The Porcupine, a short film that tells us about empathy and friendship

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The Porcupine is a fantastic short film to work on values such as empathy and friendship, both in class and at home.

One of the ways to work on values education is through short films. The easy-to-follow stories and the characterization of the protagonists attract the attention of the little ones. In this case, the short that we are going to comment on is titled The porcupine. It tells the story of a porcupine on his first day of school.

What child is not going to identify with the porcupine? Everyone has experienced the nerves for that first day of school where they want to make new friends. But, in the case of the protagonist of the short, there is something that puts many obstacles in his way to achieve this. It’s all about the barb of it. Let’s see what his story is…

The porcupine that kept others away with its quills

The short begins with the porcupine entering class for the first time. There are squirrels, donkeys, foxes… a great variety of animals! He waves enthusiastically and heads over to his table. Although, their spikes don’t make it easy for them. He trips over tables, knocks over his colleagues’ papers and pencils. Everyone looks at him excited, but also a little scared.

When school ends and the bus catches, the situation does not improve. No classmate wants to sit with him, because they fear that his quills will hurt them. The next day, they encourage him to play soccer, but he punctures the ball with his spikes! This makes him feel very alone and out of place. Well, although they are all very kind, he accidentally hurts them.

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One Christmas day he notices that they are talking about him. He feels even sadder, although what he doesn’t know is that his classmates are waiting for him with a gift.

Some pieces of foam that they put on their spikes. Everyone hugs him and the porcupine feels grateful and happy. His quills will never be a problem again.

The empathy and friendship present in this short

This short is very interesting to work with the little ones, because in it The porcupine’s classmates do not despise him, they do not ignore him, they do not leave him aside either.. They are somewhat afraid and hesitant because it is true that their quills hurt them. But, they are aware that it is not something that the protagonist of this short does willingly.

What are your colleagues doing? They empathize with him. Each one is different and in their case they need to find a solution so that the porcupine stops feeling alone and separated by its quills. For this reason, they have a beautiful gesture such as giving him some pieces of foam and hugging him together. An example of friendship, of accepting others and helping them.

“A true friend is the one who comes in when the rest leaves.”

-Walter Winchell-

How to work with the porcupine in class?

To work with this short film about the porcupine in class, it is positive to encourage students to highlight those values that they have realized. Although friendship and empathy are two of them, there are more like respect, tolerance, accepting the other, integrating them into the group… It is advisable for the children themselves to explain how they understand these values with examples.

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Also, so that they are aware of what not to do, they can give examples of what the situation would be like in the opposite case. They are surely capable of doing this, since perhaps they have witnessed an episode of bullying or teasing of a classmate for being different. This short is fantastic for making them realize that this is not right and that it does not generate positive emotions in them.

Related to the last thing we have mentioned, students can reflect on similar real situations to those of the porcupine and answer questions like “How did your colleagues react?” either “Did they help you in any way?” Without a doubt, it is a short film that, in addition to being worked on in class, can also be watched at home.

The porcupine short is very valuable so that children learn to relate to their peers, understand the value of friendship, respect each other’s differences and do not exclude anyone from the class group. Sometimes it can even be helpful to those adults who have forgotten these same values.