Sometimes when we are reading in our school books for our school year, we read about some activities that we can try at home! While reading one of our books scheduled with A Gentle Feast, we read about making a bird feeder and fresh water holder out of a coconut. I know our grocery store we shop at every week has coconuts so I picked one up to give it a try! (If you’d like to see more about what we are using for our homeschool this year, you can read about it on THIS post.)
Before we cut it in half, I wanted to see how much coconut juice was inside. My husband drilled a hole in the side in a spot that it would need to be for hanging it when we were ready for that. I did wash the drill bit before he drilled the hole, just to make sure there wasn’t anything on it. We did not plan to get anything for the kids on the spot he drilled, but you never know so we wanted it clean.
After cleaning off around the newly-drilled hole, I emptied the juice into a bowl. There was actually more than we thought would be inside! When we were all done with the coconut, I did strain the juice and let my kids drink it. Out of the four who tried it, only three liked it. One son couldn’t even hardly get his one sip down. He spit most of it out. The others loved it and drank it right up!
To continue with the coconut preparation and exploration, we then had to figure out how to cut the coconut in half. My husband had the idea to saw it in half, so that’s what we did. I started sawing it on the top as he carefully held it. After we had a groove begun, we flipped the saw over for me to hold then he moved the coconut over the top of it to cut it all of the way through. He did a great job and got a very clean cut!
Before we put twine on the coconut halves, I grabbed a spoon and spooned out slivers of raw coconut for the kids to try. Again, it was mixed. Three of out the five who tried it loved it. The other two were not interested in having any more. I’m just glad everyone tried it!
To hang the halves, my husband drilled the other 3 holes needed. I did wash it off afterwards because coconut shavings were everywhere. After cleaning them up, I cut pieces of kitchen twine and just tied it around the holes. The kids loved helping to hang them up.
This experience was heavy on the adult tasks and very light on opportunities for hands-on for the kids, but it was still something they enjoyed. It’s been a week and there still doesn’t seem to be any birds that have come to get a snack off of it, but that’s ok! I may put some birdseed in them to see if it will draw some birds in. The kids enjoyed trying the juice and raw pieces. Plus, it’s beautiful hanging outside.
We did not put water in it because I didn’t feel it was needed. The coconut was to help keep water that’s out for the birds from freezing as it would rock every time a bird lands and prevent freezing, according to the book. But we live in Texas. It rarely gets below freezing and even when it does, it’s not normally long enough to freeze water for very long.
Have you ever made an unusual bird feeder? We may want to try it out as well. Or let me know if you make this one! I’d love to see how yours turns out and hear if you have any birds visit it!