If you’re like us, then you love seeing wildlife outside! We love seeing the little birds, squirrels and chipmunks play around in the trees on the back patio all year round, but especially in winter. When the ground is covered in snow, there are a few ways to bring more wildlife to your yard. One is to plant particular trees/shrubs (I’ll get into that in another post), and another is to put out food that they will enjoy! Since all of our beautiful trees and shrubs with winter berries are in the front and side yards, we thought we’d put out some little feeders in the trees off the back patio so we can see more birds from the kitchen table.
Today the kids and I made some cute pinecone bird feeders to attract the cute birdies that do not migrate for the winter. It was so easy and they look great hanging from the trees (or would maybe make some cute gifts?).
We started out with a few supplies: pinecones, birdseed, twine, and peanut butter. The first three items we got at our local garden center for just a few dollars, and I found a 5lb jar of peanut butter on amazon for less than $10. We saw pinecone feeders like this selling in stores for $12-$18 each, and we had enough supplies to make at least 8 large cones for under $20 (we ran out of the peanut butter 1st).
Tie your twine to the pinecones before you let the kids cover them in peanut butter, and then go for it! Slather on the peanut butter…
Roll them in birdseed. Apparently a box of birdseed also makes a great “sensory bin” to play with- ha!
We then tied up little bundles of berries and pine from the yard (these berries were from crabapple trees), and tied them onto the twine that was already on the pinecone. Voilà! Super cute and ready to hang!
They had way to much fun doing this! We did this craft in the potting shed with a little hot cocoa after school one day. The garage might be another good option if they really start playing in the birdseed…
This little batch is ready for hanging!
Winter time for us means a little more time spent indoors, which means more projects and crafts! We will definitely be doing some more so check back soon for more fun ideas.
