How to Make a Milk Carton Birdhouse
Here's a great reason to drink your milk: When you've emptied the carton, you can make this simple house for your feathered friends.
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You Will Need
- An empty quart-size milk carton
- A stapler
- Masking tape
- A soft cloth or rag
- Brown shoe polish
- Scissors or a small precision knife
- A grown-up to help with cutting
- A pointy screwdriver or something to poke holes in the carton
- Twine
- A twig or small branch (optional)
Steps
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Step 1
Rinse out carton
Rinse out the milk carton thoroughly and let it dry.
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Step 2
Staple shut
Close the carton and staple it shut. It will look like it did when your mom or dad bought it.
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Step 3
Cover with tape
Tear or cut pieces of masking tape that are two or three inches long and stick them all over the carton until you've covered it completely.
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If you overlap the edges of the tape slightly, you'll cover the carton better.
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Step 4
Rub shoe polish
Dab some shoe polish onto the cloth and rub it all over the tape-covered carton. This will make the house look like it's made out of bark. Let the polish dry.
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You can also decorate the birdhouse by gluing moss all over it, or excelsior, green stuff that looks a lot like moss that you can buy at a crafts store.
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Step 5
Make door
To make the door, have a grownup cut a circle that's an inch to an inch and a half in diameter about 4 inches above the bottom of the carton.
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To make a perch inside the birdhouse, poke holes in opposite sides of the carton and stick a twig through it.
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Step 6
Make holes
Make a few holes in the bottom of the carton for drainage and two holes in the top so that the birds can breathe.
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Ask a grown-up to poke the holes, too. That screwdriver could be sharp.
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Step 7
String & hang
Poke a hole through the very top of the house, where the milk carton forms a peak, and string a piece of twine through it. Tie a knot in the twine, hang the house from a tree, and wait for your new neighbors to move in.
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Wrens, tree swallows, and bluebirds prefer enclosed birdhouses like this one, while robins like open platforms for nesting.
