Something for the Birds

Spring is around the corner and what better way to welcome it than by making something for the birds!  I saw this idea on Juniper Moon Farm and thought it was a fantastic, easy project.  The original idea uses a metal suet feeder, which you can purchase at a home improvement store.  I, always looking to save money, had some strawberry baskets and figured that they would work just as well.

Basically, this is a little basket of yarn scraps that you can hang outside in your garden.  Little birds in the neighborhood will (in theory), come by and take the yarn scraps to help build their nests.  It's very simple and I'm pretty sure you can figure out how to do it by just looking at the picture, but then you'd miss my wonderful pictures! :)

Materials you need:
2 clean strawberry/berry baskets
yarn
scissors

I got this HUGE (you really can't see the whole thing) bag of yarn at an estate sale a few months ago for $15!  The previous owner had passed away and the bag came with a few half-done crotchet projects with the needles still attached, which was slightly creepy....But once I got over the creepiness factor, I reveled in my awesome deal!

What to do:

1) Cut a bunch of yarn into 1"-2" pieces.  Cut enough to fill up both baskets.

I started cutting the pieces by pulling out a strand of yarn and making one cut at a time.  After about 5 minutes I realized, duh, I could be doing this faster.  I blame my "duh" moment on mommy brain.  It does exist!  You probably already thought about this, but I'll share it anyway.  

Wrap the yarn around your hand a bunch of times.

Cut the bundle into pieces.

See?  Faster!  You're welcome.

2)  Fill the baskets up with the yarn pieces.  Attach the baskets with, yes, you guessed it, some yarn.

3)  Attach a long piece of yarn to the top and find a tree to hang it from.  And that's it!

I'm pretty sure when I hung this up that all the birds in the neighborhood yelled, "Woo hoo!  Yarn!".  I think I heard it, although it sounded a lot like their normal sounds...

I gave Olive some safety scissors (they only cut paper) to "help" me while I cut the yarn.  If your child is old enough and you feel comfortable letting them use scissors, this is a really easy project they can help you with.  When I give Olive the scissors she says, "Seesos! Appa!  Toes!"  (Scissors! Open! Close!).  She still can't actually get how to use them, but she definitely thought she was helping me!