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Home » Crafts » Activities for Kids » Love Birds: Valentine’s Day Bird Feeders

Love Birds: Valentine’s Day Bird Feeders

Activities for Kids

These Valentine’s Day Bird Feeders are a simple craft and make for a cute little gift!These Valentine's Day Bird Feeders are a simple craft and make for a cute little gift!
 pinterest

EDITED TO ADD: I know have these cute tags to go with these! Click HERE to grab ’em:

valentine_bird_feeder_tag_printable

 

I kind of love these. They are so simple, but so sweet. I first saw them as a wedding favor idea. What a great idea, right?? I would love to get something like this at a wedding. (As a side note, a good friend of mine from college is getting married this summer, and I am now obsessing over wedding details.)

Anyway. Here’s the recipe:

  • 3/4 a cup of flour
  • 1/2 a cup of water
  • 1 envelope unflavored gelatin (2.5 teaspoons)*
  • 3 tbsp corn syrup
  • 4 cups birdseed

Spray a spoon with cooking spray and then mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, a la this

Yummy.

Next, spray the inside of your cookie cutter with cooking spray, and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Fill it with the birdseed mixture. Be sure to really pack it down. In retrospect, I wish I would have sprayed another spoon with cooking spray and used the back of it to help pack it down. It would have made for two smooth sides, instead of one.

These Valentine's Day Bird Feeders are a simple craft and make for a cute little gift!

Once you have your cookie cutter full, use something (we used a chop stick) to make a hole. Then, holding down the birdseed, pull off the cookie cutter. I had to respray the cookie cutter after every four and with a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter, I made 12 feeders. I thought this would be something really fun to do with Gavin, but  . . . I was wrong. It was a messy activity, and they are really fragile when you take off the cookie cutter. But this would probably be perfect to do with an eight or ten year old. That being said, Gavin did the chop stick part and really enjoyed it.

Let them firm up over night, and then they are ready to hang or give away.

This was my favorite part. When I told Gavin I was going to hang one up outside, he told me that he wanted to come with and that we should hang it on Elliot’s tree.

“This is for Elliot, Mom.” Oh little moose, you melt my heart. We love you, E. And we never stop thinking about you.

These Valentine's Day Bird Feeders are a simple craft and make for a cute little gift!

* In my grocery store, I found this in with all the Jell-o mixes. Though I spent a good chunk of time looking for it with the canning stuff.

These Valentine's Day Bird Feeders are a simple craft and make for a cute little gift!

Comments

  4. Made these with my two boys, 5 and 6 years old. The boys loved making them and they came out great. Everyone that we handed them out to today raved about how cute they are and asked how to make them. Thank you!

    Reply

  5. Help, please!!!!! I made 60 of these for favors for a shower this weekend. I hung mine outside. It lasted well on a hot, humid day, however, we rain overnight & my heart fell to the ground. Tried a second heart, same result. Has anyone else had problems like this? Did I do something wrong?
    Dee recently posted…Summer Potluck RecipesMy Profile

    Reply

    • Dee, unfortunately, I had the same problem with these. They are super cute, but don’t last through the rain. The good news is that the birds will still enjoy them even if they are a lumpy heart on the ground.

      Reply

  7. Just want to thank you for sharing so many wonderful & creative ideas with us.I have tried out some of your recipes this year & have given friends your site so they could also see what a creative and happy young lady you are.Keep up doing all that you are doing. Thanks again 🙂

    Reply

  8. HI!
    I made these last night with my 2 kids and their 3 friends all ranging in ages from 2 to 6! They loved it! To make it less messy i had them scoop the mixture into the cookie cutter with a spoon, then cover it with wax paper before pushing it tightly into the cutter! They turned out great! They are so excited to hang them in our trees today! Thanks!

    Reply

  9. Can you use bacon fat instead of gelatin?? And maybe let it sit in freezer for a few hours? I just bought a bag of birdseed and have a jar of bacon fat that was gonna use to make bird feeders with pine ones.

    Reply

    • You can give it a try Laurie, but honestly, I would be worried that the bacon fat wouldn’t hold it together, you know? Like wouldn’t make it set. The bacon fat works perfect on pine cones for the sticky factor, but the reason gelatin is used here is because it actually has to set up. I hope that makes sense. If you decide to give it a go anyway, be sure to come back and let us know if it worked! Alternatives are always helpful.

      Reply

  10. Hi! So excited to try this in our class. I help college students and older with disabilities. You said 2.5 tea spoons for the gelatin? I got the unflavored kind but it says each one package is one oz each . Glad I checked instead of using the whole thing for each one!

    Reply

    • You can make a syrup approximation by boiling sugar and water. You probably want 3 or 3 parts sugar to 1st part water, then boil it until it is a thick syrup. You have to watch it carefully to be sure it doesn’t crystallize. You also might try maple syrup but that is a pretty strong taste. Have you looked to see if you can order corn syrup on Amazon?

      Reply

    • Corn syrup is just sugar and water cooked down. I’ve made it many times. Just cook it down slowly. Otherwise, it crystalizes on the sides. 2 parts water to 1 part sugar. Bring to a boil, then turn it down to keep it simmering till syrupy. Keep in mind, that when it’s hot, it will not be as thick as the stuff in the bottle.

