Project {Birdseed Cookies}

The goal of today’s Snow Day project was two-fold:

• Goal 1: Provide food for the poor little birds that are starving to death, thanks to all this snow.
• Goal 2: Get rid of these store brand Cheerios that taste like cardboard and have been sitting in my house for far too long.

Originally I was planning on stringing Cheerios on pipe-cleaners. It’s a simple activity and great for finger dexterity, as well as eye hand coordination. But lets face it, Lucas is 2 and that would use up about 10 Cheerios before we were on to something else. I had half of a box of Cherrios to use, I needed something more. I found these great Birdseed Ornamanrts on {Smith} Peas in a Pod and decided to give them a try.

This project was perfect for Lucas because he loves mixing up creations in the kitchen!  He was very patient while they dried, but trying to explain to him that they were for the birds to eat and not him was a whole other story. 

Here is what we used:

1/2 cup warm water

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

3 Tbsp corn syrup

3/4 cups flour

2 cups Cheerios

2 cups birdseed

nonstick cooking spray

cookie cutters

cookie sheet

drinking straws

string/twine/ribbon

1. In a large bowl, dissolve gelatin in warm water, whisk in corn syrup until well combined.
2. Add in flour, Cheerios and birdseed, stir until well coated
3. Spray your cookie cutters and cookie sheet well with nonstick cooking spray.
4. Spoon birdseed mixture into cookie cutters. Make sure you press down well to get it into all of the corners. 
5. Cut straws into pieces a little longer than the height of your cookie cutters. Insert straws into each birdseed mold, making sure the hole goes all the way through. 
6. Leave the birdseed in the molds for about 3 hours. Then gently remove from the cookie cutter, remove straws and flip them over to dry for another 2-3 hours.
7. When your bird seed cookies are dry, use your string to hang them in a tree for all the birds to enjoy!