How to Make Birdseed Ornaments
These fun and simple diy birdseed ornaments are a great winter craft for kids and the bird lovers in your family! Kids will love making the fun cookie cutter bird feeders and watching the birds and squirrels come and enjoy a tasty snack!
It’s the middle of winter and the birds and squirrels have been extra quiet the last few weeks due to lots of snow and cold weather, so my girls and I thought it would be a great time to help our little friends out and make some fun birdseed ornaments for them.
We made a couple of batches of the recipe below and today the birds were going crazy in the pine tree where we hung them up. My daughter was so excited the birds were eating the yummy bird cookies she made for them 🙂
This is a super simple birdseed ornament recipe and a great way to get outside in the middle of winter. Food is scarce for the birds at this time, so I’m sure our feathered friends appreciate the tasty treats as well!
Ingredients for homemade birdseed ornaments
- Birdseed Mixture
- Unflavored gelatin
- Water
- Cookie Cutters
- Twine or ribbon
How to Make DIY Bird Seed Ornaments
Add boiling water into a large bowl. Sprinkle your gelatin on top and mix well until the gelatin is dissolved.
Add your birdseed to the gelatin mixture and mix until it’s all incorporated.
Place a piece of wax paper or parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
On top of the wax paper, fill your cookie cutters up halfway with the birdseed and gelatin mixture. You can then add a piece of twine or yarn in the middle and fold in half to make a loop for hanging.
Then fill in the rest of the cookie cutter with the birdseed mixture and pack it down tightly.
Let your ornaments sit out on the baking sheet at room temperature for 12 hours or overnight until they easily come out of the cookie cutters and are dry.
Hang them up on tree branches and watch your backyard birds come out to enjoy!
Tips for Making Birdseed Ornaments
- An alternative for hanging your ornaments would be to use a straw or skewer and poke a hole in the top of your ornament after you filled it up. You could then hang your ornament through the hole with a piece of twine.
- This recipe will make about 4-6 ornaments depending on the size of your cookie cutters. We used 3 inch metal cookie cutters and had enough to make 6 ornaments.
- You can spray your cookie cutter with nonstick spray before adding the birdseed to help it remove more easily from the sides of the cookie cutters.
- Use a simple cookie cutter shape to avoid your ornaments breaking when you take them out.
- The gelatin mixture is sticky so it can be tricky when you are filling up your cookie cutters. Pressing with the back of the spoon or adding coconut oil to your fingers will be helpful in preventing some of the stickiness!
- When you hang your finished ornament it is helpful for the birds if they are hung near a branch where the birds can sit to eat.
Why We Love These Simple Birdseed Ornaments
- It’s a fun project to learn about your local backyard birds and provides a fun nature lesson for your kids as they get to watch all the beautiful birds come and go.
- Even younger children will enjoy all parts of the project from making the ornaments to bird watching.
- You can make the bird ornaments festive for many different seasons- fall, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc. They look adorable hanging up on the trees and serve as great decorations!
- You could use a festive ribbon and they would make a super cute and simple handmade gifts for neighbors or friends!
- This birdseed recipe uses gelatin as the “glue” and is made without corn syrup.
How Long Do DIY Birdseed Ornaments Last?
If it is above 50 degrees the birdseed ornaments will last for about a week outside.
If it is colder than 50 degrees, they will last for multiple weeks hanging outside.
We had so much fun making these homemade bird seed ornaments! It is such an easy project for kids of all ages and it is so fun to see the variety of local birds that come to your own backyard! Your kids will have a lot of fun and also learn a lot throughout the process. We hope you enjoy this winter nature activity! 🙂
Have you ever made diy birdseed ornaments before? What kinds of wild birds do you have in your area?
DIY Birdseed Ornaments
Homemade birdseed ornaments are a fun and easy nature project for winter! Your birds will love the tasty bird seed recipe and your kids will love watching the beautiful birds!
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp (or two packages) unflavored gelatin
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 2 cups wild birdseed mixture
Instructions
- Pour the boiling water into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin on top and stir until dissolved.
- Add the birdseed mixture into the mixing bowl and mix until it is all incorporated.
- Place a piece of wax paper on a baking sheet. Fill the cookie cutters halfway full with the birdseed mixture.
- Place twine or ribbon in the middle of the ornament and fold in half to create a loop for hanging.
- Fill the cookie cutters up to the top with the rest of the birdseed mixture and press firmly in all corners.
- Let your ornaments sit at room temperature for 12 hours or overnight until they are dry.
- Once dry remove from cookie cutters and hang up outside!
Notes
This recipe made 6 ornaments for us, the number of ornaments will depend on the size of your cookie cutters. We used 3 inch cookie cutters.
Above 50 degrees - if you hang your ornaments outside they will last for about a week.
Under 50 degrees - Your ornaments will last for multiple weeks outside!
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