Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Kids' Craft: Homemade Bird Feeder


Some friends and I get together on occasion and have play dates.  Our children are all in the same age group (and mostly girls!). We sometimes let the kids just play, but most of the time we have an organized activity.  My friend, The Carpenter's Wife came up with a really great craft that was age appropriate for our kids. We made homemade bird feeders. 

Little One was really into it.  Like most three year olds, she loves getting her hands dirty and is fascinated by different textures.
Materials needed:
  • Twine 
  • Peanut butter (because of nut allergies, my friend used lard instead)
  • oats
  • millet
  • bird feed
  • pine cones
  • trays (for the kids to put their pine cones and feed on)
  • scissors (to cut the twine)
Assembly:
  1.  Cut a piece of twine long enough to tie around pine cone and have enough to tie onto a branch of a tree. I'm guessing about a foot.
  2. Tie one end of twine around the top of pine cone. I tied Little One's about a quarter of the way down.
  3. Have the kids help mix the lard (use suet or peanut butter if you wish) with the millet and oats in a large bowl. This will be the sticky binding for the bird feeder.
  4. Let each child fill the lard/oat/millet mixture into the crevices of their pine cones. They should have the pine cone completely covered with a thick later of the sticky mixture.
  5. Now for the fun part! Let the kids roll their pine cones in bird feed! 
We set the bird feeders aside and let the kids play outside.  After lunch, the kids all needed their rest.  They were all played out!
When we brought our bird feeders home, they were already firmed up and ready to hang on our birch tree in front of our house.

Fun, educational, and it kept the kids busy and happy!

    11 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Fun! We have a nut allergy in our house, so I'd sub with WowButter. Can't wait to make this with my munchkins!

    Whispered Inspirations said...

    This looks fun. :) I'm gonna try this in the spring with the girls. :) Thanks for sharing.

    Sober Julie said...

    Very cool! If you keep up this craftiness you're going to make this mama look bad lol

    Unknown said...

    Nicole:
    Oh! WOW Butter! Great idea for a substitute! We sometimes use pea butter in place of peanut butter in our house.

    Unknown said...

    Whispered Inspirations:
    Your girls will love it! It was so much fun :-) My 3 yr old had a blast. The only problem is that now I think our barn cats will have a field day with all the birds at the feeders! :-(

    Unknown said...

    Sober Julie:
    Never! :-) You are the coolest Mom I've ever met!

    Stacey said...

    So FUN!! I wish we had a tree to hang the feeders on. Next year we will hang them from the banister on the deck I think, I don't trust our puppy not to eat them this year though..lol

    Just Us Girls said...

    Love that sock monkey hat, super cute!

    This is such a great idea. We've done this a few times, the kids love it!

    Unknown said...

    My daughter made these in school just before Christmas break. Thing is she absolutely refused to hang her masterpiece outside. I tried to sell her on feeding the birds, but no go. It was dangling off the computer room door for two weeks, until it was destroyed and ended up in the trash.

    Multi-Testing Mommy said...

    I bet the kids had a lot of fun making this!

    PositivelyPamperedPatty said...

    What a super idea. I will definitely be making this with the kids. Thanks for sharing.

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    City girl moves to the country, falls in love, and marries a farmer. She tries to incorporate her city ways with her new country lifestyle and blogs to keep in touch with friends, family & students who live far, far away :) Can this city girl go country? Watch as she learns all sorts of exciting things about life on the farm and in a small rural community. *UPDATE* We are now parents! Our baby girl was born on Nov. 11, 2008 (at 28 weeks gestation- 12 weeks premature, but she's quite the trooper)!!!
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