Hi Tech Laser Pointer

Submitted by: Charles - June 12, 1996
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
My favorite pastime using hi-tech toys is to use a laser pointer. You can shine one of those on the wall and my M'too will try to "preen" it off the wall. Yes, we are careful to not shine the laser anywhere near her eyes. She also tries to get rid of it off of her claw if we shine it there. On a non-M'too related note, our dog a Yorkshire Terrier pup will chase that silly light up and down the hallway until he's completed tuckered out...

Various Hand Toys

Submitted by: Chris - Lvbrd@aol.com - July 6, 1996
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Our cockatoo loves her hand toys, especially her new toothbrush. She spends hours wiping her beak off with it. I also think this keeps her from over-preening as much as she used to. The other hand toys are plastic keys from a baby ring, little wood blocks with holes cut in them with a small ball that fits into the holes. She also likes a ball that opens in half (I think its actually for ferrets, half is yellow and half is green and the two pieces twist together). I put a treat (peanut or cereal) into it. She figured out how to open it in 10 Min. She also loves to unscrew anything and everything so she has a few stainless steel nuts and bolts attached to a piece of acrylic with holes drilled into it. She also likes her wiffle ball, cardboard paper towel rolls, the ends of computer paper (that I fold in half and put onto her cage bars), wood balls and cubes that I string onto leather and knot--

Soda Caps and Bottles

Submitted by: Unknown - July 17, 1996
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
My bird, MiMi, LOVES the coke caps!!! Another trick with them, and I don't you if you guys have these type bottles there, but the wider-mouthed 1-liter bottles will accommodate the caps inside. I am a chronic Pepsiholic, so I have saved many of the caps & put them INSIDE of the bottle. Mimi will play for HOURS with the bottle. Its light enough that she can easily roll it around in the floor & see the (potential) opportunity to retrieve caps and it makes noise!

She gets really happy when I take the wider-mouth cap off the bottle and allow her to "roll" the smaller caps out! She collects 1 or 2 of the caps, runs to one of us, and deposits them happily at our feet. A conure retriever!

Butter Tubs and Beads

Submitted by: Su Penn - September 12, 1996
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Tonight we invented a new toy for Loki that was a big hit. A few weeks ago, we bought a bag of "miscellaneous turned wood pieces" at a craft store, and have been using them to make parrot toys with (they're a bunch of unfinished wheels and knobs and spools and such like). Loki likes to just have one of the pieces of wood; he plays catch with it, holds it in his beak for awhile, and eventually turns it into toothpicks.

Well, tonight I took a butter tub and cut a hole in the lid about the size of Loki's beak. We filled it with wood beads, put the lid on and gave it to him. He loved it. First he took things out of it through the hole. Then he put them back in. Took them out. Put them back in. Out. In. Out. In. Then he took pieces of wood out of the tub, fooled around with them a little, and set them aside. When the tub was empty, he fiddled with it until he was able to remove the lid, then played with the tub, banging it on his cage, flinging it for us to pick up for him, and generally demolishing it. I don't think he's had so much fun since he came to live with us. When we had to leave him, we put the tub in the cage with him, and when we came back he had put a bunch of his pellets in it. We figure he's a natural to learn basketball.!

Sock Balls

Submitted by: Sandy Harrison - June 24, 1997
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Something else for the larger fids (unless you use childrens socks) is to roll one sock up, place it in the toe of the other sock then roll it back onto itself. You have a neat ball that the fids cannot hurt themselves on, light weight and you can toss in the washer and dryer to clean. We used to make them for the large macaws and one day our little Cricket (Noble macaw) ran over, grabbed the end (we knotted close to the toe for a pull toy) took off with it so we could not stop her. But when she stopped short the ball rolled off the table and she fell down on top of it. Little stinker refused to give up "her" toy. I think back now and wish I had taken pictures of this as it was bigger than she was!

Foraging Basket

Submitted by: Lorraine K. Wade - lorraine@idirect.com - June 5, 1997
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
A wicker (plain, NOT died) basket, about 12" diameter and 4-6" deep with an "edge" around.... (craft store... buy the cheap kind). Put something heavy in it to prevent it from tipping over, such as a brick, and fill half way with good "junk" for the bird to discover...

This would include a couple of small stones (too big for swallowing), a few pieces of small branches, a couple of popsicle sticks, a wooden clothes peg (the old kind without a spring), a piece of leather with a hole in it through which you pass a short piece of sisal string and knot on both sides, a couple of cat toys (I like the "Hartz" clear balls with "thingies" that spin inside), a plastic ring, a couple of BIG plastic buttons, paper towel tubes cut in rings, a few bright beads, etc, etc. You can add dry food tidbits such as hot peppers, dried fruit, sunflower seeds, a piece of garlic, a chunck of ginger, etc. Add a couple of nuts in the shell, maybe cracked at first, and whole peanuts and "hide" the stuff with a few pieces of newpaper, "crumbled"... Watch the bird have fun!!!!!

