Making a bird feeder for your back garden

While we wait for spring I thought we'd do something to help the birds who need feeding all year round. Instead of buying fat balls and special feeders, I decided we would make one.

There are lots of tutorials on the web but I decided to make one using a 1litre juice carton because that's all we had. Next time, though, we're going to make this bird feeder.

Not only is it something fun to do with the children that gets them away from the screen but I am hopefully teaching them about looking after the wildlife and therefore our planet.

It's also nice for them to know that not everything needs to be bought - that we can reuse things in the house to help our garden and -- once again -- our planet. This is a win-win activity!

Here's what you'll need:

• A clean 1litre juice carton, glue or double sided sticky tape (this is what we used, it is super sticky) and scissors.

• Something to decorate the carton. We used twigs from the back garden and some greenery but you could paint yours or you could cut and pictures to decorate it. If you do this it might be an idea to finish with a coat of PVA glue to protect the pictures.

• A twig or two for a perch plus string or wire to hang it up. Don't forget the birdseed!

Here's what we did:

• Cut a hole out of the carton about two-thirds of the way up. You need it big enough for a bird to get it's head or at least it's beak in. You can cut a hole but sides but we just did it on one.

• Decorate your carton with the materials you've collected.

• Make a hole at the bottom and push a stick in. This is for the birds to perch on. Do the same on the other side (you will probably have to do this for your child).

• Make a hole at the very top of the carton and thread some string or wire through, fill with seeds and hang on a tree!

Enjoy watching all the new visitors you will hopefully attract into your garden. Teaching our children to be environmentally friendly is increasingly important -- how do you do that? Through crafts? Gardening? Or your lifestyle choices?

Photo: Copyright Debbie Webber