Pinecone Birdfeeders

It is 20 degrees outside and all of the trees are bare.  But I just had a happy little flashback to warm summer days while looking through the photos on my laptop.  Don't you love when you stumble across something you completly forgot about?  Like when you find a $5 bill in your pants pocket.  It's the best.

Anyways... this summer the girls were over for the day and the kids got bored, so we made Pinecone Birdfeeders.  It's a craft and a snack, all in one! 

Pinecone Birdfeeders

Step 1:  Put a big blob of peanut butter on a plate for each kid.  Trust me, they are not going to share the jar without breaking out into a fight.  At least not at my house!

Step 2:  Let the kiddos go to town covering the pinecone in peanut butter.  In an effort to make the craft last as long as possible, so I could finish my magazine, I told them to make sure to get peanut butter on each little spot, or else the birdies would be sad.  (don't even try to act like you would never make up something like that!  if you have kids, you know you do it too!) 

Step 3:  Corral the boy of the group back to the table after he takes off with the jar of peanut butter and his sister's pinecone.  Take a picture of his "mom, i'm innocent!" face.

Step 4:  Have the kids roll the sticky, gooey pinecones in some bird seed.  I dumped a bunch on a plate and let them all fight over it. 

Step 5:  Hang with some twine in your favorite tree and wait for the birds to come have a snack. 

We hung ours in a tree that all of the neighborhood birds flock to.  It's like the neighborhood pub for feathered friends.  All of the pinecones were picked clean by the next morning.  The whole afternoon, everytime a bird flew by the kids all ran screaming to the back door to see if it would eat. 

I may let the kids do this again soon.  There's got to be some hungry birdies in the neighborhood.