Spring Critters

As the weather warms up, all the little chipmunks and squirrels are nosing around for all their buried treasures. The mulch in front garden is speckled with squirrel divots, yet we rarely see the squirrels. We stole an idea from our neighbor and made a little snack for the squirrels (birds or chipmunks.)
First, we collected some nice and big pine cones. This portion of the project was enough of an adventure for Zack and Aaron. When we got back to the backyard, Zack dumped our bucket out and asked if we could go get more!! We had about 2 dozen pine cones already!

The next step I tried to let Zack do on his own...but...there were a few clitches that I didnt consider. The next step was to cover the pine cone in peanut butter, then roll the pine cone in bird seed.
I bought a jar of peanut butter to use JUST for this project, so any debris from pine cones does not end up in the peanut butter we use for lunches. The clitch that I didnt consider is how much Zack loves peanut butter. I showed him how to do the first pine cone, then I let him have the spoon. He scooped the peanut butter and put a dolup on the pine cone and then licked the spoon...then scooped more peanut butter and took another bite! I finished up the project. I had images of him licking the pine cones.
The final step was to place our pine comes where we could easily see them. We put 2 right outside the front window, one by a hole we know a chipmunk lives in, we hung one in the small pine tree in the back yard and I put one on the fence in the back.

About 10 minutes later, we had a squirrel nibbling on the pine cone in the front yard! 20 minutes later, the pine cones were gone, the squirrels took them! Aaron and Zack sat for about 5 minutes just fascinated by the squirrel.

The pine cone that I hung from the tree disappeared the next morning. All that remains is the string! We never did attract any birds. I may have to invest in a squirrel-proof bird feeder!