As you might know by now we have been enthusiastically getting ready for Spring around here! We didn’t do many of our ‘normal’ activities or projects this weekend because we spent both days getting our outside ready for activities and play to come by making a DIY bird bath and updating a plastic play house!
It can be difficult as parent to get things done around the house when you have little ones constantly demanding your attention. I have raised my kids to be independent in thought…however they like to be around their mommy…all the time. So in an attempt to get the backyard in shape, we involved the kids in as many of the projects that we needed to do as possible.
One of the things M and I are planing is a mini butterfly and bird garden. We have been raising our caterpillars and are so excited to have a place outside for them to live 🙂 So far M has made a birdhouse and put up a bird feeder for the garden. This weekend we added a DIY bird bath with an added bonus of housing some beautiful flowers that butterflies will love!
[Tweet “Turn two pots into a bird bath! See how here #DIY”]
DIY BIRD BATH 
As you can see, the process is kind of straight-forward. Basically you take a larger pot of any shape really, we chose the clay pots because they were inexpensive and sturdy, and fill it 3/4 of the way with soil. Place a smaller pot inside and add soil around the outside of the smaller pot so that the bottom is buried just a bit. Place a flat pot dish (I’m sure there is a technical term for it that I don’t know) on top of the smaller pot and fill that with water. Plant whatever kinds of flowers you would like in the soil in the larger pot and you’re done! Super easy and our little birdies love it! M (5) has a very important job of making sure that he fills the bath daily and he is taking this job very seriously! On a side note, these clay pots can be painted very easily so that can also make for a fun project. They are great with chalkboard paint on them so that you can write notes, what you are growing in them, etc..
We haven’t cleaned out the rest of the garden area yet, and it’s still too cold to really plant a lot of flowers so this is all we have for now….
So far, the squirrels seem to love it the most! This morning there was a squirrel eating from the feeder dropping seeds on the ground, and a bird eating what the squirrel had dropped. It was actually pretty cute 🙂
We are planning some homemade bird feeders for part of our Earth Day preparation so stay tuned for those!
We also did some more Spring planting in containers in case we get a couple more frosts. We planted herbs, strawberries and lettuce. M is very excited about the strawberries, one of them is pink already! He also loved the lettuce, we have a few different colors which was exciting to him. I’ve been spraying rabbit repellant around the garden but it hasn’t kept Mack out…he has eaten almost all of our lettuce already!
I think planting and gardening with kids is such a valuable and fun activity. It teaches them so much about food, where it comes from, and the importance of taking care of and raising a plant from a little seedling. M’s favorite part of growing vegetables so far is watering them.
Our last DIY project was up-cycling a kid’s outdoor playhouse that we actually found on the side of the street that someone was throwing away….one man’s trash is another man’s treasure right?? It was a little old looking and the colors were a bit dated. We gave it a good scrub and some paint and it looks brand new! We used a color scheme that matches our house and it came out pretty cute. We couldn’t figure out how to take it apart, with the exception of taking the roof off, so it’s definitely not a perfect paint job but it works.
It took me 2 cans of spray paint for the walls and 2 cans for the door and windows but only 1 can for the roof. I got the paint at Big Lots for around $3 a can, so considering the house was free this whole project cost us around $15! The kids love their new house and since M likes to cook it has become a restaurant…he is constantly making me ‘lunch’ and ‘dinner’ 🙂
And who can resist a weekend spent outside involving planting and water without jumping in muddy puddles… I know I can’t and neither can my kids!
I had that same house as a kid! I love the paint job you gave it! I have been on the lookout for one that we can upcycle, but the old school colors are nostalgic. Either way, I know we want one and if we do, I know I want to make it look like our house because that is such a sweet idea.
Great ideas. We are doing a bird garden as well in front of our little trailer. I want the girls to be able to look out the window and watch all the birds come eat and rest. <3