My goddaughter spent one rainy October afternoon at my flat last year and declared, with the gravity only a seven-year-old can muster, that my balcony was “boring because no birds come.” She had a point. So we spent the weekend making bird feeders out of whatever we could find in my kitchen and recycling bin, and by Monday there were two blue tits arguing over a pinecone outside my window. She still talks about it. These are the ten bird feeder crafts we actually tried together — some over multiple weekends with friends’ kids — with the real costs, the messes, and what I’d do differently next time.
1. Pinecone Peanut Butter Bird Feeder
This was our very first one, made on the living room floor with a bag of pinecones we’d collected in the Englischer Garten that morning. The method is gloriously simple: tie twine around the top of the cone, spread peanut butter into all the scales with a butter knife, then roll it in a plate of birdseed until it’s fully coated. We used sunflower seed butter for one batch because my goddaughter’s friend has a nut allergy — it works just as well and costs about the same. My honest advice: put newspaper down first, because peanut-butter fingerprints will find every surface in your flat. The blue tits found ours within two days, and watching a seven-year-old whisper “they like it” at the window made the whole sticky mess worth it.
2. Recycled Milk Carton Bird Feeder
We made three of these on a Saturday and they turned into a proper art project. Rinse the carton well — sour milk smell is not the ambience we’re going for — cut windows on two opposite sides, and poke a small wooden skewer through below each window as a perch. The decorating is the best part: my goddaughter painted hers with non-toxic acrylics in stripes, her brother went full camouflage green. We threaded string through the top and hung them from my balcony railing. One practical note I learned the hard way: cut the windows with the adult doing the first puncture, because carton corners are surprisingly tough and small hands slip. Total cost was zero, since everything came from the recycling bin, and they lasted about two months before the rain won.
3. Cupcake Liner Feeder
This one is perfect for the under-fives, because there’s almost nothing to cut and nothing sharp involved. You take a sturdy cupcake liner, pinch it into a little bowl, pour in birdseed, and thread yarn through the top edge to hang it. We used the bright foil ones, which looked like tiny lanterns on the balcony and genuinely seemed to catch the birds’ attention faster than the plain paper ones. The whole thing takes about five minutes per feeder, which matches a small child’s attention span exactly. I’ll be honest that these don’t survive rain — ours went soggy after one Munich downpour — so treat them as fair-weather feeders and make a fresh batch with the kids whenever the sun comes back. Cheap, cheerful, and endlessly repeatable.
4. Orange Half Bird Feeder
After breakfast one Sunday we had four orange halves left, and my goddaughter asked if birds like oranges. Reader: they do. Scoop out the pulp with a spoon — kids love this part, it’s basically sanctioned mess-making — poke a hole on each side, thread twine through, and fill the hollow with birdseed. The orange rind is naturally waterproof for a few days and smells wonderful on the balcony. We mixed sunflower seeds with a few crushed oats, and within the week a robin had claimed one as his personal restaurant. My tip: hang these where you can see them from the kitchen window, because the bright orange against the green is genuinely pretty. They compost themselves when they’re done, which I pointed out to the kids as “nature’s recycling,” earning me the eye-roll I deserved.
5. Toilet Paper Roll Bird Feeder
The classic, and there’s a reason every kindergarten in Germany has made these at some point. Spread peanut butter or seed butter around an empty toilet paper roll — a small spatula helps younger kids, though honestly most of them prefer using their hands and that’s half the fun — then roll it in birdseed on a plate. Thread string through the tube and hang it from a branch or balcony hook. We made six in one go for a birthday party activity, and it kept eight children occupied for a solid forty minutes, which any parent will tell you is a minor miracle. One thing I learned: do this step over a tray, because birdseed on a wooden floor crunches underfoot for days. The rolls lasted about a week outside before softening, which felt like exactly the right lifespan.
6. Cereal Box Feeder
This is the engineering project of the bunch, best for kids around eight and up who like building things. Cut a generous opening in one side of an empty cereal box, tape the edges so they don’t fray, poke drainage holes in the bottom, and thread string through the top to hang it. My goddaughter’s older cousin designed his like a little house with a pitched roof flap, which I thought was showing off until the birds clearly preferred it. We reinforced the corners with duct tape after the first rain made one soggy at the seams — learn from our mistake and tape first. The decorating possibilities are endless: stickers, paint, glued-on leaves. Fill it with seed, hang it, and the kids get a feeder big enough to actually watch multiple birds at once, which is when the real fascination kicks in.
7. Popsicle Stick Feeder
We saved popsicle sticks all summer for this one — about forty per feeder, which sounds like a lot until you realize how fast kids go through ice cream in July. Glue the sticks side by side into a base with non-toxic craft glue, then build up little walls log-cabin style, leaving gaps small enough to hold seed but big enough for birds to reach in. Let the kids paint the sticks before assembly; it’s much easier than painting the finished box, and the colours come out brighter. This one needs patience — the glue has to dry between layers, so we did it across two afternoons. The result is sturdy enough to survive a whole season, and my goddaughter still points at “her” feeder on the balcony railing every time she visits, which tells you everything about how proud she is of it.
8. Teacup Bird Feeder
I sacrificed a chipped flea-market teacup for this one and have zero regrets — it looks like something from a storybook hanging in the garden. Glue the cup to its saucer with strong epoxy (this is strictly an adult step; the fumes and the permanence are no joke), then hang the whole thing with wire or sturdy twine looped under the saucer. Fill the cup with seed and watch. Ours attracted a particularly bold robin who would sit in the cup like it was a bathtub, to the endless delight of the children. A word of caution from experience: hang it somewhere sheltered, because a teacup full of seed plus rainwater equals a teacup full of porridge. Under my balcony overhang it’s been going strong for months. The kids decorated the saucer rim with waterproof paint pens, which has held up surprisingly well.
9. Apple Bird Feeder
We tried this with slightly bruised apples from the market — the ones the stall sells cheap at closing time, which felt appropriately thrifty. Core the apple, scoop a little cavity, poke string through, and fill with seed. The birds eat the seeds and nibble the apple flesh too, so nothing goes to waste, and the whole thing is fully biodegradable when it’s done. My goddaughter was fascinated that the blackbirds preferred the apple to the seed mix, which turned into an impromptu lesson about what different birds eat. These last about three to four days before going soft, so they’re a short-lived joy rather than a permanent fixture. I now keep a bag of past-their-prime apples in the fridge specifically for this, and the kids ask to make them every other weekend in autumn.
10. Plastic Bottle Feeder
The most durable feeder we made, and the one I’d recommend if you only make one. Take a clean plastic bottle, cut two small holes on opposite sides, and push wooden spoons through so the handles stick out as perches with the bowls catching seed inside. The seed flows down to the spoon bowls as birds eat, which the kids found genuinely magical — “it’s like a vending machine!” Fill from the top, cap it, hang it with string through the cap. Ours survived an entire Munich winter on the balcony, which none of the cardboard ones managed. Let the children decorate the bottle with non-toxic paint first; ours has slightly lopsided flowers that I wouldn’t trade for anything. One adult-only step: cutting the holes, because bottle plastic is springy and the scissors can slip.
Conclusion
A year later, my balcony is no longer boring — there are feeders the kids made still hanging out there, and my goddaughter checks “her” popsicle-stick one every visit like a landlord. Start with the pinecone or the toilet roll if the kids are small, save the bottle feeder for a weekend project, and keep the newspaper handy. The birds will come; the sticky fingers are temporary.