this part of the project got a little messy. but luckily, it can all wash off hands with a little soap and water.
when the cardboard was fully covered with shortening, we filled another shallow tray with the bird seed. the boys carefully picked up and flipped their circle into the bird seed. using their hands they gently pressed the circle into the bird seed. the pressed in several places so they knew the whole circle would be covered. when they lifted the circle out of the tray they had a finished cardboard bird feeder!
the project was pretty quick (less than ten minutes) so the boys quickly made a few more 