Pine cone feeder

I know it is spring but believe it or not bird feeding isn't just a winter activity; it is still freezing outside these days, which means that many insect populations haven’t emerged. So, basically, food is still scarce for our feathered friends.

This is an activity I meant to do during our winter month but for some reason, it never happened. So this week, as we talk about animals in Spring, I also remind the children of our garden friends. The children  made some bird feeders to bring home today. But I will make sure to make some for playschool too with my own kids to provide them with the opportunity to watch them and match them to a series of cards I have made myself (clap hands!). I have used actual photographs of birds visiting our playschool garden here in the South east of Ireland. These cards are a great identification guide for them. Each picture are labelled for pre-literacy purposes. 

Below are the photos of the children during our activity.

We are blessed here with the surroundings we live in: a rugged seashore with sandy beaches basically at our door step and a colourful site surrounded by big tall pine trees. Nothing else but  fresh air. An idyllic little spot to teach the children about nature! We have LOADS & LOADS of pine cones to pick up right at our feet. So we are using them to create our bird feeder. (Sorry the quality is not the best but I am waiting for my husband to buy me a new camera!!)

We collect that amount of  pine cones everyday..

Last year, I used peanut butter exclusively. Yet, this year, I have one child who has food allergies. For this reason, I used stork instead(vegetable oil fat) and it worked just as well!  And I have been told it is also better for birdies: peanut butter can get stuck in their gizzards, while butter provides lubrication!! You can also use lard.Clever!

So this is how we did it:

We tied some twine around the pine cone

Job done... Next ...

We buttered the stork all around the cone

Then we rolled the pine cone into our bowl full of feeds..

Et voilà!!