Making Bird Feeders At Scouts

Last week I ran a session at scouts where they all got to make a little bird feeder. I designed something very simple, a little triangle feeder with two little pieces of clear perspex at the front so the birds could see the feed.

I'm enjoying being able to tackle slightly trickier projects since moving up from beavers to scouts, this one fits the bill really as lots they can do themselves. 

I left it so each scout had to cut two pieces of wood and then they had to nail it all together. there was a point in the evening where I was a little worried that things were moving a little slowly, I said this to one of the scouts and he laughed "you're joking aren't you? This would be week 10 in school! This is great!" 
 

Nearly all of them got them made up in the single session, the few that didn't finished them off with me this Monday instead. 

I always find it hard to watch when someone hasn't used a hammer much before! It's nice to instruct them how to hit a nail and then trust them enough to hold you hand there while they start it. Apparently the one adult helper did this for my daughter and she properly hit the nail - but nearly gave him a heart attack! 

A fun session, but quite a bit of prep so not one I'll want to do too often! Hopefully there will be lots of birds fed and maybe a couple given as presents at Christmas...