Birdseed Valentines with FREE Printable

February 10, 2016

Birdseed Valentines with FREE Printable

This year my preschooler and 1st grader decided we wanted to make Birdseed Valentines to pass out for Valentine's Day. Every year I think about buying valentine's from the store and every year I just can't quite do it.

Homemade one are so fun, right?

Once we decided to make the birdseed valentines, I knew just the poem I wanted to go with each card. When I was younger, my mother was a teacher and each year she gave her students a baggie of bird seeds, with this poem attached.

VALENTINE

by Aileen Fisher

I gave a hundred Valentine's.

A hundred, did I say?

I gave a thousand Valentine's

one cold and wintry day.

I didn't put my name on them

or any other words,

because my Valentines were seeds

for February birds.

It's so cute, I quickly taught it to my kids and they thought it was a great match.

We followed this post for the recipe on how to make our birdseed valentines.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED:

1 cup hot water

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (5 tsp)

1 1/2 cups flour

6 tbs. corn syrup

8 cups of birdseed

cookie cutters

pam spray

bamboo skewer (or straw)

cookie sheet

parchment paper

String or bakers twine

Valentine Paper printed off 1 and 2

STEP ONE: Mix 2 packets of gelatin in hot water. Stir with a fork until most of the clumps are disintegrated.

Add flour, corn syrup and birdseed in a large bowl and mix.

Then add the stirred up gelatin and water.

STEP TWO: Mix everything together!

STEP THREE: Lightly spray cookie cutter with Pam spray (repeat spray every 6 or so uses).

On a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, place your cookie cutters down.

Then fill each cookie cutter with the seed mixture. Use back of the spoon and fingers to press in tight and solid.

STEP FOUR: Once packed in, place a bamboo skewer towards the top middle of each cookie cutter and make your own hole, going all the way through to the bottom and wiggling around a bit.

STEP FIVE: Once hole is placed, remove cookie cutter and repeat until all seeds are used up.

Allow to try for 6-8 hours or over night.

I found my more complicated cookie cutters (like these shown) were actually really hard to deal with. They were tricky to get the seeds into and the cutter off. Towards the end I just ended up making a lot of stars, because they were the easiest. But I will admit the animals looked pretty cool.

STEP SIX: Print off Valentine Poem cards.

At first I just made pink ones.

Then deciding maybe my son wouldn't want to give everyone a pink valentine,

decided to make these colorful ones, too.

STEP SEVEN: Once the birdseed valentines are completely dry (6-8 hours or overnight), tie them up with string and attached your signed valentine poem cards to them.