Peanut free bird feeders

In the past whenever the time came nigh for making bird feeders, I have relied on an "oldie but a goodie" activity, pine cone bird feeders.  I made them when I was a child, and I'll bet you did too.  You choose a big pine cone, slather it with peanut butter, and roll it in bird seed.  Then you tie the pine cone to a branch of a tree, and voila!

This year, however, we have two children in our class who are allergic to peanuts.  So when it came time to plan for this year's bird feeder making, I started looking for new recipes.  I found one here, that looked fantastic!  I thought it would be another good use for my new bundt pan.  (I used it earlier in the year to make an ice wreath.  Here is the link to that blog post.)

The peanut free bird seed recipe called for . . .

1 package of unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup of warm water
3 tablespoons of light corn syrup
3/4 cup flour
4 cups bird food (we used some bagged seed, but you can use lots of other thing too)
non stick cooking spray

It was so sticky!

We dissolved the gelatin in the warm water, and then mixed in the corn syrup and the flour.  This makes the glue that holds the seed together.  After that, we mixed in the seed.  I had to start mixing this in by hand.  It was really sticky, and at first the children didn't want to help or touch it at all.  The kept saying, "Ewwwww."  Once they got their hands in it however, it was all about the fun and the feel - and the mess!

After we were finished making the seed mixture, each child selected a cookie cutter in which to press some of it.  This variation on the bundt pan idea came to me by way of my dear friend Sandra.  It was a perfect idea.  Not that I was surprised as Sandra is a genius!

Here are the children's bird feeders, drying out.  I poked a little piece of pipe cleaner into each one so that we will have a way of hanging them up later.

Tomorrow I'll post some pictures of the completed hangers, decorated and hanging!