At Home Activity: Upcycled Bird Feeders
Is anyone else going through groceries like never before? Staying at home means more meals at home, and more meals at home means more empty containers.
That’s where today’s at-home activity comes in. It shows how you and your littles can take an empty milk carton, egg carton, or even a clean takeout container and create a bird feeder. From there, your little ones can be in charge of refilling the feeder and keeping track of which birds visit it.
Upcycled Bird Feeders
Goals:
•Recycling, reusing, re-purposing
•Attracting and observing local birds
Children will:
•Make bird feeders from common recyclable items.
•Place them outside to attract birds.
What you’ll need:
Plastic containers, trays or plates
Sticks, chopsticks, popsicle sticks, etc.
Scissors
Twine, yarn or string
Tape
Bird seed
How to:
Find a container to serve as your feeder. Recycled materials from milk containers, takeout food and fruit containers work great. Be creative and try different materials.
Things to think about:
Which part will hold the seed?
Where will the windows be so birds can eat?
Is there a place for the birds to land and eat?
Use a pencil or the tip of your scissors to poke a hole and cut out the birdfeeder’s window.
Add a perch for the birds to land and eat. Small sticks from outside, chopsticks and similar items work well.
Use tape, yarn, or string to create a loop from the top of your feeder and find a spot outside to hang your it. If you don’t have any trees or bushes, place your feeder on an outside window sill or porch rail.
Be patient! It takes birds several days to use a feeder. Check it every few days to make sure it’s full.