Day 169: giving the gift of an activity

Sam is in a very small preschool. She has only five other kids in her class. We love her preschool being small.  Small means that I can do something extra special this year for each of the kids, that Sam can give each of her friends a special little gift because there are ONLY FIVE!

So on Monday when they have their little Christmas party Sam will bring these to give out to the kids.

Everything each kid needs to make their own pine cone bird feeder! Here are the supplies that we started with.

Pine cones (one for each kid), peanut butter (not in the picture), cellaphane bags (two small ones and a big one for each kid), plastic spoons (one for each kid), bird seed, ribbon and the instruction cards.

For each one I took the small cellaphane bag and filled it with bird seed and used a twist tie to close the bag. The little bag of bird seed and pine cone went into the large cellaphane bag. Then we took a big spoonful of peanut butter and put that into another little cellaphane bag and put that bag in the bigger cellaphane bag. So those are the three things that go into the big bag, which gets tied closed with the ribbon.

With the ribbon I then attach the instruction card. Which says this :

"Thought you might enjoy a fun activity and a chance to watch some birds this winter! Just follow the steps below to make a simple bird feeder.

1.       Tie a ribbon on the top of the pinecone by looping it through the middle and tying a knot (you can use the ribbon that is holding this card!).

2.       Spread the peanut butter all over the pinecones. Be sure to get it inside the pinecone too!

3.       Roll the pinecone in the bird seed so that the peanut butter is covered.

4.       Hang the pinecone bird feeder outside somewhere that is visible from a window and enjoy!

This type of bird seed should attract smaller birds like finches, juncos and sparrows. Happy bird watching and Happy Holidays! – Samantha Enlund"

The whole thing (five little gifts!) cost me less than $10! Sam helped put them together and is very excited to give them out on Monday.

________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!
So after I had already started putting these together and bought the cellaphane bags I realized just how NOT green (as in eco-friendly) my packaging methods were. All that plastic! Rats. If you decide to do this for someone in your life I would encourage you to find other packaging methods. For starters they make some great compostable spoons that are not that much more expensive then the plastic ones. The whole gift could also be put into a small paper bag that could be recycled easier. Not sure if they make recyclable cellaphane bags but that would also be a way to go.

A great little gift that is inexpensive and brings nature a little closer for families that might not make that as big a part of their everyday as we do.

Comments

[Angela]

Those are great gifts! The pine cones are so perfect. I really like this idea for giving!
Peace, Angela

[welcome to our wonderland]

I love that gift that is something that not only is a nature craft but also a time spending with your kids gift awesome idea in my book!

[amber]

fantastic idea! LOVE it!

[Jessica]

That's a GREAT idea! The only problem for us is that all the classrooms are "nut free," so we wouldn't be able to do this exactly the same. But, I think you could use shortening instead of PB? I'm not sure what the birds would think of that.

[gina]

I have a dumb question. Could we do this in March? I think this would be adorable for favors for L's birthday.

[Debi]

Love this - and it works any time of the year! I might add a ribbon or yarn to hang the pinecone with, too.

[liz]

I remember doing that when i was little! what a fun project!