Birdhouse Crafts

Bird Feeders From Natural Maaterials

• If you don't have any scrap wood lying around, you can still build a comfy birdhouse for your feathered friends. Hollow out a coconut, carving a hole on one side for the bird to enter through. Allow it to dry before hanging it on a tree with a rope. You can also use a gourd birdhouse. The soft inside is comfortable and appealing to birds, and it also has a rounded shape. Clean and carve the gourd as you would the coconut, and spray it with a weather seal to preserve it. You can also add decorative painting to your gourd, since it has a smooth surface.

Found Objects

• Lillian Rose, a birdhouse crafter featured in "Country Living," specializes in creating birdhouses featuring objects found in nature or around town. She uses flat pieces of bark and driftwood to fasten on the pitch roof and around the tiny entrance. Twigs, pebbles and dried plants or moss create a beach-inspired yard around the tiny birdhouse, which is placed on a wooden platform. She also has a penchant for painting her birdhouses a bold color like green or orange. Follow her lead and see what items you find in your own environment that you can fasten onto your birdhouse.

Birdhouse Kits

• If you haven't the time to start a birdhouse from scratch, or you're not sure of your crafty abilities, a birdhouse kit may work for you. Nurseries and craft supply companies sell kits in a wide variety of styles. Some are as simple to put together as folding and securing a precut piece of cardboard into a mailbox-type house and mounting it on a tree. Others require a bit more assembly, and you can always find a kit to paint yourself if you want to choose the color but not necessarily construct the house.

Kid-Friendly Crafts

• Get your kids involved with crafting and birdwatching early on with a birdhouse craft tailored to their abilities. Younger kids can make a bird feeder from a milk carton, with a little help from an adult. The child covers the entire carton in masking tape. Then help him rub shoe polish all over it, so the carton has a faux woodsy finish, much more appealing in your garden or on your porch. You can help him cut out a small hole in the side or the bird, and some drainage holes in the bottom. Poke a tiny hole in the top of the milk carton, string a rope through it and hang your birdhouse from your favorite tree.