How to Make Birdhouses Out of Recyclables

Only a bird could love a house constructed from a smelly old boot or a paper milk carton, held together with wire and perhaps even sporting a fresh coat of brown shoe polish. Here are two birdhouses that you can make with your children, and the common household materials used to create them are recyclables. These are fun, quick and easy projects that your children will enjoy immensely. The boot birdhouse will likely last multiple nesting seasons. The milk carton birdhouse can be expected to weather only one season.

Things You'll Need

• Pen or marker
• Hobby or craft knife
• Scissors
• Stapler and staples
• Masking tape
• Old boot
• Pebbles or marbles
• Wire or wire coat hangers
• Pliers or wire cutters
• Screwdriver
• Empty 1/2-gallon paper milk carton
• Soft cloth or rag
• Brown shoe polish
• Paints, markers, decorative items

Instructions

Recycled Boot Birdhouse

1. Find the center of gravity of an old boot by turning it upside down. Grasp it by the sole and let it hang from your thumb and forefinger. Move your grasp forward or backward until the shaft of the boot hangs as perpendicular as possible. Use a marker or pen to mark the spots where your finger and thumb were positioned when the boot hung straight down.

2. Flip the boot over and set it down on its sole. Use a hobby knife to make a tiny hole in each side of the vamp of the boot where your marks are, just above where the vamp attaches to the sole.

3. Cut a piece of wire or coat hanger about 24 inches long. Slide one end of the wire into one hole in the boot vamp and out the other. Poke the wire through so that the boot is positioned roughly in the center of the wire. You now have two wires poking from either side of the boot.

4. Turn the boot upside down again. Twist the two wires together tightly against the sole of the boot to create a hanger for your birdhouse.

5. Paint and decorate the birdhouse if you wish. Hang it in a quiet area of your yard in late winter or very early spring. Soon you'll see small birds like sparrows and chickadees hauling nesting material into the upside-down boot birdhouse to homestead in the toe of it.

Recycled Milk Carton Birdhouse

1. Wash an empty milk carton in warm soapy water and rinse it very well. Dry it completely with a dish towel.

2. Close the top of the milk carton and staple it shut.

3. Tear 12-inch pieces of masking tape from the roll. Use the tape to cover the whole carton. Use a soft cloth to rub brown shoe polish over the taped surfaces. This will make it look like rough bark.

4. Draw a 1-inch to 1 1/2-inch circle about 4 inches from the bottom of one side of the milk carton. Use the utility knife to cut out the circle. Poke five or six drainage holes in the bottom of the carton with a screwdriver. Poke a ventilation hole in each side of the carton about 2 inches down from the top.

5. Poke a hole through the stapled flaps of the top of the milk carton. Thread a piece of wire through the hole and hang your recyclables birdhouse in a tree in late winter or early spring.