Cookie Cutter Bird Feeder

Here's What You Need:

  • 2 envelopes of gelatin (8 gram packets of gelatin)
  • 2 cups water
  • 3 cups birdseed – you may need more birdseed to thicken your mix.
  • Various shaped cookie cutters
  • String
  • Parchment paper lined baking sheet
  • Toothpicks

What a great way to help out the birds during the winter months when it is hard for them to find food. Using bird seed and some additional ingredients from your home including some fun cookie cutters, you and your children can make the bird feeders a great weekend afternoon project.

How to assemble:

  • Step 1: Prepare parchment lined baking sheet and line up the cookie cutters on the tray and set aside.
  • Step 2: Dissolve gelatin in a pot of simmering water. Stir until the powder gelatin is completely dissolved. Then add to bowl with bird seed.
  • Step 3: Stir the gelatin and seeds together until the birdseed is completely coated and wet. You may need to add a little more birdseed, depending on the birdseed blend you have chosen and what seeds make up your birdseed. You may need to add up to an extra cup of birdseed. The mixture shouldn’t be runny. It should be able to be scooped out of the bowl.
  • Step 4: Using a spoon, scoop the birdseed into the cookie cutters. Press the birdseed firmly into the cookie cutter, compacting the birdseed so there won’t be any air spaces.
  • Step 5: Use the toothpick to poke a hole in the birdseed cookie – this hole is where the string will go and how you will hang your bird feeder. Make sure your hole is large enough for the string to pass through.
  • Step 6: These bird seed cookies need to dry out. After a few hours, turn them over and leave them overnight to completely dry out.
  • Step 7: Once completely dried and hardened, simply slide the birdseed cookie out of the cookie cutter and feed the string through the hole. Use a large needle to feed the string through or just  poke the string through if the hole is large enough.

Now it is time to take your feeders outside and hang them on trees or bushes in your yard.

NOTE: Make sure you use a birdseed blend that is appropriate for outdoor birds that live in your area.

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