Did you know that February is National Bird Feeding Month? Honestly, I didn’t either, but it ties in perfectly with this super easy craft, don’t you think?
I filled the bottom of a shallow pan with some birdseed. I love foil roasting pans for jobs like these (I use them for everything from marble painting to paper making, and we always are able to reuse them dozens of times before they finally lose their shape and need to be recycled. I pick them up at the Dollar Tree where they’re 2/$1). A shallow cardboard box or box lid would also be perfect. The boys loved the sensory aspect of sifting through the birdseed, picking out the corn and sunflower seeds, and sorting the other seeds into different sizes.
We selected a couple of pinecones that we collected on our last nature walk, and the boys got to work covering the pinecones with peanut butter.
(Be sure to sneak huge amounts of peanut butter when you think Mom isn’t looking!)
Once your pinecone is completely covered with peanut butter, place it into the tray of birdseed. We chose to leave the very top of our pinecones un-peanutbuttered for easier handling and ribbon tying later.
Roll the pinecone around in the birdseed until it is completely covered.
Tie on a ribbon, hang it from your favorite tree, and wait for your feathered friends to come and feast!
(Looks like they like the sunflower seeds!)
Oh, and be sure to spend the rest of the afternoon playing with the extra birdseed. It makes a fantastic arena for monster trucks 😉
I think I may need to resurrect the idea of a sensory bin for these guys! They loved playing in tubs full of dry rice and beans when they were toddlers, but I didn’t realize how much fun they still have with stuff like this, just in completely new and imaginative ways!
Marion says
Made these with honey instead of peanut butter as the parrot family in Australia love the sweet taste. I also added a little pollen powder into the mix , also in shot supply during the winter, but also during our mammoth bush fires over summer.
Gail says
How exactly did you tie the ribbon? Just around the whole top? Or just on one of the leaves, so called. It don’t break?
Heidi says
Hi Gail, the ribbon is just tied around the top 2-3 “leaves” of the pinecone.
Karen Grimes says
What a great idea. I Will be doing some today. I absolument love it. And it saved money on bird feeders which is not cheap.
Wyatt says
Very cool idea. We will be doing this today. Thank you.
Mary Coakley says
Love this idea,your boys did a great job,hope they did not over indulge on the peanut butter,my favourite.
Kym says
Do you think these are freezable? We gathered many smaller pinecones today from the yard. I want to do the crafty portion now, but perhaps freeze them for later use when the snow is really flying in Ohio!
Heidi says
I have never tried to freeze them, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. If you give it a try, please come back and let me know how it worked!
Yvette says
besides peanut butter because of allergies could we use?
Heidi says
Hi Yvette,
Sunflower seed butter (also called Sunbutter) is a great alternative that is more allergy-friendly! 🙂
margaret says
Hi! I’ve featured your bird feeder on a pine cone blog post! Thanks so much!
http://www.earthwormsandmarmalade.com/2014/02/ammoi-mean-art-with-pine-cones.html
Margaret
amy greenberg says
Hi there,
My name is Amy Greenberg and I am the co-founder of a website called The Grandparents Guide. You can check us out at http://www.thegrandparentsguide.com. I love this idea that you have posted. I would love to use the ideas/images. We would create a direct link to your website, adding you to our FB page and possibly our newsletter, offering you the opportunity to get some exposure from our viewers.
It would be fantastic if in return, you could let some of your viewers know about us by highlighting us in some way.
You can email me at amy@thegrandparentsguide.com
Please let me know if this sounds interesting to you.
Thanks,
Amy Greenberg
Co Founder
The Grandparents Guide
Anonymous says
Thank you for the great idea, I’m gonna do this!
Little Bean says
Oh I absolutely love this! I have a toddler that is OBSESSED with crafts…with spring around the corner, this is perfect. Thank for sharing!
Hollandra says
we lived in the neighborhood for 4 years, and never once have i ever seen either of those types of birds. weird! my house always got the pigeons-go figure!