Bird feeders using recycled materials (milk carton and cardboard)

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My daughter is a big animal (and bird) lover. I thought bird feeders are a good way to let birds into our balcony. The daughter gets to see them up close. The birds get good food. Win-win for both.
I started looking up ideas for bird feeders. I wanted to recycle regular household materials. Because recycling is always good!
I found a couple of ideas on the internet and promptly (not really! I hardly do anything promptly ) sat with my daughter to work on the bird feeders.

Bird feeder using a milk carton

This was an easy choice since we go through a lot of milk cartons. It would work great hanging from a tree in your backyard. But we don't have a backyard, we only have a balcony. I wedged the carton between the balcony slats.

Milk Carton Bird feeder


Materials:
milk carton or juice carton
x-acto knife
acrylic colors
wooden skewer
duck tape
  • Cut out rectangles on all 4 sides of the carton. Leave about 2 inches at the bottom of the carton to fill with bird seed.
  • Let your baby go crazy with paint on the carton. Let the paint dry.
  • Foam stickers can be used to decorate the carton some more. More fun for the kids.
  • Tape the wooden skewer to the bottom of the carton to give the birds a place to sit on.
  • To hang the bird feeder, punch a hole at the top of the carton and thread a string through it.
  • Fill the carton with bird seed and watch the birds enjoying them.

Star Birdfeeder

This is another bird feeder with materials already lying around the house. It looks good even as an outdoor decorative piece.

Decorative bird feeder with peanut butter and cardboard

Materials:
a piece of cardboard
x-acto knife
peanut butter
brush
bird seed
  • Patiently draw a star shape on the cardboard. Or if you are short on patience (like me), freehand a star-like shape on the cardboard. You could draw any shape you like here. Draw a circle in the center of the shape. Cut out the star and the circle shapes.
  • Coat the cardboard with peanut butter and sprinkle birdseed over it to stick it. Peanut butter is used as an edible glue here. Work in sections rather than coating the entire shape with peanut butter first.
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  • Tie a string through the center circle and hang it outdoors.


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