Get Outside With Backyard Bird Feeders and Notebooking Fun!

The chirping of birds lets us know that Spring has finally arrived, and they wanted a filled bird feeder.

This has been the longest Winter ever and no, I do not have facts to back that up. What I did have was a snowman built in April. The end of April.

To a mom with two kids who need to be outside, for their sake and mine, this was the winter that never ends.

So, when the sun was shining, the grass was visible, and the mud was drying, I opened the windows and let the air sweep away the cobwebs.

Disclosure: I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

This is when I remembered we picked up the Backyard Science book in the fall. We’ve used it before and loved it. It makes backyard science so easy.

Inside is chock-full of amazing fun and easy outside activities perfect for this spring-like weather. I dug it out and was scrolling through the pages to see if anything sparked their interest.

At the same time, my daughter called me.

A bird was making a nest in the telephone pole in our yard. As we watched them, I remembered we had some old bread in the fridge.

I had made a loaf out of a roll recipe, thinking it would make good light sandwich bread. (Wrong!) We decided to toss bread on the ground to see if they would come to eat.

Well…were we in for a surprise.

Backyard Feathered & Furry Friends

First came the crows. We love crows! They are so smart.

Plus, we read all about them in our Sherlock boy book. As we talked about how they like shiny things, we heard an odd sound.

To the left came our neighbor’s chickens marching in a line. They were backed by the proud rooster. We started laughing as they scared off the crows and quickly started cleaning up the yard of the bread.

Then came the neighbor’s dog! I guess Delta needed to check on her chickens, but the bread wasn’t her style. After a few nibbles, she went back home.

As this interesting day played out, I asked the kids if they wanted to learn about the wildlife we were seeing. They said sure!

Notebooking Pages For Bird Watching

While creating, building, and planning our bird feeders, we decided that we should do one notebooking page per bird we visited us.

We went to notebooking pages and digging through them, we picked out what style of the page they wanted to use. We decided on the ones with the writing space at the bottom.

If you want to learn how to get started with Notebooking Pages for free, click here.

Note: Be sure to check your printing settings. I accidentally printed 14 instead of 2. Oops!

We sat at the table looking up bird facts in either Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America, Stokes Beginner’s Guide to Birds: Eastern Region (Stokes Field Guide Series), or as a last resort, Google. We filled in the facts, colored, and kept an eye on the window.

A Peterson Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America (Peterson Field Guides)Stokes Beginner’s Guide to Birds: Eastern Region (Stokes Field Guide Series)Bird Watching Book for Kids: A Journal to Observe and Record Your Birding Adventures (Exploring for Kids Activity Books and Journals)My Backyard Bird Book: Fun Facts & Surprising Secrets – A Children’s Book on Bird Identification and Backpack Explorer Techniques – A Kid’s Guide to the Fascinating World of North American Birds

 

My 15-year-old, who usually runs at anything “not on the plan,” joined in the fun for a day.

So far we’ve seen:

• Blue jay
• Robin
• Crow
• Chicken
• Pileated woodpecker
• Chickadee
• Junco

A rabbit and a dog are not found in the bird pages, in case you were wondering.

My daughter loved this so much that she decided this would be her “art” for the next week. Each day we met at the table with coloring supplies, books, tablets for internet research, and the last bird we spied in our yard.

Bird Feeders For Kids:

I knew a holiday was coming up, which meant no school, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t get outside and have some learning fun.

In the backyard book, I discovered two bird feeders we could make. I picked up the supplies.

I hunted around Pinterest and found a cute wine bottle feeder. Man, now I had to buy wine! The things a homeschool mom must do. Oddly, my husband had no issues with this either.

Toilet Paper Roll Bird Feeder:

The sun was shining, so we decided that the back deck was the perfect place for building and creating the quicker crafty, styled feeders.

My son poured the birdseed into a pie plate, and my daughter smeared peanut butter on the toilet paper roll. I decided I wanted to make one too.

We rolled them in the seeds and put the yarn through the middle to hold them up.

My daughter chose to place hers on the pole where the nest was, and I chose the trees.

It took about 2 days for the chickadees to find them and 2 hours to empty them completely. If you are making this, be sure to give it time for the birds to notice it. It is a great lesson in patience.

Next, we made the ring feeder.

