Looking for an engaging way to teach your child the diet of birds? Maybe the difference between coniferous and deciduous trees? Or simply introduce them into the world of bird watching. This activity will teach your child all of the above in an engaging and enriching way. 

If you enjoy this activity and are looking for more bird activities then check out Bb is for Bird. 

My boys, ages 6, 4, and 2 have loved participating in each step of this activity and will request to make pinecone bird feeders frequently. Usually they come to me with the pinecones already found and ask for the rest of the supplies which I happily assemble for them

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Why make pinecone bird feeders with your child?

Making pinecone bird feeders will expand your child’s horizons in many ways. Most importantly, it will bring them back again and again, looking for the sighting of a bird eating from their homemade feeder.

First, your child will hunt for pine cones -this step helps them identify differences between trees. Next, they will turn the pinecones into something that birds will find very tasty. After the pinecones are hung, they’ll eagerly anticipate them being used and continue to observe them.

How to make pinecone bird feeders

Hunt for Pinecones

When going on the nature hike to find pine cones, begin by asking what type of tree pinecones grow on. Help your child identify coniferous and deciduous trees and then venture towards the pine trees. My oldest child, Marty loves helping his little 3 year old brother, Mick, find the pine trees. Marty helped him by pointing out a cluster of “pine cone trees.”. Mo, who is two, tags along at his own pace on the path or asks to be carried. After they chose some nice pine cones, not mushy or rotting, we continued through our woods to another patch I knew was there. 

When Marty first engaged with this activity we did not have our own woods, we lived in the suburbs. I knew we would be doing this activity in a week or two, so I began keeping my eye out for pine trees everywhere! Luckily a neighbor, a block over from us, had a pine tree that was dropping pine cones and they did not mind us picking up several to take home on one of our daily walks. 

Assemble materials for the bird feeders

Once we have enough pinecones that every child can do at least two we go back to the house. If the pinecone hunt is a big enough event for one day, such as driving to a local park or nature preserve, then plan to do the rest of the activity tomorrow. 

I recommend doing this part of the activity outside as well because it can get messy. I assemble all the materials, on a cookie sheet, to carry outside and place on our picnic table. They include: peanut butter, bird seed, spoons, and twine.

Create the pinecone bird feeders

Now it’s time for the fun part. The boys smear peanut butter all over the pinecones and then roll in seeds. The first time Mick did this he ate a lot of the peanut butter, with some seeds. During this process the boys even created an assembly line. Marty smeared the peanut butter, Mick rolled the pinecones in the seeds, and Mo placed it on the cookie tray. I was very impressed that they did this of their own accord. 

Once finished, I tie the top of the pinecones with twine and then the boys get to climb in our bushes and hang them for the birds. We take the extra seeds and scatter them on the ground.

Observe the visitors to your bird feeders

Now we simply wait for the birds to come. Sometimes they arrive the same day and other times it’s not until the next morning. If it’s the next morning I have to “shoo” the squirrels away because they’re little bandits of our pinecone bird feeders and take the whole thing!

When the birds arrive, we usually see cardinals, blue jays, mourning doves, and little finches. The boys and I will point them out to each other. If I call the boys they come running and if they call for me because, “Momma! There’s a cardinal!” I indulge them as well to observe our visitors.

If you’d like to take this an extra step, consider making homemade binoculars. Check out the post How to Make Binoculars for Birdwatching here.

Investigate & explore

If we aren’t sure the identity of a bird we become investigators and work to identify our feathery friend. I use a North American Wildlife book and a field guide. You can look for something similar at your local library. 

Another option is to speak to a neighbor. Ours knows all the birds in this area, which I am not as familiar with. I didn’t grow up where we live now. She helped us identify a Brown Thrasher that usually keeps to heavily wooded areas and was difficult to spot. I would only see his long brown tail swooping branch to branch. One day, I was finally able to see him clearly by the boy’s bird feeders and describe him to her. You never know who might be able to help you identify birds. Now Marty will tell me when he glimpses the mysterious Brown Thrasher.

If we know a species there’s always something new to be learned. We can learn more about the different calls they make or the various color patterns each has.

Forever birdwatchers

The play based learning style of this activity engages your child while they’re learning about different types of trees and their characteristics, the diet of birds, and bird species. But it doesn’t end when the pinecones are gone, this activity continues to give. As I’ve seen with my boys, they find enjoyment identifying a bird and sharing their discovery with the entire family long after the bird feeders have disappeared. I hope your family finds as much enjoyment out of this entire process and feeding the birds as we do. 

Would you do this activity any differently? Or have you completed it and have feedback? Please share in the comments below.

If you would like to see how this fits into our busy week, check out this post where I share all about a week of birdwatching. If you wish to explore the entire Letter of the Week curriculum, complete with free printables, activity ideas, coloring pages, and book suggestions, click the button below.

Pinecone Bird Feeders

Instructions