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Activity: Tweet tweets

Materials:
Suet (available at pet stores), peanut butter, wild birdseed, sand, raw sunflower seeds, wheat germ, millet, raisins or currants, unseasoned breadcrumbs, cornmeal, unsweetened organic cereal, paper cups, cottage cheese or yogurt containers, scissors, thick string
Time:
60 minutes
Skills:
Life science

Inspire your child’s interest in ornithology by mixing up a tasty treat to attract feathered friends. During the winter, birds need to eat things with a higher fat content (suet and peanut butter) so they can stay warm. They also need grit (sand) to help with digestion. Add any amount of any of the other ingredients to make these appealing "tweets" for your neighborhood birds. Help your child follow the directions to below to make your tweet tweets:

  1. Make a small hole through the bottom of the cup or container with scissors or a sharp object.
  2. Knot the string on the outside of the cup so that it cannot be pulled through. Cut the string so that it is long enough (about 12 to 24 inches) to be tied and hung from a tree. Do this for several containers of different shapes and sizes. Set aside.
  3. Over a low heat, melt the suet. Remove from the stove, add about 2 spoonfuls of the peanut butter and then any or all of the other ingredients. Stir well.
  4. While still warm, place the mixture into the cup or container and refrigerate overnight.
  5. Remove the cups and containers. Peel the cup from the mixture.
  6. Hang the treats outside, ideally in a place where it is easy to observe the birds.

Spend time observing the birds with your child. Research the birds in a book or on the Internet to find out more about them. Try hanging the tweets in different areas. Do the birds come in the morning? What happens when several birds show up at once? Do different birds come in the spring and the winter?