DIY Bird Feeders - National Craft Month

I hope you all have had a very crafty National Craft Month! My last project to share this month may be a stretch in terms of a "craft". But it's a great kid craft/activity! And actually, what I wanted to do didn't work out because I forgot one of the ingredients, so I had to improvise.

But with spring finally arriving, I thought it would be fun to make our own bird feeders. I had high hopes that when we'd be playing outside, we'd be able to watch all the birdies come by and eat. (Turns out, the birds aren't quite ready to play outside but the squirrels are. More on that later.)

So, what I wanted to do was create shaped bird feeders using cookie cutters to shape the bird seed. But I forgot glycerine.

Google saved me, and I found a "recipe" for bird seed feeders using peanut butter, bird seed, and empty toilet paper rolls. Success! We had all of those ingredients.

What you do is spread peanut butter all over the toilet paper roll, and then roll the peanut butter-covered roll in the bird seed. Then go outside and find a nice tree branch on which to slide your bird seed feeder rolls. If you're short like me, you'll need a ladder or step stool.

A note about the peanut butter: if you're using it, make sure the temperatures outside are cold enough to keep the peanut butter fresh. You don't want to feed the birds (or whatever animal actually gets to it) rancid peanut butter because it's too hot outside.

My daughter and I made two bird feeders. I placed one of them on a tree that hangs over our deck. The other one I placed on a tree in our front yard.

Within a day, the one on our backyard tree had gone missing. I looked for it on the ground so that our neighbors didn't think we were hoosiers, but I couldn't find it. Did it roll or blow away? Did a squirrel steal it and hide it somewhere? That's the more likely scenario in my mind.

I checked the other bird feeder that same day, and it was still there, but all the peanut butter and bird seed had been eaten off of it. Did the birds get any of it? I have no idea. It was probably all squirrels.

So if you live in an area that is free of squirrels, these bird feeders will probably be very successful. As it is, squirrels are pretty dominant in the U.S., so you're just taking your chances with these things as you would with any bird feeder. But I like that these were easy to make, and we always have empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls, so I'm sure we can make more and hopefully the birds will get some at some point.