Peanut, Peanut Butter – And Birdseed!

Today’s messy project with Claire was for the birds – literally. Every year (see here, here, and here!) we put out feeders for our feathered friends and watch as they feast from our own warm perch indoors. There’s usually a nice assortment of species: downy woodpeckers, nuthatches, tufted titmice, chickadees, black capped chickadees, bluejays, mourning doves, cardinals and the occasional (and very cool) piliated woodpecker. Claire is really into the “tweets” this year. She helps fill the feeders and pours water into their little saucer to watch them “take baffs in my wawer.”

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Tis the season for lots of cardboard boxed deliveries so I decided to put one to use and make our own silly feeder with peanut butter and birdseed. I got the idea from a website that advised rolling toilet paper rolls in peanut butter then birdseed, but thought this would look cuter hanging from our feeding station.

Want to know how we did it? Well………………

First you take the word and you spell it, you spell it!

Then you take the peanuts and you spread ‘em, you spread ‘em!

Then you take the birdseed and you sprinkle it, you sprinkle it!

The you take your sign and you hang it, you hang it!

(sorry, I just couldn’t resist breaking into song on this one!)

Things I learned from this project? Butter knives don’t spread the gooey stuff as well as spatulas and bare hands work best of all. Getting dirty is part of the fun, kids (and kitchen tables) are quite washable! It’s a good idea to poke holes in your letters BEFORE smearing sticky peanut butter all over the cardboard. Better yet, string them before even starting!

And the final turnout? The birds loved it? If you can’t see the “tweet” in the photo above, look a little closer below. Here’s a link to the full album in all it’s gooey goodness: all the pics.