Earth Day is this week and so when Tree Top asked me to write a post** about their “Raising Good Apples” campaign, (which encourages children to get outside in the garden and learn about where our food comes from), I thought I would share a recycled kids' craft that also can be used in the garden!
This is our version of this craft, but you can find a pdf of the original instructions on the Tree Top/Kids Gardening site.  We just ‘spruced’ it up a bit!  (Our full tutorial is below.)



Tree top is a grower-owned co-op right here in Washington state which has been around for more than 50 years.  They are producing top quality products that they would (and do) serve to their own families.   Because of this they are committed to using only the best ingredients.   Something I appreciate when serving their applesauce pouches to my family:

Not only are they made of 100% fruit,  but as a bonus, they come in these easy to use, mess free, single-serve pouches: there is no spoon required.   Just toss them in the diaper bag and they are ready to go.

Along with this campaign, Tree Top is also donating $1 to KidsGardening.org (which funds community gardens across the country) with every purchase of Tree Top Apple Sauce Pouches  to help promote kids' understanding of where our food comes from.

Tree Top is also are giving away Gardening Sets (MRSP of $60) to 40 lucky readers.. you just need to enter at the bottom of this post. 

Recycled Milk Carton Chalkboard Bird Feeder (Tutorial):

First I found an old juice (or you could use milk) carton and I sanded it to take the waxy gloss off. Then I painted it with chalkboard paint. 
I used two coats to make sure the writing on the carton didn’t show through (this is a good step for the kids to do since it is pretty straight forward):
Next I marked four notches in the corners where the food will be ‘dispensed’ from (it was easy to mark them with chalk!) 
I used a razor blade to cut out the notches (obviously this step should be done by an adult): 
Next we poked two bamboo skewers through the bottom to form ‘perches’ for the birds. 
They went all the way through the carton and out both sides like so:
Finally we punched a hole in the top and added a loop of string to hang the feeder: 
Then we drew on it.  It is really cool since you can change the message to whatever you want.

Finally we filled it up with cracked corn (or whatever bird feeder mix you have):


 We hung it in the garden and we were open for business! 



**This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Tree Top. I was compensated but the opinions and tutorial is mine.  For my full sponsored post policy, please visit this post.