Fun Activities
Chapter 4: No Place Like Home
(July 19 thru July 25)
Backyard Habitats: Bug Hotels, Bird Feeders, and Butterfly Puddlers
A backyard habitat series for birds and pollinators! This program teaches participants the basics of backyard habitats: Project options include a bug hotel, a bird feeder, and a butterfly puddler. Build one habitat or build all three!
Bug Hotels
What you will need
- Recycled tin cans or 2-liter plastic soda bottles
- Outdoor litter: sticks, leaves or pinecones, hanging Spanish moss, tuft of grass with dirt on roots, small scrap of palm fronds
- Heavy duty scissors, tin/garden shears
Instructions
- Have the adult cut the ends off plastic soda bottles. These are the outer walls for the bug hotels.
- Bundle litter into the bottle bottom.
- Place it in a low place, under a plant maybe.
- Examine the hotel every few days and see who has moved in!
Bird Feeders
What you will need
- Tin cans
- Craft sticks
- Paint and paint brushes
- String or twine
- Birdseed
- Small cups, soil, and flower seeds (optional)
Instructions
- Paint the outside of the cans and glue one craft stick for a perch.
- Punch holes and add string to hang.
Butterfly Puddlers
You will need
- Pie tins or shallow dishes
- Water and sugar (9:1 water to sugar ratio) or fresh/canned fruit
- Decorative brightly colored beads, painted shells
- Waterproof glue (Modge Podge, Super Glue: recommended: Gel format! Stays in place))
- Empty flowerpot
Steps
- Glue beads down onto bottom of tin or dish. Have an adult help with the gluing if using Super Glue. Let dry.
- Select area in middle of container garden of flowers, bushes, or area where there is open sun, and some vegetation.
- Place upside down flower pot in desired area.
- Place decorated tin or dish on top of pot.
- Fill with fruit and just enough water to cover the bottom, or sugar water.
- Other fruit options to try are: bananas with the skin on, oranges, mangoes, watermelon, and papaya. Try others to see what works!
