Water Bottle Birdfeeder

***Please excuse our inexperience as we begin our first attempt at sharing our creative genius.  As we share, we will also outline the functional skills that the students practice as they create these fun and motivating projects.***


Difficulty Level:  Medium (adult assistance is necessary)
Approximate Time to Allot:  30-40 minutes (1-2 OT sessions)


Here we go!....

What you will need:

• an empty water bottle
• 2 plastic plates
• paint (we chose green, like a stem)
• a paint brush
• twine
• foam paper
• decorations (we chose foam shapes)
• hot glue
• a permanent marker
• kids scissors 
• adult scissors
• something sharp and pointy (we chose a nail)

Step 1:
This step should be completed by an adult for obvious safety reasons!

Cut off the bottom of the water bottle....

then cut off the top....

last, cut a small notch to act as the "door" for the bird food.

Step 2:

Line up the water bottle in the center of the plastic plate.  Using a permanent marker, make 2 dots, one on each side of the inside of the water bottle.  (repeat this step with the other plate)

**SKILL ALERT!!**  As the students find the center of the plate, they are practicing their visual spatial awareness skills!!

You will end up with 2 dots on the plate, like this.

Step 3:

Paint the water bottle.  Have the student place one hand in the bottle and the other can be used for painting to avoid some of the mess :)

**SKILL ALERT!** By using both hands together to paint the bottle, the student will improve their bilateral coordination, fine motor, visual motor and visual perceptual skills without even realizing it!

Step 4:

Using something pointy (such as a nail), push holes into the plates (remember that you need to do this to 2 plates!)  

Depending on the skill level of the student and how pointy the object is, this step could also be completed by the adult to avoid any injuries.

**SKILL ALERT!!** The student will increase their grasp strength as well as their ability to modulate the amount of pressure that they are putting on the pointy object to make a hole in the plate.

Step 5:

Measure a piece of twine, approximately 3 1/2 feet long.

Once the twine is cut, feed each end through one of the holes one of the plates, starting from the bottom, pushing it up through to the top.  This will serve as the bottom of the birdhouse.

**SKILL ALERT!** Lots of visual perceptual and visual motor skills practiced here, as well as fine motor coordination and control!! YAY!

Step 6:

Thread the twine through the painted bottle, so that both ends of the string come out of the top evenly.  

Have the students plan how to make the ends of the string line up!

Step 7:

Have each student decorate the top of their birdhouse in their own way, on the bottom of the second plate.  Use hot glue (adult assistance may be required) to adhere the decorations to the plate, in order to ensure that they will last through the elements outside.

This plate will later be added to the top of the birdhouse.

Step 8:

Create a pattern for the flower petals that the students can trace onto foam pieces, and later cut out.

**SKILL ALERT!** Students will practice their spatial awareness skills as they visually organize the space available on their foam to create the maximum amount of petals.  They are also working on their functional pencil grip and cutting skills, which their teachers will love!

Step 9:

Have the students plan where they want their petals to be attached (on the underside of the top plate).  Attach them with hot glue (adult assistance as necessary).

Last, thread the twine through the holes in the top plate, and tie a knot at the top!!  (see below) 

Here is our "Water Bottle Birdfeeder" (tada!):

Here is the view of the top of the birdfeeder, looking down at the decorations that the students chose to personalize their creation.

This is the side view....

...and the top slides up to make it easy to fill with birdseed!

We had so much fun making this today!  We hope that you enjoy our first blog post!!
:)  Erin and Tiffany


**Tell us what you think by commenting below!