Crafting home-made bird feeders is a great summer craft. It brings you closer to your children, it stimulates their creativity, and it helps bring wildlife to your garden.

Most people recommend that you don't feed birds during the spring time when they are raising their young. The birds themselves will find enough food to feed them, and they will naturally choose the best food available If you put out low-quality food, or food of the wrong type, they may be tempted to eat that and to feed it to their chicks.

This would be harmful to their health.

Birdfeeders made and put out in the summer, autumn and winter are great. It's a fab way to fill up those long summer holiday days, and will give you pleasure throughout the winter months.

JUICE CARTON FEEDER

Use a 1l juice carton, well washed. Cut off the plastic raised lid lip and the sticking-up bit on the top. This will help your roof to lie flat.

Use a craft knife to cut out a hole in the side of the carton, about 1.5cm up from the bottom. Cut a 5cm rectangle out of the front of the carton, and carry it on around the sides, so about half of the carton side is removed as well. You should be left with a platform that you can put bird seed into.

Poke a hole in the front of the feeder, near the bottom and insert a sturdy twig for the birds to perch on. Poke it through the back of the carton and out, to balance it.

Cover the carton with masking tape and paint it brown. You can use a sponge for this. The overlap of the masking tape painted brown will look like wooden shiplap.

Cut a piece of card about 10-12 cm long and the same width as the carton. This will make the roof. Fold it in half and glue it to the roof of your carton.

Paint windows etc, or draw on the feeder with permanent marker. Insert a hanging loop. Fill with birdseed.

VALENTINE HEARTS

Cut heart shapes (or other shapes) from sturdy card or thin wood. Drill two holes in the top and thread some red ribbon through. butter' the piece with lard and dip into bird seed. Hang up.

WHEETO BRACELETS

Use up any stale round-shaped breakfast cereal. Choose something like Cheerios, or several varieties of different colored ones for extra interest. Thread onto garden twine and hang up for the birds. This is great for smaller children. They can have fun making patterns with the colored cereal.

You can also make strings of food, using dried fruit and popcorn, but you will need a needle and thread to do this. This is a great winter craft.

PLATTER

Use any plain piece of wood and drill three holes into it, equally spaced. Screw three little hooks into the holes. Thread garden twine or thin chains through the hooks and hang up. You can also add an edging by glueing thin strips of wood around the outside of this. Decorate with permanent markers or deco pens if you like.

Learn more about this author, Susan Hibberd.
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