A cute bird craft for kids, this Easy Birdhouse Craft for kids involves making your own matchbox-style birdhouse and a little pom pom bird to put in it! Kids can include special messages in this sweet and interactive Valentine’s Day craft.

Easy Birdhouse Craft for Kids

While there are plenty of pretty Valentine’s gifts you can buy, it’s always more special to receive something homemade.

I think crafting with kids is so important, as it allows them to challenge themselves to think of creative solutions to fun problems. How can I make a bird using craft supplies? How can I fold this paper to create a functional box? What funny puns can I add to this craft to make it personal?

We’ve made many (many) Valentine’s Day crafts over the years, and I never get tired of seeing the pride on children’s faces when they give their thoughtful gift to it’s recipient. That experience of  gifting something that they have worked hard on is unmatched by anything you can buy at the store.

You can adapt this craft in so many different ways – it doesn’t have to be a birdhouse!

• You can have children draw a special illustration of their family and place it in the box, making it a miniature house
• Turn the box into a barn and make your own mini barn animals to go inside (pom pom chickens would be super cute!)
• Use the box to give clues that lead the recipient on a scavenger hunt
• Add a sweet piece of bird jewelry instead of the pom pom bird

Check out our quick video to see how cute this matchbox birdhouse craft is and how simple it is to put together. Don’t forget to scroll down to grab your free printable craft template and our printable directions!

Materials for a Matchbox Bird House

• Birdhouse Box Template
• Colored cardstock paper
• Pencil
• Black marker or pen
• Scissors <– these are the ones we have in our daycare, super easy to use and actually cut through things (unlike a lot of safety scissors). They’ve lasted for over 5 years
• Craft glue
• Pompom
• Googley eyes
• Ruler

Tip: of course, you can use craft matchboxes and skip the box assembly altogether for this craft, focusing instead on decorations and the cute lovebird.

I highly recommend grabbing a couple of these sturdy plastic lunch trays (we have one in the pictures in this post). I use these for almost all of our craft or kitchen activities, as well as in our Montessori practical life activities. Ours have lasted for over 6 years and are still going strong, plus they are so great for containing messes and allowing the kids to set a project to the side while it dries (or if you have to clear off the table for supper).

How to Make a Lovebird House

Grab a small pompom and 2 googly eyes. Cut out a small triangle shape from orange or yellow colored cardstock (or any color you prefer). The triangle cut out will be the beak of the bird.

Simply stick the eyes and the triangle cut out on the pompom to make the tiny pompom bird!

Select cardstock papers for the matchbox. Trace the template patterns on the cardstock paper and use scissors to cut them out.

Notice the grey lines on the template patterns? Use a ruler to trace these lines on the cut out cardstock papers. These lines are folding lines. And the dash lines are for cutting slits.

Take the square cut out and cut slits along the dash lines. Make folds along the grey lines as shown in the template.

Fold up the sides of the square piece and join the slit part to the side next to it. Glue and close all 4 sides to make the box.

Take the birdhouse base cut out and make folds along the shown lines from the template.

Fold and overlap the 2 open end rectangular parts. Apply glue to join and close the side.

I’m using a colored corrugated cardboard paper to make the roof. Trace the pattern for the roof on any kind of paper selected for the roof and cut it out using scissors. Cut a small heart shape and a small square piece from stationary paper. Write down a quote on the small paper cut out.

Fold the roof into half and stick it on the top end of the birdhouse to complete the outer part of the matchbox birdhouse.

Glue the heart cut out and the quote on the front side of the matchbox birdhouse. Place the pompom bird inside the box (inner part of the matchbox). You can put any kind of tiny gift along with the bird. Maybe write down a tiny letter, roll the letter and tie it using a string.

Place the box inside the birdhouse box, push it in and gift it!

Pin this Birdhouse Craft for Kids:

Grab your free printable instructions for our Lovebird Craft, and don’t forget to download the Birdhouse Box Template:

I hope your kids love making this super sweet Lovebird-themed Valentine’s Day craft as much as mine did!

For more fun Valentine’s Day ideas for kids, check out our Printable Dinosaur Valentines or our I Love You This Much Hand Craft.