Easy Milk Carton Bird Houses That Children Can Make

There are many projects that you can do with your kids and one of the most educational and easy ones to do is to make milk carton bird houses. This is a project for young children and one the whole family can get involved in. Deciding where and how you are going to hang your birdhouse can be as much for young children as making the bird house. You can be assured this is one family memory that will be recorded in your scrapbook.

Start With A Milk Carton

You begin your milk carton bird house project with an empty half gallon milk carton. Not the big round plastic cartons, but the soft square cartons. You must first open up the top of the carton and wash and rinse it thoroughly. When the carton is dry, then close and staple it shut. The next step in making a milk carton bird house is taking a roll of masking tape and tearing off one half inch strips to cover the entire carton.

Be sure and overlap the tape so that none of the carton shows. Take brown shoe polish and rub it all over the tape to make it look like brown bark. Let this dry thoroughly. Now it is time to decide what type of bird you want to live in your milk carton bird house. When you have made this decision, then look at a bird house specs page and determine how large a hole to cut and how far the hole should be from the floor. Make sure it is big enough for the bird to get inside. Now cut your entrance into your milk carton bird house. The next step to making your milk carton bird house is using a pencil to make several holes in the bottom of the carton so that the rain can drain out.

Also, you must make several holes in the top of the milk carton to let any condensation and heat escape. The final step in your milk carton bird house is to make a hole in the top of the bird house near the staples. Put a short piece of clothes hanger wire through the hole and make a loop. You are now ready for the final task in making your milk carton bird house, hanging it outside so the birds can enjoy it. This is a fun project for the adults, as well as the kids and a family project that will be passed down through generations.