This Easy Bird Feeder for Kids to Make is a bird feeder craft without peanut butter! So many easy DIY bird feeders for kids make a great STEAM nature activity for kids!  Explore science through nature! 

Most DIY bird feeders include peanut butter in the ingredient list but this one uses a fresh orange and simply fills the orange with the bird seed making it a perfect allergy friendly option. 

One of the things we are hoping to instill in Miss. E is a love and appreciation for nature. This STEAM nature activity is helping us do just that. After making and hanging the bird feeder in our yard she would keep a close eye at the window to see if any birds had visited her bird feeder!!   She couldn’t wait to report to her daddy and cousins all about what kind of birds she had seen. I love how it is increasing her observation skills and inspiring a love of nature in her life.

Easy Bird Feeder for Kids to Make

Materials needed: 

• Orange 
• Knife and spoon
• Bird Seed
• Scissors
• Twine/ String

Step by Step: Easy Bird Feeder for Kids to Make

1. 1. (Teacher/Parent) Using a knife slice an orange in half in the opposite direction that you would slice it if you were eating it.
   2. Using a spoon, hollow out the center or “flesh” of the orange to create a bowl.
   3. Create string holes in all four edges with scissors and run string through to create a hanging basket.
   4. Allow your toddler to fill the orange with bird seed.
   5. Hang your new bird feeder outside on a tree lim and wait for the birds!

One great things about this STEAM Nature activity is it also doubles as snack time! You and your little one can snack on the orange as you work on completing the bird feeder! 

How do you make homemade bird seed?

You can also make your own homemade bird seed with simple items from your pantry if you don’t have any bird seed on hand.  You can use things such as rolled oats, bread crumbs, sunflower seeds, chopped nuts, and raisins, which are all perfectly healthy for birds to eat and it may save you a trip to the store.

There are some great ideas floating around the internet full of creative ideas for DIY homemade bird feeders!  We’ve got several more on our list to make throughout the coming months!  Using nature to incorporate Science into our daily lives is really a lot of fun.  With preschoolers using what is around us in our everyday lives only brings learning to life and creates a more engaging environment for learning.  Their excitement for learning should be contagious to us as teachers.

Want to see more of our STEAM Activities for Preschoolers?  Click Here –> STEAM Activities for Preschoolers

STEAM Nature Activities:

Tree Bark Rubbing – Let your preschoolers (really any age!) explore different types of trees and their bark through tree bark rubbing.  This is very minimal prep with little to no effort on your part as a teacher, we like those, right?!  Ask questions as you identify different types of trees – let them create a mini bark rubbing book and label the trees – this is easy to adapt the STEAM activity to the appropriate age group.  

Preschool Nature Scavenger Hunt – What preschooler doesn’t love collective items into a bag?  It’s a great activity to get them to explore and adventure in nature and we also correlated colors into this scavenger hunt!

Fun Preschool Nature Craft – Leaf People – Combining Preschool Science with art was a lot of fun. Each of the preschoolers leaf people were totally different and unique encouraging creativity at it’s finest!  After a scavenger hunt or nature walk let your students create a leaf person for a fun art activity! 

Painting with Nature –  After a nature walk it’s fun to use the nature items they’ve found to paint and create art.  Again combining science and art is a lot of fun!  All you’ll need in addition to the nature items is clothes pins, card stock paper and washable paint!  

Kids Nature Scavenger Hunt + FREE PRINTABLE- Headed on a nature walk but want to give your students a bit more specific items to search for?  This free printable will help you out!

We are a husband and wife team, pairing our strengths together to teach our preschooler in the most fun and engaging way we possibly can.  The mister is a high school educator at Northlake Christian school in Covington Louisiana and over the Innovation Center, which is all things STEAM.  I am a SAHM that blogs pretty much everything we do in our little paradise, from what we eat, to where we travel to how we teach our little one.  We hope you are inspired to incorporate STEAM into learning with your children.