My two younger daughters, ages 7 and 4, are always interested in working with me in the shop. I thought it might be fun to make a couple of birdhouses with them. After looking around on the internet a little bit to learn what size and style to go with, I settled on a style called nesting boxes. From what I understand, a nesting box is design more for the actual birds needs rather than going with a traditional “house” type design that is typically made.
Click here for one of the websites I used in putting this project together.
Once I got my ideas all together, I started working on cutting the pieces needed to make a couple of nesting boxes. Having quite a bit of that baltic birch ply still available, that is what I used. I also figured the girls would want to paint the nesting boxes when they were done, so I wasn’t overly concerned on the longevity of the ply.
After I had all the pieces cut, I laid out and drilled the nail holes and the bird entrance. Considering that I got the wood for free and already had the nails, I really didn’t want to have to go out and by hinges for this project. I decided that it could be cool, and much more LumberJock like to have a French Cleat system to hold the house to the backing board. Then it was time to introduce the girls!
I had already walked myself through the assembly order, so it went fairly smoothly getting the girls to follow along. We attached the sides to the bottom and the houses side of the French Cleat. Then using the house as a guide, the girls attached the mating cleat to the backing board. The top was added next followed by the front.
The two bird nesting boxes I made with my daughters
A view of the French Cleat system used to access the nesting box for cleaning
The girls both seemed really happy with their houses. Now it’s time to paint and put them in the wild!
Here’s Violet holding her nesting box.
Click here for one of the websites I used in putting this project together.
Once I got my ideas all together, I started working on cutting the pieces needed to make a couple of nesting boxes. Having quite a bit of that baltic birch ply still available, that is what I used. I also figured the girls would want to paint the nesting boxes when they were done, so I wasn’t overly concerned on the longevity of the ply.
After I had all the pieces cut, I laid out and drilled the nail holes and the bird entrance. Considering that I got the wood for free and already had the nails, I really didn’t want to have to go out and by hinges for this project. I decided that it could be cool, and much more LumberJock like to have a French Cleat system to hold the house to the backing board. Then it was time to introduce the girls!
I had already walked myself through the assembly order, so it went fairly smoothly getting the girls to follow along. We attached the sides to the bottom and the houses side of the French Cleat. Then using the house as a guide, the girls attached the mating cleat to the backing board. The top was added next followed by the front.
The two bird nesting boxes I made with my daughters
A view of the French Cleat system used to access the nesting box for cleaning
The girls both seemed really happy with their houses. Now it’s time to paint and put them in the wild!
Here’s Violet holding her nesting box.
And Lila with her's.
Here are the two girls together.
3 comments:
I do believe they are the cutest kids I've ever seen! But I may be biased ;)
For a minute, I thought the first photo of Violet was Lila! Whew-they look a lot alike!
The photo of the two of them; Mini Steph and Mini Jenn...
Darryl, your girls and nesting boxes are absolutely adorable. And I like the french cleat idea. I forget about that trick sometimes.
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