A Giving Christmas - Guest Post

This post was originally up at Paisley Roots, but I thought I'd bring it home.  Today it is bright and sunny which is welcome after the big winter storm we had earlier this week so it's the perfect day for a project like this one.  It's supposed to snow again tomorrow so we had better collect those pinecones now before it's too late, hehe.

I'm Ajaire from Call Ajaire and I'm happy to be here today at Paisley Roots to contribute to Karly's A Giving Christmas series.  I met Karly through Project Run & Play's sew along and I've followed ever since.  I really can't be more excited for her to compete this season; it's going to be a lot of fun to see what she comes up with.

When I started thinking about how I would share the spirit of giving with my 2 and a half year old, Bean my thoughts immediately went to animals.  She is obsessed with animals and talks often of how she needs to take care of them (true story - she's convinced me to buy her a new stuffed animal by saying "I need to take him home and take good care of him" on more than one occasion).  So I thought the idea of giving would hit closer to home for her if we started with some animal care.

With a fresh cover of snow on the ground, it was a good time to talk about why the wild animals might have trouble finding food.  Pinecone Birdfeeders seemed like a project that she'd be able to handle, and I have good memories of making them as a child.  The only supplies you need  are pinecones, peanut butter, bird seed, and some string to hang them.  Super easy!

First we searched our yard for some fallen pinecones.  I was worried with the recent snow that they'd be buried, but luckily a few had fallen after the snow, so it was as if they were placed on the ground just for us.

I put a glob of peanut butter on a plate and showed Bean how to use a spoon to spread it over the pinecone.  Her technique improved by the end, but I knew the birds wouldn't care how the final product would look so I let her take the lead. 

She clearly used some Jedi mind tricks, hehe.

Once the pinecones were pretty well covered with peanut butter, the fun really began. 

I put some birdseed in a tub to help contain it, and then showed her how to sprinkle the birdseed over the pinecone to let it stick to the peanut butter.  This was a perfect project for outdoors since I knew Bean would love to play with the tub of birdseed after the feeders were complete.

And she did.

Once they were well covered, I tied some string around the top and then tied them to our "squirrel-proof" birdfeeder so Bean would be able to see them from inside through our french doors.  She's been very excited to see some birds come and feed off of them.  I'm sure the squirrels and other rodents were more excited to see the mess of seed she left on the ground than the birds were about the feeders, but the idea of Christmas being a season of giving is in Bean's head now and that makes it all worth it in my book.

I'd love you all to come visit us at Call Ajaire if you enjoyed this project and thanks to Karly for having us!