These pinecone bird feeders are so easy to make! This is such a fun craft for kids of all ages. Kids, teens, tweens, adults, seniors – Who doesn’t love watching a little bit of wild life in their backyard!?
Each pinecone bird feeder takes about 10 minutes to make… maybe even less? The best part is that you can add as much or as little peanut butter and birdseed as you like. If you want, you can absolutely LOAD your pinecone with peanut butter before dipping it in the birdseed. It’s just that if you do that, it won’t look as much like a pinecone. So that’s why we chose to add small dabs of peanut butter to all of the layers of our pinecones.
They’re simple enough that you could easily make these as a classroom activity. If there are allergy concerns you can substitute soy butter or sunflower seed butter for the peanut butter. Wouldn’t it be fun to go on a little nature walk to hunt for pinecones? And then to bring them back and make bird feeders? It’s an easy craft that you could easily stretch into an entire afternoon of activity… not to mention the fun you’ll have watching the birds!
I get so excited when I see birds in the backyard… especially cardinals. Every time I see one of the beautiful red birds, I’ll be like, “KIDS! LOOK! There’s a cardinal on the swing set!” And now my kids will yell from upstairs, “MOM! COME LOOK! There’s a cardinal on the play house!”. I love that they get excited too!
Remember when we made birdseed ornaments a few years back? They were so pretty and so much fun! (And also crazy popular on Pinterest…) They lasted on the trees outside for weeks before the birds finished them. When I add birdseed into my birdfeeder, my greedy little birds will eat ALL of it in less than 48 hours, so I kind of like that these hanging ornaments are a bit more of a challenge for them!
Check out our video for how to make Pinecone Bird Feeders:
Check out our other bird feeder tutorials for even more inspiration:
Cookie Cutter Birdseed Ornaments
How to make Pinecone Bird Feeders
Here’s a list of what you’ll need. The affiliate links below will take you to products on Amazon that are similar to the supplies we used to make this craft:
If you don’t have any pinecones in your neighbourhood, don’t worry – you can usually get them on Amazon (see the link above) or even at the dollar store.
I prefer the look of birdseed that doesn’t have any large sunflower seed pieces in it. I bought mine at the bulk store and it was labelled “Outdoor Songbird Mix” and it’s also made in Canada. Woo! The Amazon link for birdseed that I included in the list above looks exactly like the type of seed I used.
Cut out a piece of twine or string about 10 inches long and tie it to the top of your pinecone. I like to tie a slip knot (see the video) and tighten it around the top of the pinecone. Then tie the ends of the twine together to make a loop to hang the pinecone from.
Make sure you attach the twine to the pineone before you add the peanut butter and birdseed. Otherwise, your hands are going to get really messy really fast!
Place a scoop of peanut butter (I used less than a tablespoon, but feel free to add more) on a plate or paper towel.
Then carefully spread the peanut butter onto the pinecone, making sure you get a little bit on each one of the pinecone scales.
Keep the mess down by making your pinecones on a paper towel, paper plate, or cookie sheet.
If you’re working with small children and they add too much peanut butter, just spread it around, poke it into the spaces on the pinecone and run with it! You can add as much or as little peanut butter as you like!
In fact, the more peanut butter you add, the more birdseed you can stick to your pinecone and the longer your bird feeder will feed the birds!
Once you’re happy with the amount of peanut butter, grip the pinecone at both the top and bottom (hopefully you left yourself a clean area to hold onto), and dip it into a bowl of birdseed.
Dip and roll all sides of the pinecone until the peanut butter is completely covered with birdseed.
… And you’re done!
Isn’t it a pretty transformation!? I love how natural they look when they’re done!
Make sure you find pinecones that are open (rather than closed) so you have somewhere to spread the peanut butter.
Then go ahead and hang them somewhere outside.
Choose a spot that’s easily visible from inside the house so you can watch your feathered friends visiting for a snack. It’s fun for both kids and adults to watch!
Be sure to hang your bird feeder somewhere where the birds can reach it. If you dangle it from a branch and there’s no where for the birds to sit, they’ll have a difficult time eating the birdseed.
You want to make it easy enough that they can reach the birdseed while perched on a branch, but still difficult enough that they can’t eat all the birdseed in 5 minutes.
These pinecone bird feeders are SO PRETTY and they’re so easy to make! With just a few simple supplies you can make one in less than 10 minutes! It’s a great craft for kids, tweens, teens, adults, seniors and even in the classroom! It’s so much fun to watch the birds it brings to the backyard!
For even MORE bird feeder craft ideas check out:
Cookie Cutter Birdseed Ornaments:
Source : onelittleproject.com
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