Diego Animal Rescue Birdfeeder

This new home for birds is easy to make. Transform a milk carton with craft sticks and raffia.

Come on Diego's rescues every day on Nick Jr.

Materials

• Large milk carton
• Scissors and/or a craft knife
• Packing tape
• Kraft paper or a brown lunch bag
• Craft glue
• Jumbo craft sticks
• Raffia
• Scraps of construction paper (optional)
• 1/2-inch dowel cut to 6-inch lengths
• Colored markers or crayons
• Sticker paper
• Diego Rain Forest Stickers
• Wild birdseed suited to your region
• Fine gauge wire and micro-hole punch, for hanging

Directions

1. Step 1

   Wash an empty carton with warm, soapy water and allow it to dry thoroughly.

2. Step 2

   Cut a 2-inch-round hole at the "front" of the carton.

3. Step 3

   Below the entry, about an inch down, poke a hole for the dowel using scissors or a craft knife.

4. Step 4

   Turn the carton around, and on the 'back" of the carton, about an inch up from the bottom, cut out a three-sided flap, which can be pulled down for adding seed to the feeder. Tape the bottom closed with packing tape.

5. Step 5

   With Kraft paper and glue, kids can cover three sides of the house, leaving the back (with the flap) uncovered. Use the tips of the scissors to poke through the paper into the round hole and cut the opening for the dowel.

6. Step 6

   Color the crafts sticks with crayons or markers (or use colored craft sticks) and glue them to the sides of the house, allowing each side to dry before adding the next.

7. Step 7

   When the craft sticks have dried, add the "grass roof." Snip raffia into long 4-inch lengths. Smear the roof with glue and press on the raffia strips. Don't worry if they are uneven. Once they're dry, snip along the edges of the roof line to even them out.

8. Step 8

   Print the Diego Rain Forest Stickers onto sticker paper, and have your child decorate the birdhouse with them.

9. Step 9

   Pour seeds in though the back and close the flap. Press the dowel in through the hole at the front.

10. Step 10

    To hang the feeder, punch a hole through the tip of the "roof" and pass through a thin, sturdy wire, forming it into a loop.