• About Me
    • About Me
    • Contact Me
    • PR & Advertising
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Disclosure
  • Frugal Living
    • Giveaways
    • Living a Frugal Life
    • Freebies
    • Homeschool Printables
    • Recycling
  • Inspiration
    • Inspiration & Quotes
    • Charity

Castle View Academy

Curiosity + Creativity = Learning

  • Home
  • Learning
    • Home Education
    • Homeschool Art
    • Field Trips
    • Homeschool Geography
    • Health
    • Homeschool History
    • Homeschool Language Arts
      • Books
        • Book Activities
    • Life Skills
    • Homeschool Math
    • Music
    • Homeschool Science
    • Sports
  • Creativity
    • Book Activities
    • Craft
    • Culture
      • Africa
      • Asian Cultures
      • Europe
      • North America
      • South America
      • Oceania
    • Nature
    • Outdoors
    • Playtime
  • Holidays & Seasons
    • Holidays
      • Valentine’s Day
      • St. Patrick’s Day
      • Easter
      • Mother’s Day
      • Father’s Day
      • Canada Day
      • Thanksgiving
      • Halloween
      • Christmas
      • New Year
    • Seasons
      • Spring
      • Summer
      • Autumn
      • Winter
  • Recipes
    • Beverages
    • Breakfast Recipes
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Snacks
    • Fun Food
    • Fun Recipes for Play
  • Family
    • Family Life
    • Parenting
  • Reviews
Home » Nature » Coconut Shell Bird Feeder

Coconut Shell Bird Feeder

April 8, 2016 by Crystal McClean

We love birdwatching!  One of the best ways to attract birds to your garden (or balcony) is to feed them.  The children have made a coconut shell bird feeder to welcome the spring birds that are nesting and making their way back from their winter homes.

kid-made Coconut bird feeder is easy to make with CastleViewAcademy

The supplies for our coconut shell bird feeder:

  • Bird seed (of course!)
  • Lard (not necessary, but we had some in the cupboard and it’s good for the birds)
  • Coconut shells (we still had ours from the Miss Rumphius review)
  • String
  • Scissors
  • Something to make holes in the coconut shell
  • Bowl

How to make a coconut shell bird feeder:

I prepared the coconut shells for the kids to use.  I used a hammer and screwdriver to punch holes into the shells.  I’m not sure if that’s the ‘proper’ way to do it, but it worked while Phil was at work and we were left to our own devices.  I’m sure it would be much easier, quicker, and quieter to use a drill! But I was just impressed I didn’t crack the shells into useless pieces!

coconut shell birdfeeders in progress

The string was threaded through the holes and knotted to hold.

Preparing to make birdfeeders from recycled items at CastleViewAcademy

Kallista started right away and opened the lard; we ended up using a little under 500gr/1lb of it.  Then Tristan started scooping in the bird seed.  Quite a lot was needed.

Mixing ingredients for homemade fat ball for the birds

Next it was time to get messy and squeeze the lard and seed together to mix it up.  Keep adding birdseed until all of the white lard lumps are completely mixed in. This wasn’t their favourite part of the process.  But two years ago they wouldn’t go near it, even using gloves, so that’s an improvement!

Tristan usually has rough hands from eczema, but after mixing the seed and lard he was amazed at how soft his hands were!

READ MORE:   Mom's Library 37 (6 for me)

When it’s all mixed up, it’s time to start smushing the mixture into the coconut shells.

That’s all there is to it!  Just make sure you really press the mixture in well so it does’t fall out once your bird feeder is hung up.

Try the World’s Best Homeschool Planner for FREE!

Homemade coconut bird feeder by CastleViewAcademy

We had lots of bird seed mixture left over so we improvised and made a few more bird feeders out of other household items…but you’ll have to wait for another day for us to show you how those turned out!

We hung these out front in on our blooming sakura tree in the hopes we’d see some birds from the front window.  They don’t often take much interest in this tree, but after a few days the bird feeders have now caught the attention of a few starlings and a great tit.  I just love the colourings of starlings when the light catches them.

Starlings love to eat from the coconut bird feeder by CastlViewAcademy

These bird feeders were a success!  And once the birds have emptied them we’ll be able to refill the coconut shells and keep the birds well-fed – and maybe their fledglings as well, if we’re lucky.

Of the bird feeders we’ve made in the past (these and these), the coconut shell bird feeders we by far the easiest to make!  Now we can take out our free bird recognition cards and watch to see which birds will visit our feeders.

Filed Under: Craft, Nature, Recycling, Spring Tagged With: Birds, Upcycle

About Crystal McClean

I am a Mom, Wife, Home Educator, and Virtual Assistant. We love to have fun together while learning and exploring our environment.

« 10 Ways to Keep an Eye on Life with #CircleIt
Who’s Hungry? A Flip The Flaps Boook »

Comments

  1. Scarlet says

    April 9, 2016 at 5:41 pm

    I happen to have a coconut sitting on my counter right now. I will give this a try with the kids. Thanks for the idea!

    • Crystal McClean says

      April 12, 2016 at 11:30 am

      Have fun! The hardest part is putting the holes in, but if I can, anyone can do it 😉
      Happy bird-watching!

  2. Anne Campbell says

    April 11, 2016 at 6:08 pm

    This is such a neat way to ‘upcycle’ coconut shells and feed our feathered friends. My son will enjoy this project–it looks like your kids did, too!

    • Crystal McClean says

      April 12, 2016 at 11:29 am

      This is one craft we’re definitely doing again! So far we’ve had starlings, balckbirds, and great tits hanging out in our usually bird-bare tree, they’re really enjoying it, and so are we!

 
Free Language Arts Lessons
Try the World’s Best Homeschool Planner for FREE!

Popular Posts

Evan-Moor flashcards and worbooks
TOTS100 - UK Parent Blogs
TOTS100
”Top

Terms of Use

Please use our ideas in your home or school. If you wish to share a post, you may share one photo with a link to the original post; however, please do not share any photos of children, adults, or animals without prior written permission which may be obtained via an email to info@CastleViewAcademy.com

Please do not copy or duplicate a post’s instructions or recipe without written permission.

All content on this site is copyrighted and belongs to Castle View Academy/Crystal McClean 2011-2020.

· Copyright © 2015 · Castle View Academy · Site Design by: Fantastique Designs ·