A simple, heart-shaped bird feeder. You can make it allergy-friendly. Easy steps and fun to make with your children in honor of the Great Backyard Bird Count! And perfect for a Valentine for your backyard birds.
Of course we must make it. And we must make it allergy friendly!
Recipe for Simple Heart-Shaped Bird Feeder
We gathered our supplies:
- cardboard from a cereal or other box
- lard or shortening
- SunButter (or peanut butter for those non-allergic types)
- bird seed
- string
We cut out the simple heart shape. I punched a hole with the scissors and Middle Girl added the string.
Then we spread the lard over our cardboard hearts. Spread the love!
Before hand I made sure we covered the kitchen counter with tin foil for easy clean up. So, rather than have to clean out a bowl, we mixed up the SunButter and birdseed right on the tin foil. We pretended we were at Cold Stone Creamery adding mix ins to ice cream. But we were mixing up treats for the birds.
We spread the SunButter mixture on top of the lard layer. Middle Girl used her hands but I was able to spread it nicely with a knife.
Then we found the perfect spot to hang our feeders.
We do love our birds! This is such a fun activity for Valentine’s Day!
I scanned my Pinterest boards but could not find the source of this heart-shaped feeder inspiration. Or maybe it was the Highlights magazine in the orthodontist’s office? I’d love to give credit if anyone knows of the source. Anyway, we’re grateful for the fun it inspired. And the birds are too.
More Resources for Your Homeschool Bird Studies and Valentine’s Day
Great Backyard Bird Count Homeschool Resources: Everything You Need! Are you ready? Enjoy these Great Backyard Bird Count Homeschool Resources as you watch birds in your backyard this February!
- Homemade Suet Recipe
- Backyard Birds in Winter: Homeschool Nature Study
- The Burgess Bird Book for Children – A Wonderful Homeschool Nature Study Resource
- Your Spring Homeschool Nature Study: Beautiful Birds Nests
- Cardinals in the Snow Art Lesson
- Chalk Pastel Bird Study with Nana
- A Homeschool Mom’s Guide to Fun February Learning
- Valentine’s Day Activities for Kids You Will Love!
-originally published February 2012 and updated 2024
I had to laugh when you said that you played Coldstone Creamery….love their cake batter ice cream. LOVE.
Thanks for sharing your feeder idea. 🙂
Oh we love Coldstone Creamery too! It’s a nice spot to take the older three for a one-on-one treat. (The younger two can’t go because of all the cross-contamination of nuts *sniff*) And it was fun to ‘play’ the mix ins of bird seed and SunButter. This was so quick and easy!