These bird feeder crafts kids can make in the Winter use materials easily found on a nature walk or in the grocery store to make a Winter treat for birds.
Winter is here. Snow is blanketing the ground and covering the bare trees with a brilliant coat of white. The crisp cold air is blowing and Jack Frost is painting your window panes. Crafting with kids is a really great way to pass the time inside. These bird feeder Winter crafts are not only fun to make, but great for fine motor and social skills.
2 Fun Bird Feeder Crafts for Kids to Make
Everyone knows that a good meal will help to keep you warm when you go out into the cold. But how about something to eat for our fine-feathered friends, the birds? Did you ever stop to think what the birds do in the wintertime for food? Unlike spring and summer when seeds and berries are plentiful, there isn’t much for the birds to eat in the winter. We can help keep the birds fed during the cold winter months. Here are a couple of ideas to get you started.
While you’re at it, try our a bird nest STEM challenge or make some edible bird nests!
Pine Cone Bird Feeder Craft
This is one I remember making as a child, and that I continue to make with my own children. Go on a nature walk and collect pine cones, giving you a great excuse to get outside for a bit! We like to use pine cones in the Winter, but if you don’t want to go on a pine cone hunt, see how we have done this making toilet paper roll bird feeders too.
What you need:
1.Two or three pine cones
2.Peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
3.Wild bird seed or black sunflower seeds
4. Raisins
You will also need a spoon and a small bowl, an old pie pan, two or three pieces of yarn (about twelve inches each), and a piece of aluminum foil or wax paper (about twelve inches)
How to Make the Pine Cone Bird Feeder:
Lay the pine cones on the sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil.
Take a piece of the yarn and tie it around the stem of one of the pine cones. If the pine cone doesn’t have a stem, tie the yarn around the smallest end.
Get a big spoonful of the peanut butter and smear it on the pine cone. Put enough on so that the seeds will stick.
Mix the birdseed and raisins in the pie pan. You don’t need many raisins, a handful will do.
Roll your pine cone in the seed mixture until it is covered with seeds.
Lay the pine cone on the wax paper or aluminum foil, and repeat the steps until you have as many pine cone feeders as you want.
Put the pine cones in the freezer for a few hours until the peanut butter gets hard.
Hang the feeders on a tree branch or any place that won’t be in the way.
This is the easy part-having fun watching the birds enjoy the feast!
DIY Suet Feeder
Suet is the hard fat from beef, and can be found in just about any supermarket. As animal fat is easily digested and metabolized by many birds, it’s a high-energy food, especially valuable in cold weather.
You will need:
A piece of suet
Birdseed
A nylon bag (the kind onions come in)
A piece of yarn (one about twelve inches long and another about six inches long)
Here is how you make the suet feeder:
- Mix the suet with birdseet, chill or freeze.
- Place the hardened suet feeder inside the nylon bag.
- Tie the top of the bag closed with the six inch piece of yarn.
- Tie the other piece of yarn to the top of the bag.
- Hang your suet bag outside for birds to enjoy!
If you really like watching the birds throughout the winter, you don’t have to stop feeding them when the cold weather is over. The birds will eat at your feeders all year long. The birds will be happy and well fed, and you will continue to have the pleasure of listening to their wonderful songs.
*Note: Never put peanut butter on your pine cones without the birdseed. Believe it or not, peanut butter will stick in the bird’s throat and make it choke. The birdseed will help them to swallow the peanut butter.
Don’t feed birds sugar-coated cereal or salted snack foods. It isn’t good for them. Instead, offer them some sliced apples. It’s a much healthier treat 🙂
More bird and bird seed activities for kids:
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