Easy Birdseed Ornaments

Birdseed ornaments are fun to make with kids! Try out the birdseed ornament recipe below, and grab the free printable bird activity pack! Make your own simple birdseed ornaments with gelatin, and add this fun bird-watching activity to spring science lessons!

Make Birdseed Ornaments With Kids

Making homemade birdseed ornaments is a fun and kid-friendly activity for Earth Day projects, spring science, or even winter science activities! It can be done anytime you want to attract a few feathered friends for easy bird-watching with a classroom, homeschool, or family.

💡Birdseed ornaments made with gelatin are also peanut free. Here’s another easy way to make birdseed ornaments with peanut butter.

Birdseed Ornament Recipe

It’s time to grab the supplies and start making these easy bird seed feeders with the kids. You can pick up everything you need at the grocery store, too! Watch the video and follow along with the instructions below.

Supplies:

• ½ cup of cold water
• ½ cup boiling water
• 2 packets of unflavored gelatin
• 2 Tablespoons of corn syrup
• 2 ½ cups of birdseed, “Country Mix” shown here
• Cookie cutters
• Drinking straws cut in 2” pieces
• Parchment paper
• Twine or another kind of string (biodegradable if possible!)
• Baking sheet

How to Make Birdseed Ornaments

Tip: Remember, this is a kid-friendly birdseed feeder! Have those kids help measure, pour, and mix. You can even get kids as young as toddlers involved in the process.

STEP 1: First, mix the gelatin with a half cup of cold water until it’s all dissolved!

Now add a half cup of boiling water (adult help required) to the bowl, and stir it slowly until its completely dissolved.

STEP 2: Next, add two tablespoons of corn syrup, and again, stir until dissolved.

Quick Tip: Spray the tablespoon with a little non-stick spray, and the corn syrup will slide right off!

STEP 3: Finally, it’s time for you to mix in the birdseed.

Keep mixing until the gelatin/ corn syrup mixture evenly coats each seed. Let this rest for a couple of minutes if the mixture seems watery.

STEP 4: Now for the messy part, spoon the seed mixture into the cookie cutters.

Fill the cookie cutters about halfway and use a small piece of parchment paper to press the seeds firmly into the mold. Then fill the cookie cutter to the top & press again.

STEP 5: Push the straw into the birdseed to make a hole for your twine. Leave plenty of room between the straw and the edge. Press around the straw to ensure the seeds will hold shape around the hole.

STEP 6: Place the cookie cutters in the refridgerator to set overnight. Once set, remove the cookie cutters by gently pushing at the edges until it falls out, taking extra care with detailed cookie cutters.

Pop the straws out & thread a piece of twine through the hole to make a hanger.

Your bird feeder is ready to hang outside. You want to hang it near other branches, so the birds have a place to rest while eating!

How Does Gelatin Work?

Making birdseed ornaments is not just a fun craft—it’s also a chance to explore some simple kitchen chemistry! Gelatin, which we’ve used for projects like creepy Halloween hearts and fake snot slime, is a fascinating example of science in action.

💡 You can also make homemade gummy bears!

Gelatin is a semi-solid made of long strings of amino acids that loosen up when heated and become liquid. These molecules love water and stick to it, but not very strongly. As the mixture cools in the fridge, the bonds between water and gelatin strengthen, forming a semi-solid that holds the birdseed together.

This hands-on activity combines nature study with a fun chemistry lesson, showing how much science surrounds us—even in the kitchen!