Christmas Countdown ~ Day 9

Welcome to my 25 Days of Christmas Project! We're counting down the days til Christmas, sharing activities, ideas, and cheer with you!

Day 9 : Make bird feeders using pine cones and peanut butter

You will need:
newspaper
pine cones
corn meal
crunchy peanut butter
bird seed
raisins
twine

1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Place pine cones on foil and bake in 225 degree oven for approx 20-25 minutes. Once pine cones are cooled, cut twine approx 3 feet long for each pine cone and tie to the top of each pine cone.

2. Spread newspaper over workspace. In a large bowl, mix equal amounts of corn meal and crunchy peanut butter. We used 1 C corn meal and a little over 1 C peanut butter, which was more than enough for 3 medium-sized pine cones.

3. Add bird seed and raisins. Stir well. We used an 11 oz bag of seeds and 1.5 oz box of raisins.

4. Now begin spreading the mixture onto the pine cones. A thin layer all around will do. Try to push the mixture up into the petals of the cone without breaking them.

5. Once the first layer has been applied, spread a thicker layer over the entire pine cone. The mixture should stick very well. Use your fingers to push the mixture in place and shape over the cone. Place pine cones in a freezer for at least one hour. We kept ours in overnight.

6. Once your bird feeder is firmed up from being in the freezer, it is ready to hang!