This week, one of my goals was to do Valentine’s Day activities with my kids. I may have to lay down all the time but that doesn’t mean that I can’t do things with them. That was my challenge this week and the very first project ended up being a flop but still lots of fun.

Yesterday, we decided to make heart shaped Cheerio bird feeders and they were a big hit!  The kids loved doing this project, it was easy, and everything stayed pretty clean. 

You need:

Cheerios or any round shaped cereal

Pipe Cleaners (3 for each bird feeder)

Scissors

Ribbon

Bend your pipe cleaners into heart shapes.  Make sure you leave the ends open.

Pour cheerios into individual size bowls and let your children “string” the cheerios onto the pipe cleaners.

No, no – don’t eat the Cheerios – you’ll need more of those. 

This project does help your child’s hand/eye coordination and worked well for my 2 year old even though it was harder for them than my 4 year old.

Finish putting cheerios on all of your pipe cleaners.  Leave a little bit of pipe cleaner free of cheerios.

Wrap the ends of the pipe cleaners ends around each other to close off the bottom of one of your hearts.  Attach the bottom of the another heart to the top of your closed heart.  You might break a few Cheerios in this process but it isn’t too hard.  Add the last heart to the top of your last heart in the same way.  Cut a length to tie the bird feeder to a tree.

My kids waited patiently for daddy to come downstairs so they could tie them outside.

Tie them to a tree and wait for the birds (and squirrels) to enjoy your new bird feeders.  Tweet