Recommended Age: 3 years and onwards
Purpose: For the child to explore science and nature through making a bird feeder, encouraging them to observe their outdoor environment
Level of Parent Involvement: Medium, the adult must assist the child in making and hanging the bird feeder
Prerequisites
- None
Materials
- Empty toilet roll
- Single hole punch
- String
- Scissors
- Peanut butter (you may use butter or nuttelex if your child has a nut allergy)
- Spoon
- Bird seed (or crushed nuts or cereal)
- Tray
Preparation
- Place the above materials on a tray
Steps
- Invite the child letting them know that you are going to be making a bird feeder with them
- Show the child the materials and let the child know that you will be making it outdoors
- The child may get ready according to the weather (hat, jacket, sunscreen, shoes etc)
- Before beginning the bird feeder, go for a walk with the child outside in the backyard and together decide on the tree where you will be putting the bird feeder
- Once you have decided on the tree, go with the child to an outdoor table or another appropriate place to work to make the feeder
- Take the toilet roll and let the child know that you will need to make two holes to run the string through
- Using the hole punch make the holes, invite the child to thread the string through the holes
- Tie the string allowing enough room to hang the feeder onto a branch of a tree
- Let the child know they will know use the spoon to smear the peanut butter all over the surface of toilet roll
- Invite the child to roll the toilet roll in the birdseed (or alternative)
- Go with the child to hang the bird feeder
- Spend some time outdoors with the child, quietly reading books, waiting and observing the bird feeder to see if any birds come to eat!
Variations
- Making a bird feeder with an orange half
Cut an orange in half and clean out all of the fruit and pulp. Take care not to rip or tear the rind.
Poke two tiny holes across the diameter of the orange, directly opposite from each other.
Thread a string through and secure at the top.
Fill the orange with a mixture of peanut butter and birdseed (or leftover cooking fat) and hang.
