Milk Jug Bird Feeder
Don’t toss out an empty milk jug! Turn it into an easy-to-make bird
feeder.
What you need:
✔✔ 1 plastic one-gallon milk jug, empty and cleaned
✔✔ Scissors
✔✔ A nail
✔✔ 1 small twig for perch
✔✔ Acrylic paint
✔✔ Clear-drying craft glue
✔✔ Leaves and 5-inch-long twigs
✔✔ A spool of thin wire
✔✔ Clear-drying nontoxic craft glaze or finish
An adult to help you
1. For the main entrance to the feeder: Draw and then have an
adult help you cut out a large circle (about 2 1/2 inches wide) a
few inches up from the bottom of an empty, clean one-gallon
milk jug.
2. For the perch: Use a nail to punch a small twig-sized hole just
below the large one. (See step 5 for adding the perch.)
3. Brush green acrylic paint on the outside of the jug and let it
dry. Using any clear-drying craft glue, glue leaves onto the outside of the jug.
Photo by Louis Mazzatenta
Craft by Michele Reyser
4. Hanger: Use the nail to punch holes through both sides of the top, just below the cap, and then slip the wire
through it.
5. Roof and final touches: Glue about a dozen or so five-inch twigs to each side of the jug’s top, as shown. Poke
another, thicker twig into the perch hole. Glue on stones, pinecones, pine needles, more twigs, or any other
decorations you like. Paint over the leaves with clear non-toxic craft glaze or finish.
6. Add birdseed and hang your feeder from a tree branch, making sure to put it where you can easily refill it.
Now sit back and wait for the birds to discover the newest diner in town!
Copyright © 2010 by American Girl. Used with the permission of the National Wildlife Federation. Activity from Your Big Backyard magazine