Spring "Nest Baskets"

So I never wrote about our spring projects. Well, here you go.

As I have explored each holiday with new eyes, I have come to learn that most of them have some basis in seasons and pagan celebrations. I believe in seasons, and I believe in celebrating each season as it comes and goes, so we have been using that as our focus for the regular "American Commercialized Holidays". For the Passover/Easter season, Peanut and I did a little spring project that I think is worth sharing.

Spring is all about renewal. Baby birds, bunnies, new grass, flowers, eggs, all abound in Passover and Easter celebrations. We decided to make baskets for the birds with materials for them to use in their nests. We got the idea from a few places, one of which was the book "No Roses for Harry". In the book, Harry is given a sweater that he hates, and luckily a bird takes a string from it, flies away and uses it for his nest.

After reading the about Harry (again - this is a favorite book so it was not a new story!) we took some plastic clamshell containers from fruits and veggies (someday, our county will recycle these, but until them they are great for projects and for storing craft materials!) and cut the tops off.

Peanut then snipped up felt, ribbons, tulle, yarn, cotton, and paper, and stuffed our baskets full.

We chose lots of bright colors so we could see if a bird had used our materials for their nest.

We tied some yarn to the top of the basket and then tied them to a tree.

We've spent the past few weeks watching to see what has been taken and looking up at the trees to see if we see a purple ribbon or red felt in a nest.

Nothing from our Nest Baskets has been spied in a nest yet, but there have been some sightings of birds pulling out the cotton and ribbons! We hope to have some colorful homes in the trees around here soon!