Bird Feeders

We love, love, love birds! 

We started making bird feeders for our bird friends in the Fall of last year. It was brought about by a book we checked out from the library called "Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf". This book combines so many of my favorite things; the season of fall, colorful leaves and birds! An all around pleasant experience. :) 

So, although winter was approaching and many birds were soon to head south, we made some peanut butter pine cone feeders to hang on our single (sad) tree for any friends who decided to hang around. 

It was unbelievable how much joy we got knowing our little bird friends enjoyed the treats we prepared for them. It was so exciting to catch a bird, every now and then, perched on our tree snacking away! We refilled those very pine cones two to three times through out the fall and winter season. 

Lately there have been soooo many birds flying about our neighborhood and landing in our yard or our neighbor's yards. It's been so fun to hear the kids exclaim "LOOK! BIRDS!" when peering out of a window.  Mikey seven spied four or five crows in our back yard the other day. 

With the sudden increase of our bird friends, some new bird feeder were in order. After a quick Google image search I decided the toilet paper roll feeders were the quickest and easiest ones to make. (And they indeed were!)

Here's Mikey showing off his peanut butter spreading...

(We discovered our hands were much better spreaders than spoons!)

Gabriella rolling her's in the bird seed...

And Ta-Da! Here they are! Three from Mikey and three from Gabby. :)

I punched the holes (prior to the peanut butter and bird seed) then used a tiny homemade pipe-cleaner-needle to thread yarn through for hanging. 

They also strung a few Cheerios on pipe cleaners for the birds. This was definitely not their favorite task but both managed to completely fill one. I still vividly remember Gabriella saying "this is hard work, Mommy!" 

After they filled it, they chose a shape and I helped them to create it. 

How was Josiah kept busy, you may ask??? Oh you know, stringing a few of his own Cheerios and finishing off the peanut butter. :)

And finally, hanging our beautiful bird feeders...

Bird watching from our kitchen or living room window has become one of my favorite things to do with the kids. I hope we are able to keep up with making bird feeders for our friends throughout the years. Perhaps this year will be the start of a new tradition for us. 

I hope my littles have enjoyed this experience just as much as I have!