by Kimberly Smith

Created on: April 24, 2009   Last Updated: April 25, 2009

Making a pinecone bird feeder can be a great way to get your kids interested in crafts, and nature all at the same time. It is really pretty simple, and the items that you will need for the craft are usually around the house or are inexpensive. If you do not have a pine tree nearby for cones, you may check with a friend or neighbor. They can be purchased from craft stores, but make sure you do not purchase the ones that have been treated with scents, such as cinnamon. These will not work; you will need natural untreated pinecones.

What you will need: - As many large pinecones as you would like to make feeders from - Clear fishing line - Creamy peanut butter - Butter knife - Large bag of wild birdseed - Plastic shopping bags

What you will need to do: Take each pinecone and tie the fishing line someplace secure near the top to the cone. Roll off a good amount of line to tie it in the tree when you are finished. Cut the fishing line. Take the peanut butter and knife, and coat each stem of the pinecone, top and bottom with peanut butter.

Take two or three plastic shopping bags and put them inside one another, to form a triple-ply bag. Pour a good amount of the birdseed into the inter bag. Place the peanut butter cover pinecone inside the bag and tie the top shut. Gentle shake and toss the bag for several minutes. You can even use a rolling technique. The goal is to get as much of the birdseed to stick to the peanut butter as possible.

Untie the bag and lift the pinecone out, giving it a gentle shake to leave any loose seeds in the bag. Set it aside on newspaper until you have completed all the pinecones you wish to make.

Once you have the seed covered pinecones, take them outside and find various trees throughout the yard to tie them to low branches. You can tie a knot in the fishing line before you hang the pinecone to adjust the length of the line. Then tie it to the branch. There are other items you can attach to the peanut butter that the birds will enjoy as well. You can take dried fruit and chop it up in little bits and do the same thing as you do with the birdseed. Make sure an adult is the one using the knife to chop up the fruit into tiny pieces, not the kids that are helping with the project.

Now, you and the kids can go inside and see how long it take the birds to discover the treat you have left for them. This is an easy, inexpensive and nature friendly craft idea that can teach your children not only how to make a craft, but also how to help take care of our animal friends.

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