Convert milk carton into house for birds

It's so rewarding to look out a window on a fall day and see a bird or two perching on a birdhouse your family has made together. It's an especially lovely sight when the dwelling itself blends in with the beauty of nature.

You and your kids will love crafting this fanciful birdhouse because it offers so many possibilities without a saw, hammer or one piece of woodworking equipment! Just find a half-gallon cardboard juice or milk carton, and you're ready to begin. Add a pine cone here, crisscrossed twigs there. Try a row of colorful leaves on top and a few acorns on the side or at the bottom. Paint this side green - - no, blue! OK, both.

Here's how to get started:

First rinse out a half-gallon juice or milk carton -- you don't want it to smell sour. Staple the carton shut along the top. An adult may cut out a circle about 1 1/2 inches in diameter on one of the side panels of the carton, 3 inches above the base of the carton. For a perch for the birds, poke a small hole below the large hole. Poke a matching hole in the opposite side of the carton, then insert a 6- inch-long wooden dowel through both small holes.

It's time to decorate! Using a low-temperature glue gun or just regular household glue and a brush, start applying pretty leaves, twigs, sticks, pieces of bark, etc., wherever your imagination says they belong. You might add a few plastic trinkets or an old silk flower or two if the "space" seems right.

Punch a hole in the top of the house. Loop a piece of wire or twine through the hole and hang the house from a tree branch or a fence post. You're done!

Watch as birds discover the new abode.

Parenting tip: Little ones in the family might enjoy making a treat for the birds. Take a pine cone, roll it around in peanut butter until it's completely covered, then roll it once more in birdseed. Tie a string around it and hang it from a tree branch.

Write Donna with your questions and ideas at www.donnasday.com. Donna's latest book, "Donna Erickson's Fabulous Funstuff for Families," is available in bookstores nationwide. ? Donna Erickson Dist. by King Features Syndicate

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