The Ring Bird Feeder:

First, we decided on what fruit we could put on the ring. We decided on apples, and my son got busy chopping them up to his decided size.

Since I forgot the crafting wire, my daughter and I hunted around for what else could be used. We decided on a thick fishing line and double-strung it. Using a needle to thread on the apple chunks and the cheerios.

The kids took turns threading the fruit and cereal. We soon realized we didn’t quite make it big enough. Ours was the size of a bracelet.

We placed it on the clothesline with clothespins, then waited.

No birds ever found it, but the sun did and the rain. We discussed changes we’d make next time and problems the birds may have encountered, such as no landing spot for them, the ring being too small, it was in the open, which may have made them feel unsafe, etc.

I find failures always make the best learning experiences, don’t you think?

Note: If you decide to make this, make it bigger than you think and use the crafting wire.

The Wine Bottle Bird Feeder:

When I  was hunting around on Pinterest, I found this post on a Wine Bottle Feeder.  Be sure to check out the post for amazing step-by-step instructions if you decide to make your own!  It is so pretty, but I wasn’t sure if we could do it.

This took several days and much work. It ended up being a great hands-on lesson.

We found the plans, talked with my husband, and went wood shopping.

Update: I still use this feeder 6 years later, it is made to last!

How To Remove The Label From The Wine Bottle:

A few days before we were planning on making the feeder, we worked on removing the label.

We tried a few things, along with soaking the bottle in soapy water overnight.

My husband finally used glue remover to remove the label. We used the Goo Gone brand.

You can also buy empty wine bottles or ask a friend if you don’t drink wine. A glass soda bottle may also work.

Goo Gone Grout & Tile Cleaner – 28 Ounce – Removes Tough Stains Dirt Caused By Mold Mildew Soap Scum and Hard Water Staining – Safe on Tile Ceramic PorcelainNorth Mountain Supply – W5CL6 750ml Glass Bordeaux Wine Bottle Flat-Bottomed Cork Finish – Case of 6 (W5 Clear/Flint)18 Gauge Silver Jewelry Wire with 4 in 1 Plier modacraft 65FT Craft Wire 1 MM Tarnish Resistant Copper Wire ​Beading Wire for Jewelry Making Supplies and Crafting

 

Then we washed it out and let it dry really well.

Changes We Made To The Design

Looking over the plans, we realized there were a few changes we wanted to make to the design as we wanted to attach it directly to the outside of the woodshed.

However, with the current design, there would be no way to refill the bottle.

Brainstorming, problem-solving, and time resulted in the change you see in the photo. We added a small piece of wood on a hinge so we could swing it open and closed.

To keep it closed, we used an eye hook to lock it closed and keep the bottle in place.

Now, when it is empty, we just unlock it and refill it. We will be painting the board the same color as the rest of the feeder, but I kept it unpainted so you can see what we changed.

The children got to try the chop saw, and table saw under my husband’s supervision. We built it one day, then chose the paint, and this took a few days of painting and drying. Longer than we first thought due to the rain.

If you are required to track your homeschool hours or days, don’t forget to count all of this as learning in your homeschool time log.

We attached the bird feeder to our woodshed, and it took about three days for the Chickadees to find it, along with a stray Blue Jay. The Chickadees are very brave and love to “talk” back to us.

Resources List We Used:

I must admit this is the first time I pulled together a few different resources to make a semi-unit study of my own. It was a lot of fun. I might just do it again sometime.

Here are the resources we used if you’d like to find out more about your feathered and furry friends in your backyard!

• Backyard Science– for the bird feeders and bird study
• Stokes Beginner’s Guide to Birds: Eastern Region (Stokes Field Guide Series) – The first bird book I’ve ever owned. You find the birds by identifying their colors. (linked above)
• Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America (Peterson Field Guides) – Awesome resource for fact-finding. (linked above)

Notebooking pages for coloring and fact-checking. Since I have a lifetime membership I pulled from various packages. These are the different sets we used:

• Basic Bird Study
• North American Birds
• Complete Nature Bird Study. (If you purchase this, there is no need to buy the ones above as they are bundled in.)

Bonus Bird-Watching Resources:

• Easy Birdwatching With Kids
• Great Backyard Bird Count
• Bird Watching Worksheets For Live Cams

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