We have tons of critters in our backyard. Mice (shudder), chipmunks, raccoons, squirrels….and birds. OHMYGOD the birds. They are everywhere and they are always in the back. I can hear them and see them. So, in hindsight, this is probably not the best idea. But they don’t bother me. We like watching them.

I wanted to include Dylan in this because if I don’t, he comes running in halfway through and demands that he be included and he can’t believe I would do something without him! True story.

I found a 3 pound bag of bird seed at Dollar General for $2. They had bigger bags too but I knew I didn’t need that much.

The paper plate, paint, toilet paper roll and hemp cord were already in my house. So that was no problem!

I started with asking Dylan to pick 2 colors to paint the plate. He chose purple (it’s always purple) and blue. But a light purple and light blue.

The painting actually brought on a lot of conversation. He told me the paint was smooth and we talked about how mixing the 2 colors kind of looked gray. All brought on by him. He’s definitely my kid.

I let him paint the top and bottom of the plate. To be quite honest, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do after and how I was going to put this thing together. So while he painted, I brainstormed.

After the plate dried (we let it sit outside so it would dry faster), I took a pair of scissors and poked 4 holes around the plate.

Then I took the hemp and threaded it through the hole from the front so that it was supporting it
under. I used 2 different pieces so they crossed over on the bottom and tied up at the top.

Then with the toilet paper roll, I punched 2 holds opposite each other and measured how long the string had to be to just have it sitting on the plate. The birds will stand on the plate and eat off of the plate or the toilet paper roll.

Smear peanut butter all over the toilet paper roll.

Give your “helper” some peanut butter to snack on. Because, peanut butter.

Sprinkle some bird seed out onto a paper towel and roll the peanut butter covered toilet paper roll in the bird seed.

Re-string the roll and tie it up at the top so it sits nicely on the plate (full disclosure, mine was too short so I hung them on different branches which ended up being perfect.)

Now we sit back and watch the birds fly in for a snack!