The weather is cooling off rapidly and before long birds will have picked away most of the seeds they can find in plants left standing in our yards, fields, prairies, forests, and open spaces.

Birds that stay here over the winter will make their homes in places where they can be protected from the elements and have a food source.

If you would like to have birds to watch during the winter, you need to encourage them by providing a food source for them to visit. Fortunately, feeding the birds doesn’t have to cost a lot of money.

All of the four DIY bird feeders I’m going to tell you how to make were made by my preschooler with some assistance from me to complete some of them. These are simple to create and use supplies that you might have otherwise tossed. Quite possibly, all you need to purchase is the bird seed.

Orange Bird Feeder

Cut an orange in half and reserve the peel for the bird feeder. Poke four holes to push sticks through and push the stick through. Allow to dry for 48 hours. Tie some twine or yarn from the ends of the sticks to hang it from. Fill with bird seed and hang in your tree.

Different birds like to eat at different height levels, so if you notice your bird seed is not getting consumed you may need to identify what kind of birds are in your area and find out what height you need to hang your feeder at.

Cardboard Tube Feeder

For this one we used a paper towel tube and a toiler paper tube and tied them in two levels with twine. Next we made a thick paste of flour and water to cover the tube with. You can use peanut butter, but making paste is even more inexpensive and sticks very well. Roll the paste covered tubes in bird seed. Allow the paste to dry before hanging.

Popsicle Stick Bird Feeder

This bird feeder is constructed with popsicle sticks, hot glue and some twine.

This one required a little more assistance because I needed to use the glue gun and then I had my son hold each popsicle stick by the center place it on the hot glue dots on the ends. We did create a solid bottom of popsicle sticks before we created the sides.

Pipe Cleaner Cereal Bird Feeder

We used pipe cleaner to string on Cheerios on to because it made it easy to string on and also gave birds a place to perch. We made loops at the ends of the pipe cleaners to run some leftover yarn through and tie in to place two levels.

If you would like to see some ideas for other bird feeders we have made, please check these out:

• Bagel Bird Feeder
• Pinecone Bird Feeder
• Pottery Platform Bird Feeder

Enjoy watching the birds!