Travis and I have loved hearing birdsong on recent walks to the bus stop, a sure sign that spring is near. So we loved that this month’s “How To” column in Highlights magazine was a bird feeder for our feathered friends, helping them out while the ground is still quite frozen.

I challenged Travis to think of how he could make a strong base for the feeder from craft sticks. Seven lined up in a row with two across the top and bottom for reinforcement did the trick.

We repeated this arrangement for the roof. For the sides, glue 4 craft sticks together in a square.

I hot-glued everything together (wood glue would also work), and then added a few extra craft sticks for reinforcement where needed.

Note: If using wood glue, consider using binder clips to hold everything together until the glue dries.

Next we gave our bird feeder a coat of paint.

Travis chose black and yellow – oriole colors!

We took a special trip the store for birdseed, following Highlights suggestions for who eats what in which part of the country. We opted for black-oil sunflower seeds, popular with titmice in our region.

It was so warm outside that we didn’t even need our coats when we went to hang this in the sunshine. We can’t wait to watch the birds enjoy their meal.