Painted Birdhouses – A Craft for the Whole Family

It’s rough trying to find activities that the whole family can enjoy. The littles like one thing; the bigs like another.

A few Christmases ago I was on the hunt for something fun to do for First Christmas. I’d seen the viral gingerbread houses made from papier mache and started the hunt a few days before Christmas Eve.

Unfortunately every craft store was sold out of the papier mache gingerbread houses. Those suckers are expensive, too!)

Old Jessica might have driven all over the county in search of them, but New and Wiser Jessica decided it was time to flex.

I landed on a craft that was just as much fun and a lot less intense: painted birdhouses. Bonus points: the wooden birdhouses were on sale for 25 cents at Michaels!

Fun for the Whole Family

On First Christmas Eve I gathered the family early around the table to craft. Now keep in mind that my crowd that night was a hard sell, probably the hardest: my 60-year old husband and three sons in their 20s plus two teen daughters.

Teen girls are an easy win, but after less coaxing than I expected, everyone was on board!

I think it helped that my boys were heavily invested in WarHammer figurines that year so their painting skills were on par. Since the medium was wood, my carpenter husband could relate.

Anyway, I pulled out the glue guns, wood sticks, toothpicks, paints, rocks, moss, shells, and all the craft supplies so that everyone could craft whatever they liked. The end results were amazing!

Each painted birdhouse was different and it was so fun for visiting relatives the next day to decipher who had decorated which house.

This is a great craft that the whole family can do. We’ve had young children do this craft with kid-safe paints and it’s been great fun!

Supplies Needed for Painted Birdhouses

Here’s what you’ll need to make painted birdhouses:

wooden birdhouses – I bought these at Michaels where they are a regularly stocked item. I bought birdhouses that were rounded as well as those that were more angular. They are usually less than $1. You may also be able to find them at a dollar store or buy them in bulk on Amazon.

craft paint – You can’t paint birdhouses without paint. We’ve built up a sizable collection of acrylic craft paint over the years, but I bought a multipack just in case ours were dried up. For little kids, we provided paint sticks.

paint brushes – Having a variety of sizes and styles, like this multipack of brushes is helpful. I provided foam brushes as well as bristle brushes.

paint palettes – You can buy special craft palettes, but I just used disposable plastic plates.

cups of water and paper towels – This helps the painting process since you will want to change colors of paint.

hot melt glue and glue gun – Since all our crafters were teens and adults, it was no problem to bust out the glue gun. Having more than one was helpful. For younger kids, you may want to use a different type of adhesive.

natural craft elements – I didn’t have a lot of time and budget to work with, but I was able to buy a selection of twine, craft moss, a seashells assortment, and a bag of rocks.

extra wood – Since we were working with wood, I also provided wooden popsicle sticks and toothpicks. It was interesting to see what the kids did with it.

anything else you want to add to a house – since we are using these painted birdhouses for decor and not for real birds, the sky’s the limit to what you add for decoration.

• I added a paper umbrella and some plastic plants.
• My husband added an old blind spot mirror he had in the garage.
• One daughter crafted coconuts out of clay and added packing paper to make a straw roof.
• Another daughter cut cork board into strips to create bricks on her painted birdhouse.
• One son made roof shingles out of the cork board.
• Another used popsicle sticks for lattice.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Painted Birdhouses

I don’t really have any instructions for painted birdhouses other than these simple tips:

1. Cover your work surface with newspaper or a disposable tablecloth.
2. Lay out all the supplies.
3. Give each person a birdhouse and access to the supplies.
4. Be patient and give folks plenty of time.
5. Play music or have conversation cards ready. It’s so fun to craft together and chat while you work.

This is a great craft for the whole family, perfect for groups and family gatherings. You could do this on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Easter, or Sunday Dinner.

Be sure to check out our family craft for 2024: painted tea tins.