Last Updated on May 6, 2026 by Masha Eretnova
Summer is long, and the days stack up fast. At some point, “go play outside” stops working and you need something with a little more structure — not so much that it feels like school, but enough to hold attention for a solid chunk of the afternoon.
This bird house craft hits that spot in spring, end of school time, and throughout the summer break. It’s a print-and-make activity that covers coloring, cutting, and assembling, and the finished result is an actual paper bird house!
What’s in the Printable
The PDF includes six different birdhouse designs, each with its own personality.
One has a classic A-frame roof with wood plank detailing. Another goes for a rounded cottage look with tulip carvings on the front. There’s a wide barnhouse-style one, a tall modern design, a hexagonal style with a small entry hole, and a rustic log-look version with chunky dowel perches.
Every birdhouse comes with a paper strip-and-circle mechanism that lets kids attach a bird so it looks like it’s flying in front of the house.
On top of the birdhouses, the pack includes ten individual bird outlines to color and cut out — everything from plump robins to slender warblers and crested birds.
There are also two full pages of botanical cutouts: large feathery fronds, small daisy-style flowers, oval leaves, berry sprigs, and branching stems. Color them, cut them, and glue them onto the birdhouse however you want.
Supplies
- White cardstock (regular printer paper works but cardstock holds up better when assembling),
- black-and-white printer,
- crayons, colored pencils, or markers. I love acrylic paint pens with brush tips, too, for smoother, matte coverage.
- scissors (child-safe for younger ones),
- a glue stick or white glue
How to Make Bird House Paper Craft
Print the pages. If you print in black and white, the coloring step becomes more important and gives kids more ownership over the colors.
Start with the birdhouse page.
Each design prints on a single sheet with score/fold lines indicated. Have kids color the whole thing before cutting — it’s much easier to color a flat sheet than a partially assembled structure.
Once it’s colored, cut along the outer edges, fold on the dotted lines, and use glue to hold the base tab into a standing cone shape at the bottom. The semicircle base folds and tucks to create a rounded stand so the birdhouse can sit upright on a table.
Next, pick a bird. Color it in, then cut it out.
The strip piece connects to the circular “paste” dot on the bird’s back and loops through the birdhouse so the bird hangs slightly in front of the entrance hole. The other end of the strip fastens behind the house. The result is a bird that floats in place as if it just landed mid-flight.
Decorate the bird house. The botanical cutouts are the most open-ended part.
Lay them out, color them however, cut individual pieces or whole clusters, and glue them around the birdhouse entrance, along the sides, or at the base.
Younger children tend to pile them on. Older children often get deliberate about placement. Both approaches work.
A Few Tips
For preschoolers, pre-cut the birdhouse outline and handle the folding. Let them focus on coloring and choosing which decorations to glue on. The cutting and construction is more appropriate for ages 5 and up working independently.
For a classroom activity, assign each child a different birdhouse design so you end up with six distinct houses across the group. Line them up on a windowsill or a shelf and you have an instant spring display. Swap the bird cutouts between students so each house has a different species visiting it.
If you have birdwatching books at home — field guides or picture books about backyard birds — pull them out before the craft and use them as color reference.
- Media, Elvi (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 98 Pages – 09/09/2024 (Publication Date) – Elvi Media (Publisher)
Laminating the finished birdhouses before assembling them adds durability if you want them to last past the first afternoon. A cold laminator pouch works fine for this.
Why This Works for Summer
Bird crafts for kids don’t need to be complicated to land well.
What makes this one work as a summer activity is the layering — there’s enough to do that it fills real time, but each step is simple enough that children work through it without constant help.
Coloring, cutting, assembling, and decorating each feel like distinct phases, which means attention resets between them.
It also pairs naturally with outdoor time. Set it up on a picnic table and color outside.
After finishing, take a walk and see how many of the birds from the printout you can spot. Sparrows and robins are almost guaranteed. Keep a tally on a piece of paper.
The free printable is waiting below. Enter your email and the PDF comes straight to you — all six birdhouses, ten birds, and the botanical decoration sheets, print-ready.
Masha Eretnova, born in 1991, is a Buenos Aires-based certified teacher, artist, and member of the Professional Artist Association with 20+ years of personal painting journey.
She started painting and drawing very early and is now an international abstract artist and educator passionate about acrylic painting, gouache, and crafts.
Her works are part of international exhibitions and contests, including ArtlyMix (Brazil), Al-Tiba 9 (Spain), Exhibizone (Canada), Italy, and many more.
Besides her artistic pursuits, Masha holds a post-grad diploma in Teaching Film Photography and 2 music school diplomas: piano and opera singing.
Last update on 2026-05-06 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API