How to Make a Suet Bird Feeder

Learn how to make a suet bird feeder at home to take care of the birds! They’ll love being able to have a snack and the kids will love being able to create one, too!

If you enjoyed this bird activity, see this list of fun animal activities for kids.

If you are doing a bird study in your homeschool, making a suet bird feeder is a great hands-on activity to do with your kids. It gives you a great opportunity to talk about what birds need to survive, the different types of food each bird eats, and teaches children to care for creatures, especially during the slimmer times of fall and winter.

We’ve been making this specific bird feeder for years and it’s almost like the birds have actually come to expect it now! (and that’s okay, we love to spoil them and give them what they need to stay healthy and strong)

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How to Make a Suet Bird Feeder

Since this is such an easy project to do, it’s fun to actually make a few and give to your neighbors or family members, too.

You can even hang one at the local park if you’re able to to help feed the birds more that way!

Be certain to check out our DIY Bird Peanut Butter Bird Feeder as well.!

Favorite books to use with our bird studies

Don’t forget to pair up more reading fun with your bird craft and activity as well. These are some of our favorite books about bird studies for kids.

 National Geographic Backyard Guide to the Birds of North America (National Geographic Backyard Guides) Backyard Birds (Field Guides for Young Naturalists) Birds, Nests & Eggs (Take Along Guides) National Geographic Kids Bird Guide of North America

This suet block feeder is easy to make and provides your backyard feathered friends with the nutrients they need. You can make yours in a mold, a paper cup, or create a mold in the suet basket as I did. This recipe makes enough to fill two standard suet baskets and has a lot of ingredient variety that will attract a wide range of birds to your yard.

Use the bird feeder as a way to identify what bird species visit your yard- woodpeckers, chickadees, blue jays, cardinals, and more are likely to be seen. Sketch them as new birds appear, make a chart to keep track of them, or teach your child some simple nature photography skills.

Suet Bird Feeder Supplies

• ½ cup lard or bacon grease
• ½ cup natural peanut butter
• 1 cup cornmeal
• ¼ cup dried fruit- raisins or craisins
• 1 ½ cups songbird food

 Armour Lard Star Tubs Wagner’s 62042 Songbird Supreme Blend, 8-Pound Bag Sun Maid Natural California Raisins, 20-Ounce Quaker Corn Meal, Yellow, 24 Oz

Suet Bird Feeder Directions

1. If you are using the suet basket you can easily make a mold to create a square suet block that fits perfectly inside. Line the inside of the basket with aluminum foil, double the layer to be sure it doesn’t leak through, set aside while you prepare the filling.
2. Melt lard and peanut butter over medium heat in a small saucepan.
3. Remove from heat and stir in cornmeal, birdseed, and dried fruit.
4. Pour quickly into your “mold”, you can also use small paper cups, a squat wide mouth mason jar or mini bundt/doughnut pan to create a ring that you can hang on a string.
5. Pop your suet block into the freezer until it is solidified.
6. Remove from freezer, peel of aluminum foil and place block inside basket.
7. Hang in a shady spot after the cool weather hits, summer temps will melt your block.

Hang this in your backyard and watch it to see what type of birds visit you. You just might be surprised at the types of birds that you have in your area.

This would then open up a lot more conversation with the kids about the various types of birds and how they live, etc.

More Bird Activities

DIY Peanut Butter Bird Feeder

Bird Notebooking Pages