On visiting a friend of ours when Baby B was around 2 years old, he enjoyed putting seeds out each morning and watching the birds fly down to feed. Always keen to encourage wildlife in the garden (and create a welcome environment for anything that will eat plant eating bugs) we then began to make our own bird seed 'cakes'.
With the colder weather in sight and our feathered friends always being glad of a little extra food, these are great to make and store in the freezer ready for hanging.
What you need:
- A bag of bird seed (I bought ours from Pets at Home for 99p!)
- Something to bind the seed such as suet or lard
- Scissors
- String
- A mixing bowl and spoon
- A mould (We used moulds that we found in our local Scrapstore but an empty clean yoghurt pot is perfect) and/or a pine cone if you want to make a pine cone bird feeder
- Optional extras such as raisins, nuts, grated cheese or even crunchy peanut butter added to the lard
*NOTE* This is not suitable for anyone with nut allergies as the seed will contain nuts or traces of.
Add a couple of spoonfuls of your fat into a bowl and soften. Pop in some crunchy peanut butter here if you want to. Mix in your seed (and optionals extras if using). Don't add too much seed or they won't bind together.
If you are using a mould, fill if halfway, pushing to seeds tightly together, pop in a loop of string and fill up. Ensure they are tightly packed. If you are making a pine cone bird feeder, push the seed mix into the gaps. Great fun for your little ones.
Put the moulds in the fridge to set and harden for a few hours and then carefully pop them out of their moulds. These can now be wrapped and stored in the freeze ready to hang in the garden!
Have you ever made a bird seed feeder? I have seen lots of lovely versions out on the web! If you have one to share or if you give this a go with your #MiniMakers, I would love to see so share over on the Facebook page using the link below or Tweet me!
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