Does your child like to collect pinecones? If you have a collection of these nature finds piling up and aren’t sure what to do with them, here’s an idea: pinecone birdfeeders! This easy and fun craft is an excellent opportunity to teach children French while they create feeders that will be especially useful to birds during the winter months when their natural food sources are scarce.
And if you don’t have pinecones lying around, this is a great excuse to take the kids for a walk in the forest!
What you will need
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| Pinecones | des pommes de pin |
| Twine | de la ficelle |
| Peanut butter | du beurre d’arachide |
| Birdseed | des graines pour oiseaux |
| Butter knife | un couteau à beurre |
Setup
Put the mixture of seeds onto a plate and place all the items on a tray. To teach children French (or any other language for that matter), repetition is key. Even if they already know the names of the items on the list, it’s useful to point to each and say the French word out loud.
If you’ve been practicing counting, you can count the number of pinecones together.
Related: Counting in French: One to ten (1 to 10)
Today, we’ll be making birdfeeders with pinecones.
Aujourd’hui, nous allons fabriquer des mangeoires à oiseaux avec des pommes de pin.
Instructions
Since my daughter is two years old and doesn’t yet have the dexterity to tie a knot, I did the first step while she watched.
I will tie the string onto the pine cone by making a knot.
Je vais attacher la ficelle à la pomme de pin en faisant un nœud.
You can demonstrate the next step and then let your child do it on their own.
We will coat the pine cone with peanut butter using the butter knife.
Nous allons recouvrir la pomme de pin avec du beurre d’arachide à l’aide du couteau à beurre.
We will roll the pinecone in the seed mixture.
Nous allons rouler la pomme de pin dans le mélange de graines.
All done! We can now hang the birdfeeder.
Et voilà! Nous pouvons maintenant accrocher le mangeoire à oiseaux!
Clean up and display
Before heading out to hang your birdfeeders, it’s a good idea to include your child in the post-craft cleanup. You can sing a song to make it more fun as they wipe up the table and wash their messy little hands.
Then, it’s time to head outside to hang these beautiful creations. You can put them on branches, on your balcony, or any other place where you think birds will be likely to be looking for food.
Do you feed birds during the winter? What different species have you observed?
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