I had fun, fun, fun today: I began working with Sherry Lambert’s kindergarten class during their music block time, turning them into our adorable horde of hedgehogs.

First I explained that I was doing a play (that actually got some recognition and some excitement from two or three of them) and that I was going to invite their parents to let them be in it.

Then I showed them the book and read them The Man in the Marmalade Hat Arrives. They liked it, although I’m sure most of it went right over their heads, “incommodious load” indeed.

Then I showed them the hedgehog videos I had found on YouTube. We ooh’ed and aah’ed over the cuteness of the little critters. We discussed how they sniffed and waggled their pointy little noses, and we tried sniffing our neighbors. We observed how they walked, and finally we saw how they can curl up into the cutest little ball (and are even cuter when they uncurl.)

Then we went back to their mat and began to practice what we had seen. We sniffed, we waddled, we curled up and uncurled. Great fun was had by all.

I told them I knew Ms. McDonough (our wonderful music teacher) had taught them how to march, actually a good guess, and they all immediately showed me. I asked them to do it in slow march, and they did that.

Finally, we asked ourselves if it were possible, just possible, that we might be able to march like hedgehogs? Experimentation soon showed that it was, yes!, possible.

All in all, a fabulous day in Hedgehog Land.