Pine Cone Bird Feeder

 We are Nature Detectives for the month of July.

Our preschool curriculum from Mother Goose Time had a whole week devoted to trees: 

Climbing Tress, Building with Trees, Painting Trees, Counting in Trees, and Writing with Trees.

On our Building with Trees day, we built a bird feeder from a tree part- a pine cone!

We've made pine cone bird feeders before, but this one was the best one yet!

Here's what we used:

3 glass bowls (or containers), yarn, spoon, birdseed, peanut butter, and a pine cone.

MGT sent us the yarn, the pine cone, and a small bag of birdseed.  All I had to do was supply the peanut butter and bowls/containers!

You need 3 small bowls or containers.  One for the peanut butter, one for the bird seed, and one for the pine cone to rest in. 

My number 1 tip:

Melt the peanut butter in the microwave for a few seconds.  20 -30 seconds should be plenty.

Melted peanut butter allows for an even and smooth coating all around the pine cone which helps the bird seed be evenly distributed all around the cone.  

My girl spooned the bird seed all over the cone and rotated it to make sure all the peanut butter was completely covered.  I helped her tie some yarn to it, and then we had to search for a place that would be best to place our new bird feeder. 

She chose to hang it from a garden hook outsider her playroom window so she could watch the birds eat from it.  Currently, we have tons of red breasted robins and cardinals all around and it's been exciting to see them eat from her feeder. 

I love how we can create something like this and I don't even have to plan for it!

I don't have to have bird seed on hand;  I don't have to hunt for a pine cone, or even supply my own string!  I just open the daily discovery bag and watch my girl learn and grow.