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Bluebird House Plans
If you have kids, and if they belong to Cub Scouts, Brownies, Indian Guides,
Indian Maidens, etc., then you know how hard it can be to come up with good,
interesting, meaningful projects that the kids can finish in a single meeting. This
article describes how to create a bluebird house kit that is easy to produce and
costs very little. You can use the kits as a youth project, or you can assemble
them yourself and put them around your property if you are interested in
attracting bluebirds (see the links below for help on creating a "bluebird trail").
If you have a lot of grandkids, you could make a set of the kits and give them to
the kids as Christmas presents. If you are a teenager you can assemble the kits to
and sell them as a money-making or community project.
I designed and created a set of the kits for a friend who was faced with leading
an Indian Guides meeting. The whole project went over very well, and the boys
and their fathers enjoyed it immensely. The boys were easily able to assemble
and paint their houses in one meeting. Although this project requires a fair
amount of your time prior to the meeting to get the kits set up, you will be repaid
many times over by the pride and excitement the kids will feel when they finish
building the bluebird houses themselves. The assembly process is nearly
foolproof and therefore has an extremely high probability of success for
everyone in the group.
This article has two parts. Part 1 shows you how to create the kits. You will do
this part before the meeting, preferably with another parent who: 1) you enjoy
being with, and 2) is not afraid of tools. Part 2 is the assembly instructions for
the kids.
Overview of the Project
Before getting to the instructions, here is a quick overview of the project. The goal is
to assemble a kit that allows a typical 8- to 12-year old to successfully build and paint
a birdhouse in a single meeting, and have fun doing it. The kit goes together like this:
The back is nailed to the two sides. The roof is nailed on top of the back and the two
sides. The sides are nailed to the floor. The door is nailed to the two sides so it pivots
from the top, and is held in place at the bottom by a latch nail.
What you need to do before the meeting is buy the wood, cut it to the proper sizes,
and drill the entry and nail holes. You will create for each kid a kit that includes the
six wooden pieces that make up the house, a set of nails, a wire loop for hanging, and
a paintbrush. You should request that the kids each bring a hammer with them to the
meeting, but have a few extra hammers on hand for those who inevitably forget.
It is not a bad idea to cut the pieces for one birdhouse and assemble it
prior
to creating
an assembly line to create 10 or 20 kits. That way you can work out any kinks before
you cut all of your wood.
Part 1 - Assembling the Kits
Go to your neighborhood lumber yard or home improvement center and buy the
following items:
•
1 x 6 (one by six) boards (4.5 linear feet per house)
•
1 x 8 (one by eight) boards (8 linear inches per house)
•
A box of 5d (5 penny, or 1-3/4") nails. You want to buy normal nails with
heads, not finishing nails
•
Some white, brown or green exterior paint, preferably latex so that it washes
up with water
•
One cheap disposable foam paintbrush for each kit
•
Heavy single-strand wire (see below for discussion)
•
Two or three $2.99 hammers for the kids who forget theirs
You will also need:
•
A 1.5" hole saw for your drill
 •
A 1/16" and 1/8" drill bit
•
A drill
•
A circular or hand saw
•
A hot glue gun and some glue
The 1 x 6 and 1 x 8 boards should be kiln-dried, finished lumber. Typically you will
find this sort of lumber in the "shelving" section. As an alternative, you could
substitute 3/4" (or even 1/2") plywood and cut it to the same dimensions. If you are
making a large number of kits, the plywood option might be cheaper depending on
where you live. If you use 1/2" plywood you will have to modify dimensions slightly.
The wire is used to make a loop that is used to hang the house. Farmers would use
baling wire or electric fence wire to make this loop, but most urban people will not be
able to buy such a thing in small quantities. So look for single-stranded copper or steel
wire that is perhaps 16 or 18 gauge. Picture hanging wire is a reasonable substitute. If
you get desperate, buy some 14 or 16 gauge romax (3-wire house wire in a white or
gray plastic sheathing), strip off the insulation, and use that.
Each kit consists of a roof, a floor, a front door, a back and two sides. The two sides
and the back are 12-inch long pieces of 1 x 6. The roof is an 8-inch long piece of 1 x
8. The door is an 11.5 inch piece of 1 x 6 ripped down to 4 inches wide. The floor is a
4.5-inch piece of 1 x 6 also ripped down to 4 inches wide. The exact dimensions of
the six pieces are shown below:
A 1 x 6, despite the fact that it is called a 1 x 6, has a thickness of 3/4" and a width of
5-1/2". A 1 x 8 has a width of 7-1/4". Knowing this makes the dimensions shown
above seem more sensible.
Let's assume that you want to create 8 kits. Here is what you will need to do.
•
At the lumber yard buy an 8-foot long piece of 1 x 8 and five 8-foot long
pieces of 1 x 6.
•
Take one of the 8 foot long pieces of 1 x 6 and "rip" it (cut along the long edge
of the board) with your circular saw so it is 4 inches wide. Discard the 1-1/2"
 strip. The lumber yard may be able to do this for you, and if so it will save you
some time.
•
Cut another 1 x 6 in half and rip one of the 4-foot pieces down to 4 inches
wide as well.
•
These 4-inch wide pieces can then be cut into eight 11-1/2" doors and eight 4-
1/2" floors.
•
From the remaining 1 x 6 boards cut 24 12-inch long pieces for the backs and
sides.
•
From the 1 x 8 cut eight 8-inch long pieces for the roofs.
Now, using your 1.5" hole saw, drill the entry hole in the door. Position it as shown
below:
You now need to drill starter holes for the nails to make it easier for the kids to put the
house together. It will be very easy to figure out where those holes should go if you at
this point try to assemble one of the houses. Using your 1/16" drill bit drill six holes
in the back piece. The holes should be 3/8" in from the edge, and 2 inches from the
top and bottom:
 Drill 5 holes in the roof piece. In the picture below, the dotted lines represent where
the side and back pieces will lie when the roof is in place. The hole in the back center
should be 3/8" away from the edge and centered.
Drill 3 holes in each side piece. Two of the holes will hold the floor in place, while
the third will hold the hinge nail for the door.
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