This project is quick, easy and environmentally groovy… It’s also pretty inexpensive, which is always a plus! It is a heart shaped bird feeder! The boys had a lot of fun making these and they took us a total of 20 minutes to toss together… and they are PEANUT FREE!
Here’s the scoop:
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 envelope unflavored gelatin (2.5 teaspoons)
- 3 tbsp corn syrup
- 4 cups birdseed
You will also need:
- large mixing bowl
- heart shaped cookie cutter
- nonstick spray
- straw for making a hole in the ornament
- parchment or wax paper or tin foil
- cookie sheet
- ribbon
Mix flour, water, gelatin and corn syrup. Add birdseed and stir until combine!
Spray the inside of a heart cookie cutter with cooking spray. You could use any shape you want really, but for Valentine’s Day a heart is perfect!
Place cookie cutter on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Spoon mixture inside of cookie cutter, pressing mixture firmly. The birdseed stuck to my fingers a bit, but if you grease them that wouldn’t happen. The more you press it down, the less shedding of seeds you will have. We filled our cookie cutters to the brim! Once they are full, take your straw and poke a hole in the top for the ribbon. Make sure the straw goes all the way through to the pan. Carefully lift the cookie cutter up. It slides right off… Place it next to your heart and make another one!
This recipe made 13 hearts for us, perfect for gifts! You will want to let them dry 6-8 hours. We made ours in the afternoon and before bed I flipped them on their side to make sure the back side dried, as well. We then just let them sit until the morning. They were very solid by that time and it was simple to thread the ribbon through them at that time.
I think these would be adorable with little “Happy Valentine’s Day” tags… Maybe something like “glad you’re my love bird” or something cheesy like that :). Have fun with it! We are planning to pass them out to our neighbors too, you can make tons in a short period of time, so spread the LOVE!
mommyapolis 
What a TERRIFIC idea!
Hank, jumping up and down, says, “Can we do that?!? Can we do that?!? I want to do that!” Great idea. 🙂
This is so, so sweet! You always have such fun ideas! 🙂 Kids would love this! Thanks so much for sharing at Oopsey Daisy!
Thanks Alison!
What a great idea, I love this post! I found you on Tip Junkie! I would like to invite you to share this post with our readers for Fun Stuff Fridays. http://www.toysinthedryer.com/2012/01/fun-stuff-fridays-7.html
Thanks so much, I did share my post!
These are adorable. My younger son (2) just loves birds and we have many bird feeders in our yard. I think both of my boys would love to make these and watch the birds happily eat them. I found your post at Fun Stuff Fridays…I am new to their linky http://trailstentstirelesskids.blogspot.com/ and so enjoying checking out all the great ideas in one place. Thank you for sharing.
Found you via Oopsey Daisy– these are so stinkin’ cute! Will definitely have to make these with my younger two.
~Jenn
http://www.theschiresfive.blogspot.com
I LOVE this project! 🙂 I just featured you tonight! Thanks for the fantastic idea!
I can’t wait to make these Shannon…do they just set up (harden) on their own? About how long did it take? Thank you! If I get them done soon, I’d like to share them on my blog with a link to yours…would that be OK?
Tiffany, yes they harden… I let mine harden overnight, but I think 6 hours is probably plenty… OH and yes, link away!
Thank you so much for your great idea! I made these last night for my son’s preschool class. They were easy to just throw together while he was taking a nap(he is only 18 months.) I put my hearts in plastic sandwich bags and added pink and red construction paper to the top, to look like the bags you get from the store. Then I wrote cute phrases on them like “You are so ‘tweet'” and “You make my heart sing.” I did find that using a chopstick worked a little faster to poke holes than the straw, other than that I did everything just the same as you. I ended up making 3 batches and it came out to 32 hearts (filled to the brim.) Thank you again for this fantastic recipe. I think I will be using it in the future for teachers gifts, and I will definitely be checking back to see your next great idea!
this idea is GREAT!! so many of these feeders use peanut butter and my son is allergic. is there any way we could do this at a class party and send them home “wet” or do they really need to dry overnight? these kids are first graders. thanks
If you put each feeder on an individual piece of foil/wax paper I think you can send them home very carefully. They do harden over night and are much more durable… Good Luck!