The birds in your garden will love you for these, especially during winter when food can be scarce.
Cardboard Peanut Butter Bird Feeder
You all know how much we love cardboard so let’s start off by covering some in peanut butter to make the perfect bird feeder! A perfect activity for putting the packaging from online purchases to good use and for helping your children develop their fine motor skills.
We’ve made plenty of toilet roll bird feeders, but you can get creative and cut out any shape you want from left over cardboard.
What you need: Toilet roll or cardboard shape, string, scissors, skewer (if not using a toilet roll), peanut butter, bird seed
Pinecone Bird Feeder
Using another item we always seem to have lying around the house, making a pinecone feeder is a great activity for kids, if a bit messier.
Inspired by the RSPB’s Pinecone feeder but using coconut oil rather than suet or lard, this is an easy, vegan alternative.
What you need: Pinecones, string, scissors, coconut oil, bird seed (plus raisins/cheese/peanuts if you have them around)
Cookie-cutter Bird Food Shapes
If you don’t have any pinecones, or you’ve got some left-over mixture, you can use cookie cutters instead! We wouldn’t recommend making these in summer though, if it’s too warm they’ll just melt off the string.
What you need: Cookie cutters, string, scissors, coconut oil, bird seed
Orange Half Bird Feeder
We’ve come across this very fancy macramé inspired orange birdfeeder from Blue Corduroy but if that’s beyond your little ones never fear, we have a super simple alternative. Birds love these feeders and they make a colourful addition to the garden. We’ve found the seeds can go a little soggy in these feeders so if you have time you could leave the orange halves to dry out either in the sunshine if you’re doing this in summer or on a low heat in the oven.
What you need: Orange, skewer, scissors, string, bird seed (sunflower seeds work well for this)
Paper Mache Bird Box Feeder
Although not strictly for outdoor use, we put these Paper Mache Bird Boxes up in the garden two weeks ago and they’re still going strong. They make for a great craft session with kids of all ages and needs the least parent involvement of all the DIY bird feeders we recommend.
What you need: Paper Mache Bird Box, pens and accessories for decorating (we recommend our Eco Glitter if you’re going down the sparkly route), bird seed
We’d love to see your creations so do share if you have a go! And if you fancy taking part in the Big Garden Birdwatch, check out the RSPB’s website to see how you can join thousands of people counting birds in their back garden.
And if you need more ways to keep the kids entertained, and busy outdoors in the fresh air, check out the downloads section of our website for activity sheets including this free Winter Scavenger Hunt.
Enjoy! x
]]>I started a petition, not as the owner of The Paper Party Bag Shop but as a person trying to make the right choices when buying online for myself and my family. If you agree please like and share.
As a busy mother I am fed up with trying to make well intended purchases online thinking they are plastic free only for them to arrive in unnecessary plastic packaging. I bought two soaps in cardboard boxes from an online supermarket recently only for them to arrive in a thick outer plastic bag.
The current online shopping process currently runs smoothly and is easy to update with new products/product information. It would be so easy for a couple of lines more copy to be written on the product pages about the packaging so consumers could make better informed decisions.
For busy people who don't have the time to shop in person for the most environmental option, making this compulsory would be a great step in the right direction.
Please help! Sign here:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/278312
EDIT:
I received the following email and sadly this petition has now ended.
Because of the General Election, the closing date for your petition has changed. All petitions now have to close at 00:01am on 6 November. This is because Parliament will be dissolved, which means all parliamentary business – including petitions – will come to an end until after the election. This means the petitions site will be closed and people will not be able to start or sign petitions.
We’re sorry we weren’t able to give you more notice that this would happen.
Your petition will be available for people to read on the site even though it will be closed for signatures. Your petition can’t be reopened after the election. You are very welcome to start your petition again when the site reopens after the election, but we can’t transfer signatures to your new petition.
The Government can’t respond to petitions during the election period. This means if your petition has over 10,000 signatures, it can’t receive a response from the current Government after 5 November. After the election, the new Government will have to decide whether it wants to respond to petitions from before the election.
The current Petitions Committee, the group of MPs who decide whether petitions are debated, won’t exist after 6 November. This means that if your petition has over 100,000 signatures, it can’t be scheduled for debate during this Parliament. After the election, there will be a new Petitions Committee, and they will be responsible for deciding which petitions are debated.
The petitions site will open again after the election, but at the moment we don’t know exactly when. You can follow us on Twitter @HoCPetitions for updates, or check back on the petitions site for news if you prefer.
Ahead of the General Election on 12 December, make sure you’re registered to vote. You can check whether you’re eligible to vote and find out how to register at: https://www.gov.uk/register-
This half-term we tried and perfected a couple of home-made glue recipes whilst the process was a fun and interesting activity in itself. Here are our recipes - feel free to download them for free over on our downloadable section (available soon).
Potato Starch Glue - using potato
Perfect for potatoes that are a bit too old to cook with, don’t use the fresh and tasty ones - they are better cooked and on a plate!
Grate approximately 3 tablespoons of potato in a bowl adding a tablespoon of water and leave for around 10 minutes when the starch will be released. Squeeze and sieve the starchy water into a pan and add a teaspoon of water and start to heat. It’s important to keep watch and turn it off when it starts to thicken - if you leave it any longer it solidifies a too much and is hard to use.
This is ready to use as soon as it is cool. And yes, the pale pinky/yellowish colour is normal - it will dry like that so maybe best not to use it on white card.
This glue is surprisingly strong for arts and crafts but don’t make a huge batch unless you are going to use it, if it’s left in a jar to spoil it will one day surprise you by releasing one of the worst smells ever smelt in the history of kitchens.
Potato Starch Glue - using potato starch powder
(You can buy this in a paper bag and is really easy to use - it also dries clear)
1sp potato flour + 1/2 cup water = paper mache paste
1tbsp potato flour + ½ cup water = thicker glue (remember to take off the heat the second it thickens!)
Add the required quantity of starch to water and heat in a pan - again it’s important to keep watch and turn it off when it starts to thicken - if you leave it any longer it solidifies a too much and is hard to use.
This glue is brilliant - strong and clear, just like the real stuff but without the plastic. Hurrah!
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