In honor of Earth Day, I wanted to give you a fun recycling activity for you and your family. Typical backyard birds don’t know the difference between a fancy bird feeder and one that is homemade. Save your money and create a feeder out of your empty milk cartons. By recycling a milk carton and turning it into a homemade craft, your kids can make new-feathered friends!
Be sure to dig up an old pair of binoculars and invest in a bird identification book to keep handy when you put up your feeder. It is always fun to encourage your children to keep a diary of the birds that visit your new bird feeder.
Skill Level: Moderately easy
Time involved: 2 hours
What You Need:
- Milk carton
- Popsicle sticks
- 1 dowel stick
- Glue
- Stapler and staples
- Masking tape
- Brown paint (non-toxic)
- Scissors or a knife (and adult assistance)
- Twine
- Birdseeds
Step-by-Step Guide of What to Do:
- Clean and dry the milk carton thoroughly.
- Staple the top of the carton shut.
- Take the masking tape and wrap the entire outside of the carton with it.
- (WITH ADULT ASSISTANCE) Cut openings on opposite sides of a clean carton and coat with nontoxic paint over the masking tape on the carton, which will make the birdhouse look more like wood. (Make sure it is non-toxic paint because when it rains, the paint can drip or even chip and you don’t want the birds pecking at toxic paint!)
- Glue Popsicle stick shingles onto the roof (the top of) the milk carton.
- For a perch, poke holes below the openings and slip a dowel through the holes.
- Fill the bottom of the feeder with birdseed mix. (You can make your own mix by combining a variety of nuts and seeds, such as sunflower seeds, millet, thistle seeds and yellow corn.)
- Poke a hole through the top of the feeder, and string a piece of twine through the hole.
- Then hang the feeder with twine in a spot that’s easy to see from the house or at least 20 feet away, but far enough away from fences or posts to prevent other animals.
Tips:
- A quart size carton works perfect because it is not too large and holds a good amount of food.
- Check your bird feeder regularly and refill as needed.
- If you have a lot of squirrels in your backyard, you might want to invest in a squirrel-proof pole birdfeeder.
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