FamilyCorner.com: The Blog: Spring Bird Crafts, Activities and Printables

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Spring Bird Crafts, Activities and Printables

The first day of spring was March 20th. The birds have returned to my backyard and are busy making their nests and having their noisy bird meetings in the trees. It's such a wonderful and welcome sound! With that in mind, I thought I would share some fun crafts and recipes to celebrate the return of the birds:

Easy Bird Treats
by Amanda Formaro

This fun craft provides lengthy gratification as children watch the birds eat their yummy treats. Put these easy treat hangers together in no time and hang them outside for the birds to enjoy.

Important Note: Please read our notes at the end of this craft that debunk the myths about peanut butter being harmful to birds.

What You Need

1 slice of sandwich bread for each hanger
cookie cutter or paring knife
yarn or other strong piece of string or cord
peanut butter or vegetable shortening
Wild bird seed

What you do

Use a cookie cutter to create shapes from slices of sandwich bread. We did stars and circles for our treats.

Let bread sit on the counter until dried out, a couple of hours should do the trick.

Line a plate with bird seed.

Use a toothpick or wooden skewer to poke a hole through the bread for the string. Be sure that you leave enough room above the hole so that it doesn't tear.

Thread string through the hole and gently tie in a knot.

Spread both sides of bread shape with peanut butter. Coat with bird seed by laying it on the bird seed lined plate and turning over to coat thoroughly.

Hang your creation outside.

Editor's note: Try to hang your treats in close proximity to a branch that the birds can perch on while sampling their goodies.

Important Editor's Note: For many years FamilyCorner.com has offered crafts and activities for children, some of them involving wildlife. In this particular case we are suggesting that you use peanut butter and bird seed to feed backyard birds. We are very aware of the myths that have made their travels around the internet, so we checked in with several bird experts to find out the real truth and debunk the myths once and for all.

Some of these myths include birds choking on wads of peanut butter, salt and sweeteners in peanut butter being harmful, as well as birds becoming dependent on home bird feeders as their food source. Peanut butter is safe for birds and we encourage you to read this article.