Sometimes You Have To Do It Yourself

We had a hammer and some nails, a 7.2 volt electric drill (barely strong enough to drill through paper) and some screws, a garage full of random sports gear, old girl scout project materials and disassembled parts of fairy garden homes (yes, there are such things as fairy garden homes). The goal was to design and construct our own backyard bird feeders.

With school out this DIY activity was just what I needed to keep my kids engaged in a purposeful activity where they could think critically and creatively. There were no rules or stipulations on the feeder design so my kids could be as creative, or not (my son opted out of the project), as they wanted to be. My three girls aged 5, 7 and 10 got really into the project and designed viable feeders though one was scrapped during the construction phase due to a general lack of interest. Still, three out of five participants (I’m including myself here) ain’t bad!

The the fairy garden structures became the most popular item to turn into feeders. As you can see in the pictures the molds I speak of are mainly circular, made of plastic and a kind of light orange in color. My oldest daughter included a container from one of my favorite snack foods. Since the canister is made of paper, however, the feeder lasted only about a week before the squirrels started tearing into it. Kudos to my five year old who came up with a feeder bath combo which I think is a great idea. If the area to put seeds had been wider, I think this would have made a terrific permanent feeder. We all found that the hardest part of constructing a solid feeder was balancing the feeders once it was time to hang them up. Still, hang them up we did.

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The girls and I had fun over the next couple of days watching to see which feeder the birds (and squirrels) preferred. We had the usual neighborhood birds visit the feeders like song and house sparrows, cardinals, titmouse and chickadees and the girls learned a little about each species and how some of the birds have different feeding styles.

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Last but not least, I got in on the act. As you can see I went with a natural design. This happens to be our Christmas tree which I still had laying around our backyard. It works and the birds seem to like it well enough though it does not hold a lot of seeds so has to be refilled often. I think one of the best parts about my feeder is that it is 100% recyclable. I believe I have three bird feeders in my garage but the feeders on this page are definitely my favorites. This project was easy to do and there are a ton of DIY feeder ideas and How To videos on the Web. This dad recommends this simple project to anyone who wants to do something “outdoorsy” with their children. Have fun.

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