple and fill them. Make sure not to cover the hedgehog’s ear!

11. Just a few finishing touches left! Stick the googly eye on the hedgehog’s head, in between the nose and ear. Use a pink Sharpie to draw a pink cheek.

12. Draw a little smile with a black Sharpie. If you like, you can use a light brown Sharpie to draw an outline on the visible parts of the hedgehog’s body, or you can skip it. There you go – your crumpled paper hedgehog craft is complete!

This crumpled paper hedgehog craft is really easy, but you can make it a little more challenging by replacing the thin tissue paper with thicker paper. This craft can really grow with your kids, and strengthen those little hands further!

If you love hedgehogs and want more hedgehog crafts, check these out: