Easy Bird Seed Cakes

We did this project with the Girl Scout Troop, then we did it at home with the kids I babysit.  Its a little messy but its fun.  You will need a bag of bird seed, lard, plastic cups (yogurt cups work good too), oats, raisins and some string.  Combine one part lard to two parts seeds/raisins/oats, you can let the kids squish it all together in a bowl using their hands.

You will need plenty of lard or the cakes won't stay stuck together.  The lard is greasy and gooey so make sure you have rags or paper towels handy.  Have the kids pack the mixture in the cups, pack it down as hard as you can.  We used some plastic cups that we had left over from a party but you can use just about anything because the lard makes the seed cakes come out of the container easily.

Packing the cups is super easy, we scooped with a spoon and then pushed down with our hands to make sure the cups were packed nice and full.

Next you will need to put the filled cups in your freezer overnight.  When you remove them the next day, they should slide out pretty easily but if you need to, you can cut the cup off of the seed cake.  Ours slid out with no problems.

You can tie some string or twine around the finished cake and hang it in a tree or bush outside.  You can also just set it on a window sill where you can watch the birds.  This is a good project to incorporate when learning about different kinds of birds in your area.