A love for TP tubes!

At Curious Minds, we LOVE toilet paper tubes!  They are in constant supply, easy to store, free (well, sort of), sturdy, they roll, and they are green!  Our families and friends are well trained to collect and save tp tubes for all kinds of fun science-y projects.  It's probably a strange thing to admit the excitement when someone shows up with a bag full of them, but we do get excited! We're hoping to inspire you to reuse those cardboard tubes and hopefully have fun learning along the way!

                                                  

TP Tube Project #1:  A bird feeder

So simple.  Decide if you want to hang your feeder from yarn, or if you want to just slide it right onto a branch.  If you want to hang it, punch a hole or two near the top.  Coat the outside of the tube with peanut butter.  Roll the tube in birdseed.  If desired, poke in a stick or straw for a perch. Voila! You are done!  

                                             

Here are some great questions to get your kiddos thinking: 

What kinds of birds do you think we'll see?
Do birds eat breakfast, lunch and dinner like we do?
How many days will it take for the birds to find our feeder? (this is fun to chart on the calendar)
If you are hanging the feeder from yarn: What would happen if we punched holes that were not across from each other?  If they were far apart? Close together? (try to get them thinking about balance and weight)
If you are making more than one feeder, have them make a prediction: Which feeder will the birds find first?

Enjoy!!