Surviving Christmas

This Christmas bird feeder is a fast and easy project for children of all ages - even adults! The feeders are fun, functional, and should easily last the entire winter season.

Every neighborhood has a host of wild birds that would enjoy an extra tid-bit or two during the winter. Kids and adults alike love watching wildlife up close. That’s where we come in!

Christmas bird feeders are fun to make and even more fun to watch! They will teach your youngsters many lessons in a delightfully engaging way, and will help the birds survive the long winter months.

The following is a super simple way for children (and adults) to make a Christmas bird feeder.

In fact, its so easy, and accomplishes so many things, try making several!

You can reduce the stuff going in the recycling bin, teach the kids about all the different wild birds in the neighborhood, have lots of fun making them together, and even more watching them, and help out the birds with a special Christmas gift all their own!

• Empty 2-liter or gallon plastic bottles or gallon milk jugs - with screw tops
• String (must be strong)
• Scissors
• Stapler
• Hole punch
• Small sticks or dowel rods (long enough to stick out of both sides of carton by at least 2 in.)
• Bird seed
• Decorations: Water-based acrylic paint and brushes, papier mache, yarn, string, etc
• Spray sealer

Ensure that any paint is water based and try not to use anything as a decoration that can be potentially dangerous to swallow.

1. Wash and dry carton thoroughly inside and out.

2. Decorate your carton however you would like. Let dry thoroughly.

3. Seal with the spray sealer. Again, let dry thoroughly.

4. Using your scissors cut a square or circle in each side of the carton (an inch or two should be good), about two inches from the bottom.

5. Using your hole punch (or your scissors) make a small hole about an inch below each larger one.

6. Push your sticks or rods through the holes from one side of the carton to the other (this will make one perch on each side, and a cross "X" inside).

7. Tie string around the lip under the bottle top by wrapping around twice, tying off and leaving 2 long ends.

8. Fill the container to within 1/2 inch of the perches with bird seed.

9. Hang your finished feeder on a tree branch by tying the ends around it.

Check and fill at least once a week by unscrewing the top and using a funnel to add the new seed.

Decorating can take the form of painting, decoupage, papier mache, or just about anything you have the mind and materials to do!!

Many Blessings
GrannySue