A Minute out of the Norm: Pinecone Birdfeeders

Thanksgiving is this week! My favorite holiday of all of them.

They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

– Psalm 145:7

This year we are travelling to see my family. We are on the two year rotation. Two years here at home with Hubs family and then the next two at my parents house. I love travelling out to see my family and staying a couple of days. The only thing I struggle with is keeping my boys ‘entertained’ away from their usual toys, friends and routine.

This year I have a plan to fill a few moments of time, to lessen the “MOM, I’m bored…”:

Pinecone Bird-feeders. My 7-year old made them with Cub Scouts a couple weeks ago and to my delight the birds have been on it non-stop since we hung it. I am going to send the boys (my sons & nephews … my 8 month old niece will have to entice her dad into helping her) into the woods to collect pinecones. The birds can enjoy their own Thanksgiving Feast when we are done with our project.

What we will need:

Pinecones

Peanut Butter & Crisco / shortening

Bird seed

Newspaper to cover work-surface

a Paper bag

Rope or Yarn

Have the kids gather up the largest pinecones they can find. While they are out whip the peanut butter and shortening together with a mixer. Place newspaper over their working surface.

Have the hot chocolate ready because when they come back in with a bag of pinecones they will be cold; hot chocolate and marshmallows will surely add to the fun of this project.

Tie a piece of yarn or rope at the top of each pinecone. Give each child a plastic knife and have them spread the peanut butter / shortening mix over all of the pinecone pieces (This part usually takes some help from a mom, dad, uncle, or aunt. Someone who is not busy in the kitchen preparing a people-Thanksgiving feast.) Get the mixture deep into the crevices so that the birdseed sticks all over.

After the pinecones are reasonably covered with the peanut-butter mixture place the pinecone in a paper bag, shake bird seed in the bag and then close the bag up. Have the expert bird-feeder maker shake the bag up really good. Pull the pinecone out by it’s rope and prepare to hang your bird feeder.