Winter is especially a challenging time for wildlife to find any sources of food; the pickings are slim and at times even frozen solid. Take it upon yourself (and kids!) to lend a helping hand and treat your feathered neighbors to a hearty tasty feast! Its a great way to give back to nature, and it teaches your kids an important lesson on empathy towards other living beings. Building your own Pine Cone Bird Feeder is a lot of fun and kids of all ages can participate.
Here is what you will need for this art project:
- Large Pine Cones (petals open) either handpicked or purchased (non-scented)
- non-salted organic peanut, almond or cashew butter
- organic birdseed
- Small dried organic fruit (optional)
- string, yarn, or twine
- Old newspaper or large scratch paper
- spatula
- 2 Shallow dishes (pie pans work well)
Here are the steps:
- Tie a string around the stem (or middle) of the pine cone; leaving enough string to tie around tree branches etc.
- with a spatula, slather your nut butter of choice on your pine cone, working your way around the pine cone ( in all the little spaces between scales) until its covered.
- Next, pour some birdseed into the shallow dish. Roll your pine cone through the birdseed, pressing firmly so you embed lots of seed into that peanut butter. Pour some organic birdseed into a bowl (optional: mix in a small amount of dried fruit into the birdseed mix), and then roll the pine cones in the birdseed until they're completely covered.
- Place your finished pine cones in an empty shallow dish in your freezer for about an hour or until they are firm.
- suspend your finished pine cones from an overhang or tree branch.
- Enjoy!
Tip: If your pine cone is closed, you may easily open the petals by warming them for about 30 min (on a cookie sheet) in the oven at 275' degrees F. Depending on the size or type of pine cone, you may need to warm it longer.
by Local Green Circle, January, 2010.