Tissues & Toilet Paper Basket

Submitted by: Sandi Harrison & Nicole Keisel - June 21, 1997
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Sandi: Have you thought of using white toilet tissues and knotting them? You can knot a trio or more then knot them together at the top. We were quite surprised when one of our birds patiently went and untied the knots without ripping the paper.!!!!!

Nicole: Thanks for the toilet paper tied in knots idea..I made two 4 ft long chains and gave one to Pearl (ring neck parakeet) and Fantasy ( rose breasted cockatoo). They were both delighted and immediately started playing with their new found *FAVORITE* toys..what a wonderful and inexpensive toy..the floor of my living room looks like a tooth pick factory..covered with shredded toilet paper on top of the tooth picks..what great fun...

Measuring Cups & Spoons

Submitted by: Elly Gustafson-Held - heldx001@maroon.tc.umn.edu - June 26, 1997
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Chloe and Sadie's favorites are stacking plastic measuring cups and measuring spoons. They especially like those with a hole in the handle--easier to hang on to. Chloe runs all over her playgym with a measuring cup in her beak. She also is getting quite adept at climbing with one in her beak :-) and comes up with new and creative ways to play with them every day. 'Course, this little girl is very much the problem/puzzle solver.

Ping-Pong Anyone?

Submitted by: Sue - August 06, 1997
Bird toy can be used for Small&Medium Size Birds
Our Goffins Cockatoo's favorite toy is by far his Ping-Pong ball on the bottom of his cage. It is just too big for him to easily grip, so he has to get it over to the sides where he gently lifts it up with his foot and with the help of the side of the cage holds it over his shoulder like a little Hercules!
I would not recommend this type of ball for any bigger birds that could possible crack the ball, but for our Goffins and smaller I think it is perfect. Washes easily also. This is one toy we don't need to rotate!

Plastic bottle caps

Submitted by: K Atkinson - August 06, 1997
Bird toy can be used for Medium Size Birds
For that ingenious Goffin who constantly needs a new challenge...try hard plastic bottle caps; the biggest challenge is getting that piece of paper or plastic insert out. It will occupy your Screamin' Demon for hours at a time.

At home toys

Submitted by: Tonya - September 05, 1997
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
I have a couple ideas of at home bird toys that are safe for birds.
- Plastic soda bottle caps - are great for medium sized birds. They love to throw them around pick them up carry them all over the place.
- Paper towel rolls - are great for your larger sized birds to chew on and for smaller birds to walk through.
- Pen caps - are great for your medium birds to throw around and also my cockatiel loves to play over board with them. He likes to throw them over the top of his cage onto the floor and loves to watch me pick it up for him. ( I know this because he never does it when I'm there : )
- Legos - for climbing on, tipping them over, seeing if they are edible for your small and medium birds.
- Chew toys- such as Q-tips, yarn, paper, tissue, bells, are a fav to all birds.
Note: Supervise birds playing with yarn. They can wrap it around their toes.

Newspaper pretzels

Bead Loop

baby pin beads

Beak-n-Claw Fun

Table Top Toy

Submitted by: Jane - October 13, 1998
Bird toy can be used for Medium Size Birds
Use well cleaned, empty water bottle. Take label off. Put a peanut or other interesting item inside and put the cover on tightly. My Amazon enjoys rolling this around on the table. It should be for supervised play.

Destructible Cardboard

Fun Stuff to Hold

Soccer Eggs

Soda Cap Cup

Submitted by: Karen - December 09, 1999
Bird toy can be used for Small&Medium Size Birds
My little Greencheek conure loves handtoys. He loves to play with the caps from 20 ounce soda bottles. I put a few drops of soda or juice in them. He will hold a cap up in his little hand and drink out of it just like a cup. Larger birds could use the caps from 2 liter soda bottles.

He also loves to play with a metal mechanical pencil which I have removed the eraser and lead from. He only plays with this with supervision. He can't be given one with lead or erasers in it because he will attempt to eat these.

Sweet Sticks

Coated Wire And Beads

Submitted by: kathy - January 21, 2000
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
I've discovered that all my birds, especially my Moluccan Cockatoo, love a challenge. At the hardware store buy a green plastic coated heavy guage wire. It's used to hold saplings or young trees upright. I use needle nosed pliers to make multiple twists and then start stringing multi colored pony beads onto the straight end of the wire. The gauge of wire is the exact size of a pony bead opening. I tie leather, yarn cloth strips intermittantly with beads and then finish the end with pliers as I did the start. The length of the wire varies. I cut 8" for my goffins and 12" - 18" for my grey and other Toos. They spend hours, sometimes days hand holding these rings or strips. Once the beads are off they enjoy stripping the plastic coating off the wire. Be creative when forming the shapes of your beaded wire. They can also be hung from cage.

