The girls had so much fun putting together these bird nesters, and Clara was thrilled to participate along with her big sister! These are similar to bird feeders, but instead of filling them with bird seed, we fill them with soft, natural materials for the birds to use for building their nests.
First, Emily tore up pieces of scrap fabric. She loved the sound the fabric makes when it rips! She also cut up pieces of cotton yarn, and cotton filling. We thought they would enjoy some colorful fabric to spruce up their interior design.
Then, she helped Clara fill the netted bags. We reused the bags from onions that I had saved in our Invention Kit.
Still filling up the bags….. This is hard work for a 1 1/2 year old!
Tie up the bag and hang from a tree. We pulled some of the fabric ends through the holes a bit so they were poking through to make it a little easier for the birds to get to all those nesting goodies.
We can’t wait to see if we get some new neighbors!
What a nice idea. Wouldn't it be great if you're actually able to spot some of the fabric in a nest!
Very nice! I hope you will let us know if you see the birds building nests with the materials you provided! Every time we brush our dog, we leave the fur out on the lawn for the birds, and I have seen them carry it away! I think it is great, but my dog seems to be bothered by the whole thing!
I forgot to ask…is that one of Mark's shirts being torn up?
@ Christy — I would have never thought to leave pet hair for the birds, but that's a great idea! How funny that your dog seems put off by it!!
Great idea! Take pictures if you see some of it in a nest?
Dear Valerie,
My effeminate blue shirt!!
Love,
Mark
Now I just need to get some netting of some sort, and we're so doing this.
Very cute. So I made my first pillow last night and it went well until I didn't know how to sew up the hole I had ledft for the stuffing. I tried to run it throught the sewing machine stuffed and all and it came out a mess. How do you finish the pillow off? I still can't manage to sew a straight line. Any tips? The pillow will post tomorrow.
What a great idea for a family activity and it helps the birds as well! I will have to remember to do this with my son.
http://choosingasimplelife.blogspot.com/
@ Lisa Anne — Sounds like you may have over-stuffed your pillow? Keep practicing, I know you can do it!
@ Choosing a Simple Life — Oh, yes, we've been showing the birds lots of love! It's so much fun!
That's cool. Think you can capture some photos of the birdies collecting their materials? I've never heard or seen anything like that so it'd be cool to see it being used.
What a great idea!! Very cute! http://www.militarymovesyou.com/
I am really curious if birds will get those nesting materials! What a great idea.
We are in the process of creating the "age old" milk carton bird feeder to hang outside!!! This is cute, maybe this will have to hang beside the bird feeder.
@ Raising a Happy Child — Part of the fun will be hunting for nests with fabric scraps in them!
@ Being Us — Your neighborhood birds must be so spoiled! 🙂
Don't forget to add the lint from your dryer!
Birds love it:~)
@ Papa and Gamma — That's a great idea! Thank you!!
wow! That's a great idea.
I'm sure the birds will love it!
11 year old Brianna
Great idea! I can't wait to read more of your blog. I absolutly want to see pictures if you find your goodies in a nest. 🙂
That is a great idea. The birds will have some beautiful nests!
I'd really love to know if you see a bird using some of the materials! What a great idea!
This is such a creative and fun project! I love it!
I love this…
I started doing projects like these when a bird tried to make off with a lock of my hair.
My girlfriends joked with me that I had a big head and the bird couldn't help but fly into it….lol.
I have always felt a sense of responsibility as a teacher as a teacher to be frugal as well as environmental.
Great Post!
Neat idea!
I would be tempted to do this, except birds have a habit of wanting to build nests under our deck – right next to our sliding door (definitely not an ideal spot for any of us)! I don't want to encourage them. 😉