These bird feeders are so simple and fun to make and the birds will love you for making them!
In this experience your child will engage with self-help skills and fine motor development, in a fun play-based way. Through the experience your child will begin to understand the interdependence between land, people, plants and animals and learn to love appreciate the world around them.
Make a few, make a lot and experiment with ingredients- have fun! What did you use on your bird feeders? Leave a comment below, we’d love to hear about it.
What you will need
-
Paper cylinders (toilet rolls or paper towel rolls)
- Coconut oil
- Bird seeds
- Child safe knife or paddlepop stick
- Tray or container
- String
Activity steps
- Pour some bird seeds in your tray.
- Use the child friendly knife or paddle pop stick and spread the coconut oil all over the outside of a clean paper cylinder. The coconut oil should act like a barrier and make your cylinder waterproof- perfect for the cooler months.
- Roll the paper cylinder in your tray full of bird seed until it is all covered.
- Loop some string through your paper cylinder and find a branch or tree to hang your bird feeder on.
- Wait to see the birds fly over and try your DIY Bird feeder. This was our favourite part!
- After the birds have pecked off the seed from your cylinder, there might still be some leftover coconut oil, try rolling it in seed again for a double dip.
Variation
Try experimenting with different ingredients to explore what your local birds prefer. You could try using peanut butter, sunflower butter, or vegetable shortening as a base and then try experimenting with different seeds. Maybe you could even try using vegetable or fruit scraps?
Learning Outcomes
- Nature appreciation
- Fine motor development
- Hand eye-coordination
- Self-help skills
- Sensory exploration
Reference sites
We would like to acknowledge this amazing site that have inspired us to create this activity. Thank you!