Phone Book

Submitted by: Bee Gee - May 24, 2000
Bird toy can be used for Medium&Large Size Birds
I put this on top of my birds cage and they work for hours ripping and chewing the paper.

Knots Galore

Submitted by: T&J - June 13, 2000
Bird toy can be used for Medium&Large Size Birds
Find a vegetable treated leather strip of appropriate size for your bird. Cut it anywhere from 6 inches to a foot. Again, judging for your size of bird, tie it up in as many knots as you can. It makes a great foot toy for birds who love to chew. My baby blue crown conure loves them. The only hard part is finding the veggie tanned leather. Once you find it though, it makes an easy and cheap toy that birds love!

My Utoo's Inexpensive Playtoy

Button Blanket

Roll Offs

Plastic Dental Floss Container

Submitted by: LCA mom - March 18, 2002
Bird toy can be used for Medium&Large Size Birds
After the last of the dental floss is used, I take needlenosed pliers and remove the little metal thingy that cuts the floss. That leaves a circle plastic rattle thing inside, covered by a plastic interior insert, covered by the box lid. My Lilac Crown Amazon loves the challenge of opening the lid then pulling all the components apart.

Weights

Cool Toy Simple, But Fun

Submitted by: ShanMarie - November 06, 2002
Bird toy can be used for Medium&Large Size Birds
hello. Just thought I'd share. I took a large wooden spool and put a stainless steel bolt through it, stainless washers (fender washers) on each side with a wing nut. Easy and fun!

Pill Box Treat Puzzle

Submitted by: Jennifer - December 02, 2002
Bird toy can be used for Medium Size Birds
I made this for my amazon. I got one of the plastic pillboxes that are at any grocery/drug/dollar store. They are the ones that remind you what to take on a given day, so usually there are 7 or 14 compartments. The one I have is ring shaped (seven sides). I put a little treat inside each compartment. Then, he has to figure out how to open them to get the treats! He LOVES this. Even though he has done it over and over, he still spends a lot of time playing with it and has not destroyed it yet. These things maybe cost $3

Fuzzy Buddy

Submitted by: Whitney leeks - January 12, 2003
Bird toy can be used for Small Size Birds
Take 1 of the openers off a can of pop.
Then tie small pieces of yarn (about 10 cm) around the 2 holes
you can glue some bobble eyes on to make the buddy look real (use bird-safe glue)
Then tie 2 of the pieces of yarn (From your fuzzy buddy) onto the side of the cage

Note Book Paper

Submitted by: Danielle Pabst - March 12, 2003
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
My Budgie loves just chewing and chewing on a piece of paper that was ripped out of a note book! The fringe really exites her! For hours she'll enjoy it. Bird toys can be made out of the simplest things, Just use your imagineation!

Carpet Soccer

Straws

Submitted by: Victoria - May 04, 2003
Bird toy can be used for Small&Medium Size Birds
My cockateil called Elvis loves coloured plastic drinking straws. He spends hours playing with them. You can tie them through the cage or make swings and ropes too. They are really cheap and a new one can be given whenever you want.

A Way To Save On Those Peanut Dispensers

Wood and Straw Foot Toy

Q-Tip Fun

Submitted by: Ann - July 23, 2004
Can be used for All Size Birds
If you want to have some fun, or rather if you want your bird to have some fun, cut a strip of cardboard, about 3 or 4 inches high. Shape it into a ring and adhere it closed in your preferred method. See the little "holes" in the edge of the cardboard? Break off one end of a Q-tip (the kind with paper shafts) and then stick that end down into the hole. Do this all the way around the ring. This gizmo kind of resembles a nice standing roast with all those little paper decorations on each rib. To your bird, it will look equally fine and he/she will have a delightful time playing with the Q-tips, and then later destroying the ring itself.

Cost factor: nominal
fun factor: great
clean-up factor: well, ya can't have it all

Band Fun

Zip Ties

Unwrap The Prize

Silly Straws

Candy Peanut.

Simple Chew And Sound Toy

Submitted by: jo - January 25, 2008
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds

My long billed corella loves the plastic tray that biscuits sit in, inside the packet. You know the ones? A simple packet of biscuits, you rip the packet open and slide out the biscuit tray.

its hard to shred, he can tear it but it's much harder to rip pieces off so it lasts for a while and doesnt make a huge mess.

Plus it makes noise, crinkly crackly noise. the kind of noise that makes you jump out of bed in the morning, thinking your bird is into something it shouldnt be!