Watching the birds is a big thing around here. My kids love to see how many different species we can attract, and watch them in our garden. While I was looking for ideas for an Earth Day craft for my daughter’s Beavers colony, I came across these totally easy milk jug bird feeders. We ended up making them at Beavers back in April, they’re so easy that kids can help make and decorate them, with just a little help from an adult!
To make a milk jug bird feeder, you need an empty, clean milk jug (with a lid!), two 12-inch dowels, some string, an exacto-knife, and some scissors. If youw ant to decorate it, some sharpie markers or acrylic paints are perfect. The one above was painted with acrylic craft paint, and it has withstood our wet spring pretty well!
Once you have your supplies together, mark your jug to cut. On the two biggest flat sides (the sides opposite the handle), you will want to mark big openings to cut out, as well as an X where you will cut and poke the dowels through.
The holes are easiest to cut if you start them with an exacto-knife. Kids can take over with craft scissors at this point, and finish cutting all the way around.
When you cut the Xs underneath to poke the dowels through, make sure they’re offset just a little, so the dowels will overlap nicely.
With the lid, cut two small holes with your exacto-knife, and feed your string through. Knot it firmly to create a loop.
Now you can decorate it any way you like. A tip for hanging – if you loop the string around the branch and feed the lid through, you can hang it on a thicker branch closer to the trunk of the tree, and not have to try to feed it on from an open tip. That’s why I attached the string to the lit, and not to the jug itself.
Voila! One finished bird feeder! Now you can watch your wild feathered friends gather in your yard!
A good idea to add-on to this would be to add a rubber band wrapped around the dowel and pushed up to meet the jug to prevent the stick from falling out
Nice project, Samantha. My kids would like that one.