Bird houses are such an easy and fun way to add some color to your yard! They don’t take up a lot of space and can be made from just about anything. My toddler is bird obsessed and is always on the look out for some new feathered friends. This easy DIY bird house was the perfect activity for her!
Materials
- Paint
- String
- Containers: we used an almond milk and oatmeal container but anything you can wash out and cut into will work!
- Extra decorations: we used dried leaves we found on a walk
- Glue for decorations
- Needle
Milk Carton Bird House
We started with the milk carton bird house. The day before having her paint, I washed out the carton and let it dry. I also painted the entire carton white so that the label underneath wouldn’t show when the bird house was complete.
When it was time to paint I set out her paints and brushes and allowed her to paint as she liked. I love giving her unconventional canvases because she approaches each one so differently. With the milk carton she carefully painted each side with a different color, rotating the carton in front of her. This is much different from a piece of paper where she likes to mix all the paints together at once!
For the milk carton bird house we kept it simple and just used acrylic paint. You can see in some areas where it bubbled a little bit from the wax coating on the carton but it wasn’t noticeable when dried. Once she was done painting I cut a small rectangle for a door and set it aside so we could complete the second bird house.
Oatmeal Container Bird House
For the oatmeal container bird house I also painted the entire container white. This one was much harder to paint because of the coating and I used 3 layers of paint in order to cover the label underneath. For this bird house I also cut the door right away because I wanted the leaves to go around the doorway.
I wanted to allow her to paint on different canvases so for this bird house she painted dried leaves. She really enjoyed the texture of each leaf, and once again painted each a different color.
Once the leaves were dried I poured some glue into a small container and showed her how to paint the back of the leaves and stick them to the container. Because the oatmeal container was round, we really had to hold the leaves down in order for them to actually stick. She glued them down around the door and I kept pressing to make sure they stayed.
I loved the way this bird house looks! It looks like it belongs in a forest.
Hanging the Bird House
Once both bird houses were complete and dried I took a needle and threaded it with twine. This made it really easy to poke holes through both sides and string the twine through, but you can just poke hole with a pin as well.
We filled both with oatmeal, did you know birds will eat just about anything from your bird house? I hammered a few nails into the fence and hung each. We’ve seen quite a few birds so far and Aaliyah loves to say hi whenever they stop by for a snack!
Have you ever made recycled bird houses? What did you use to create them?
They came out so cute! I am going to try this tomorrow with my babies! They love painting, being outside, and wildlife so it is a win all around.
These are cute and creative! I’ll have to remember this DIY when my little gets older.
This is such a cute DIY project that I need to do with my 3-year-old.
So fun! I’ll have to try this with my girls. Also, her cute little face is too much! She looks like she had the best time!
The facial expression in the second picture is priceless!!!!
In Love with these! My kids will love making birdhouses. I was making a list of things to do with them this summer and I just added these! Thanks!!
Love how simple this is! Adding it to our list of backyard projects:)
Aww it looks like you guys had fun making your bird houses. I’ll definitely be trying this with my littles.
What a cute a unique idea! I love the creativity this gives little ones along with being able to teach them a lesson about recycling.
I’m totally going to do this with my kiddos. What a cute idea!!!