Bird Feeder

Make this lovely bird feeder and enjoy watching visitors fly to your delicious snack to have a yummy treat! This is a great way to support the local birds that live near you. Don't forget to save some Pine Cones this Autumn in readiness for Winter. It's much harder for the birds to find food at that time of year!

What you will need:

A Pine Cone*

Peanut Butter

Bird Seed

A Bowl

A Spoon

15cm of String (approximately)

How To Make It:

Step 1: With the back of your spoon, smear the peanut butter all over your Pine Cone.

Step 2: Pour some bird seed into your bowl. Make sure your bowl is big enough to roll your pine cone in it.

Step 3: Roll your pine cone in your bowl of bird seed. The peanut butter will help the seeds stick to your cone. Try and cover your cone all the way round your cone so the birds have lots of yummy seed to eat!

Step 4: Tie some string tight around the top ridges of your pine cone leaving a length of string to attach to a branch in your garden.

Step 5: Attach your pine cone feeder to a tree branch in the garden that you can see from your window and enjoy your visitors that will surely arrive soon!

*Pine Cones: You can usually find these in parks in Autumn so collect lots this year and save some for next year too!

Recycled Egg Box Turtle

Make a funky Turtle from your old egg boxes!

What you will need:

An Empty Egg Box

Green Funky Foam

Googly Eyes (you can draw them on if you don't have any!)

PVC White Craft Glue

Green Paint

Black Paint or another colour of preference

Safety Scissors

How To Make It:

Step 1: Cut out one egg box hump for the shell. Paint the topside with green paint and leave to dry.

Step 2: While your shell is drying, draw the turtle shape/s onto your foam and cut out. You need 4 rectangle shapes for the legs. Cut jagged edges on one end of each rectangle for the feet. You also need an oval body shape. Stick the legs onto the oval body shape and leave to dry.

Step 3: Decorate your dry turtle shell with the black or different colour paint. Be as creative as you like! You could also use other decorative craft items as you wish.

Step 4: Stick the Googly eyes onto your turtles head or draw some eyes on.

Step 5: Flatten the 4 corners of your dry eggbox shell so you have an edge to glue. Glue the 4 corners onto the middle of your funky foam turtle so that the legs, tail and head are poking out from under the shell.

Why not make a family of turtles from your egg box and try different colours!

Halloween Bottle Witch (Sent in by Laura 16th Oct 2009)

Make a great witch this Halloween from an old Bottle!

What you will need:

Plastic bottle

Pipe cleaners  (green and 1, any colour of your choice)

Sticky tape

1 twig

String

Paint (to match your chosen pipe cleaner)

Glue

Google eyes

Silver foil

How to Make It

Step 1: Cut your chosen pipe cleaner (not green) in half. Tape one piece to each side of the bottle to make arms.

Step 2: Cut some long pieces of string to make hair and tape them around the lid of the bottle.

Step 3: Tape the green pipe cleaner ( you may need more than one, depending on the size of your lid) to the top of the  lid to secure it then wind the pipe cleaner downwards to cover the entire lid, leaving the end sticking out like a nose.

Step 4: Mix the paint and glue (2 parts glue, 1 part paint) and paint the entire bottle. Allow to dry.

Step 5: Stick on the eyes.

Step 6: Cut out a small square of silver foil and place it over the lid, scrunching the edges to make it look floppy.  Cut out a large rectangle of foil and scrunch it up to create a cone. Place this on top of the bottle, moulding it around the lid to secure it. This is your witch’s hat.

Step 7: Cut some short pieces of string and bundle them together, securing them by tying them with a longer piece. Tie the bundle to the bottom of the twig then attach it to one of the arms by winding the end of the pipe cleaner around the top of the twig. Your witch now has her broomstick and is ready to fly!

* To add a bit more sparkle to your witch’s cloak try using sticky stars to decorate the bottle or rolling up some foil and wrapping it around the middle to create a belt *