Pine Cone Bird Feeder
My boys love helping to feed the birds so they were ecstatic when I asked if they wanted to help make their own Pine Cone Bird Feeder.
The love of birds started when my oldest was about 18 months old. We bought our first bird feeder and a book to identify birds in the mid-Atlantic region. It became a lot of fun for him to help identify the birds in the book. This was also great to help develop his ability to identify colors and match them in the book. The cardinal quickly became one of his favorite birds. At 20 months old was able to identify the difference between the male and female cardinal.
One of their favorite activities in the evenings is to ‘help’ fill the bird feeder (and feed the chipmunks by dropping in into the chipmunk holes).
When I asked the boys if they wanted to make their own bird feeders it was a unanimous YES!
Our Adventure starts….
We started out by hunting for pine cones, so the boys hopped on their bikes and we took a quick ride to the end of our street where our neighbor has a pine tree. The boys each picked out their own pine cone, and number 2 also picked some clovers, dandelions and an extra pine cone for mom.
We then collected the other items we needed (peanut butter, bird seed, string, scissors, kid safe knife and paper plates) and headed to the back yard.
The boys had a lot of fun spreading the peanut butter over the pine cones (and great development on fine motor skills!).
Next step was to roll the pine cones that were covered in peanut butter in some bird seed.
The last step was figuring out where to hang the new bird feeders. The boys wanted it somewhere they could watch the bird feeder from the house so we settled on hanging it next to our current bird feeder.
The project was a huge success! When we got back inside my oldest asked if we could build another bird feeder!
Variations to the Pine Cone Bird Feeder:
- Many kids are allergic to nuts, you can use honey.
- If you do not have pine cones in your area I have seen empty toilet paper roles work well!
If you are looking for more fun kid adventures check our home page!
Pine Cone Bird Feeder
Equipment
- Butter knife
- String
Materials
- 4 pine cones
- 1/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup birdseed
Instructions
- Spread peanut butter evenly over the pine cone.
- Roll pine cone in birdseed until fully covered.
- Tie string around pine cone tightly.
- Hang up in a good viewing spot and watch the birds!
