Hedgy's Guide to Blog

Hello! I'm Hedgy and I am a hedgehog! 

Hedgy was the brain child of my friend, Liza Clifton. Liza is an artist, educator, mother, and a good friend. 

I wrote text for a book about how to teach young children how to be calm and I wanted it to be illustrated. I gave the text to Liza and asked her to come up with illustrations. Et voila! Hedgy was born!

Liza thought it would be great to have a calm, lovable character, in this case a hedgehog, I LOVED the idea! I have taught for over twenty years and when taught young children I always had puppets. Dolly Dolphin was my main puppet. Dolly greet every child at the beginning of every class. Dolly would then go around and give each child a Dolly Dolphin kiss on the hand. 

I learned over the years that some children take some time to feel comfortable in a new environment and a puppet breaks the ice. There have been a few children that only acknowledged and responded to Dolly Dolphin for an extended period of time. Dolly Dolphin gave these children the confidence to participate. Dolly Dolphin made the children feel calm and safe. And now Hedgy does that too!