Find an activity
Back to ideas

Make · Wild and Tumble activity

Pine cone bird café

Open for breakfast, birds! Make a tasty pine cone feeder and see who visits.

  • 25 min total
  • Some mess
  • Ages 2–5*
  • Indoors or out
  • Autumn and winter
Let's do this

*Illustrative age guidance. Your child's development and circumstances matter more than a number.

A tiny plan for your day

Estimated time: 5 min to prepare · 15 min to make · 5 min to tidy. Check the window over the next few days. It's fine to stop early.

Before you start

What you’ll need

  • A dry pine cone
  • A length of string
  • Soft lard or vegetable suet, at room temperature
  • Bird seed, on a plate

Let's begin

Five simple steps

That's the whole activity. Tick each step off as you go, and stop whenever you like.

  1. Grown-up job

    An adult ties string firmly around the top of the pine cone.

  2. Little one leads

    Your child spreads lard into the gaps with a blunt knife or spoon.

  3. Roll it around in the seed until it's well covered.

  4. Hang it from a branch you can see from your window.

  5. Keep watch. Who comes to visit first?

All done!

That's every step. However it went, you made a little moment together.

If you enjoyed this

More little ideas like this.

All activities