Meet our Little Gate Mascots!

Hedgie

Hedgie is our very own Little Gate pet! She is an African Pygmy Hedgehog and her quills are brown with gray tips. She has a tail, but it is very small and you can hardly see it.   Her home is in our welcome room and her cage is one of our dormer windows for everyone to enjoy. Her name was chosen by the children at school.  Each class submitted a name and Hedgie won the vote!

Hedgie likes to play at night and take naps during the day - but she will play with us during the day too.  She enjoys eating cat food, raisins and meal worms and getting some exercise time running on her blue plastic wheel. In addition, Hedgie LOVES to take visits to the Little Gate classrooms and when she gets a little older, she will also take some weekend visits home with our Little Gate families.  For now, you are always welcome to come tell her hello whenever you would like - she loves visitors!!

Windy

Windy is our our 15 year old Cypress tree. She is a big beautiful tree growing in our play yard that Little Gaters have come to know and love. We have built a deck around Windy so that the children can dance and play around this special tree all year long.

We feel it is important for the Little Gaters to become aware of the nature in the environment. The children have become very aware of the changes that occur in Windy's appearance (leaves falling, cypress balls dropping, leaves growing) as the weather changes. We are grateful that Windy provides the much needed shade for us in the warmer months.

Each year we have a celebration in honor of Windy. The children gather around on the deck where we sing songs, hang hand made decorations from her branches and we all enjoy some Cypress Tree shaped cookies!! We are thankful to have this big beautiful tree in our play area.