      Reply

  13. Thanks so much for this recipe!!! I’m makin them for my 8yr olds Valentines Day party at school! Trying to think of what to write on the bag. “Valentines day is for the birds”?

    Reply

  16. Love these.
    Going to make them as part of party favor for a bird themed birthday for my little girl. Any idea how far in advanced I could make them? Was hoping to get them done ahead of time if possible. 2 weeks?

    Thanks so much

    Reply

  18. I read that somewhere these will mold in a couple of weeks if not used right away. Have you found this to be true?

    Reply

    • I didn’t have that experience, Jeannie, but I didn’t keep them around terribly long either. You could always try to leave them out instead of putting them in a container. That way they stay dry and don’t trap moisture.

      Reply

  19. Is there anything I can use instead of gelatin? I have to have gluten free ingrediants in my house. I have gluten free flour and corn syrup.

    Reply

  20. I am going to make these for a bridal shower favor. Do you know how long they will last? I wanted to make some on advance

    Reply

    • You could make them several weeks in advance. I would leave them out and let them air dry completely. You don’t have to store them away if you don’t want to, but if you do, make sure they are completely dry.

      Reply

  21. I just saw this ! I can’t wait to make them for my son Mayson to share as Valentine’s day gifts. What a great way to feed the birds and to give really cute gifts. Thank you so much .

    Reply

  22. How long do these take to dry? I am looking for a craft to do during my son’s school party and these look like fun and also educational because of measuring. (Pre-K class) We are just limited because it is just a half a day class.

    Reply

    • Hi Stacy! These would be really fun for a class project! I think it would be fine if the kids can take them home the next day. I know sometimes they do that in my daughter’s class. They do need overnight to dry.

      Reply

  23. Hi Lisa HELP I do not know what I am doing wrong mine fell apart could you please what I need and what do I need to spray, was I suppose to spray the parchment, I did the heart cookie cutter. Please I am trying to give as gifts. How do you make them hard Thanks.

    Reply

    • Hi Katie! I made these so long ago that I’m not totally sure. It also depends on what size heart cutter you use and how much you fill them (i.e. you could only fill the cookie cutter half way up or you could fill it all the way and both would work).

      Reply

  26. For anyone thinking of making these to send in to a school…most bird seed says “may contain peanuts”. Check with your child’s school before considering making them. We’re just going to use them for family 🙂

    Reply

  27. I just made these for my girlfriends as a Valentines’ gift. . Didn’t have a cookie cutter so I improvised and made one out of foil. A little larger, but turned out great. I’m making more to give to clients for Valentines’ Day. (Little smaller ones though) Thank you.

    Reply

  28. I just made these with my 4 year old daughter. I used wax paper for her to press them firmly into the cookie cutters. It worked great! No birdseed stuck to the wax paper, and she really enjoyed ‘”squishing” the birdseed into the heart before poking a hole for the ribbon. We can’t wait for these to dry!
    Also, have you ever tried putting them in the oven on low heat (150-200F) for about an hour or so, to dry them quicker?

    Reply

  29. Made these with my fourth graders for their Winter party. They had a blast. It went along great with our Bird adaptation unit. I will also be making them with my son’s kindergarten friends. It should be fun! Thank you.

    Reply

  31. I plan on using this idea with my Sunday School children. We will make one to keep and some to give away. I love this idea. I will make a couple to hang on our trees in remember of my son and granddaughter. Thank you for sharing.

    Blessings.,
    Audrey

    Reply

  37. I’m making these with my Sunday School class this Sunday – 6-12 year olds. I’ll let you know how they turn out! My kids (9 & 12) were my testers – pretty easy to make and they had fun! Thanks for the idea!

    Reply

  38. I just tried to make these and they are not holding together. At all. After looking around at some other recipes people had cooked the gelatin in water before adding the bird seed, I wish in your instructions you would have specified better. Now I have a bowl of mushy bird seed that I dont know what to do with.

    Reply

    • Hi Caitlin. I’m really sorry you struggled with these. I feel good about the instructions. I made them again this year off of my own instructions and they held together perfectly without cooking the gelatin.

      Reply

  40. Lisa,

    I’m so excited to make theses with my grand kids this weekend for their teachers… any suggestions for the card we can place with them for the teachers. Also we are going try and make baby decorations for a baby shower.. again any suggestions. Thank you I will let you know how this all turns out… We love all you stuff.

    Carole…Texas

    Reply

  42. I’m totally planning on making these with my 3 year old today! This is such a cute idea! Do you have any suggestions for a replacement if I don’t have plain gelatin on hand?

    Reply

  43. I tried this with my son and was afraid it would not stick so added coconut oil and put them in the freezer. They looked great until they were out for five minutes and fell apart. I wanted to do this for my son’s valentine exchange in his class but not sure how to get them to stay together.

    Reply

    • Hmm, I’m not sure what happened here. It’s possible that the coconut oil is the culprit. They stayed together really well for me without that and without the freezer.

      Reply

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