Hedgehog Watermelon

Our woodland party is just under 2 weeks away, and we are busy prepping and planning.  We had a watermelon that we did not eat on the 4th, just sitting on the counter. I thought it might be a good idea to do a practice melon to know what to expect during the actual party. .

Here is what our real hedgehog looks like, so the design is actually pretty close. 

Disclosure: This post has affiliate links to items that help to make cutting this hedgehog watermelon easier. 

The watermelon I had was pretty big and on the longer side. I might go with a slightly smaller one for the party.  

I started by slicing a little bit off the bottom of the melon to keep it steady.

Using a dry erase marker to make the lines, I cut out the center section.   

I scores the center part of the watermelon and then scooped out several cubes.   This picture was after the first layer of melon was removed.  If you would like to make the cutting easier and neater, you might prefer to use a watermelon slicer, cutter, corer like this one. 

Some of the pieces of the melon toward the bottom were too small to cube.  Instead I placed the smaller pieces and liquid in another bowl, so we can use it for something else.   

On each end of the melon, I cut small triangles using a paring knife.

I cut a triangle shape from the rind that had been removed from the melon for the nose. 

The feet were rectangles that were then rounded off to an oval shape. 

The ears were cut from the smaller, thinner slice that was removed from the bottom of the melon 

The nose, ears, and eyes were added with toothpicks broken in half.  I did not attach the feet on the practice melon, but might on the real one. 

I added the watermelon cubes back inside the melon, and then Kara added the toothpicks to look like the quills.