I had been wanting to make these with my girls for a while now & after several days of ice and snow here in north Louisiana, it was the perfect indoor craft to whip up! We also made birdseed ornaments since many of the supplies were similar. We really enjoyed both projects…..so simple!!

supplies needed to make edible birdhouses & bird ornaments

Here are the SUPPLIES needed for the edible birdhouses:

  • Variety of Wooden Birdhouses (I picked mine up at walmart for $1 each & drilled eyelet hooks in top for hanging)
  • Unflavored Gelatin Packet
  • Flour
  • Hot Water
  • Measuring Cups
  • Mixing Bowl
  • Whisk
  • Karo Syrup
  • Birdseed
  • Variety of Nuts & Fruit (we used peanuts, almonds, apricots, craisins, & oats)
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Hanging string
  • Scissors
  • Cutting Board & Knife (we used to chop up fruit & nuts into smaller pieces for the birds)
Recipe for Birdhouse “Glue” (safe for the birds to eat)
  • 3/4 cup of flour
  • 1/2 cup of hot water
  • 1 packet of unflavored gelatin
  • 3 tbsp. of corn syrup
Pour hot water into glass bowl, then mix in gelatin packet. Whisk until dissolved. Then stir in flour & corn syrup until it’s all mixed well. I recommend using a popsicle stick to apply glue onto birdhouse. Work in small sections, covering with your choice of birdseed, nuts, fruit etc.
The “edible glue” stays workable for about 20-30min, so be sure you have all your edible bird food ready to go! My girls absolutely LOVED creating designs with the colorful fruits & black sunflower seeds.
wooden birdhouses, edible glues, fruit, nuts & seeds to decorate

**another option besides making glue is to use peanut butter as “glue”. We did that on one of the houses & it worked great.

So, after you have made the edible glue, we just started spreading on with popsicle sticks & decorating any way we like!

spreading on edible glue to unfinished birdhouses

My 11 year old tried to create a more detailed house, while my 6 year old really didn’t overthink it to much haha! I even got in on the fun & helped decorate a couple with them!

We just let them set up because we wanted to wait until morning to put out, but they are really ready to be hung as soon as you’d like! We tied string on the top for hanging & that was it!

finished birdhouses with fruit, seeds, nuts and edible glue

Once the birdies enjoy their treats, we can decorate these houses over & over again!! So much fun!! If you’re looking for another fun way to feed the birds, check out what we did with more birdseed & cookie cutters HERE!

decorated birdhouses hanging in trees during winter

Aren’t they so PRETTY hanging in the trees?! …and I could watch the happy little birds forever!

birdhouse in mossy tree during winter. decorated with fruit, nuts, & edible glue

Be sure to hover over an image in this blog post to Pin it for later! I’d love to know if you or your family give this one a try!

pretty bird eating our homemade birdfeeders

We also used the leftovers on empty cardboard toilet paper rolls & rolled in leftover birdseed. I’m sure the birds in our front yard aren’t complaining about their buffet LOL.