The Activity Shirt

Treats In A Basket

Submitted by: Lynn Schult - August 30, 1997
Can be used for Medium&Large Size Birds
I found miniature easter baskets in a craft store, and decided they were just the size for my goffin cockatoo to play with. I put treats inside, then attach a string to the handle. The basket is then suspended from the edge of the table and Casey uses the beak and foot method to bring the basket up to where he can grab it. This must be supervised, to make sure he doesn't ingest basket pieces!

Birdie Basket!

Submitted by: Aba Nduom and Paulina - December 14, 1998
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Well, I have a Congo African Grey Parrot and I decided she was leading a much too boring life. So, I found out all the various kinds of toys that are safe for her and I have come up with this idea. Purchase a very big basket, big enough for your bird to have fun inside. Wrap the handle with rope to make it easier for the parrot to perch on. On the middle of the handle, hang a Penn Plax bell (as many as you like. Inside the basket, add paper towel tubes, sticks, golf balls,a few small food items, plastic bottle caps, balls of tissue paper, and anything else that is safe for your parrot to play with. Take your parrot out of it's cage and introduce it to it's new basket! (line the basket with shredded newspapers, black and white only).

Emilie's Birdie Maze

Adventure Caves

Submitted by: Melinda Mullen - October 22, 1999
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Many parrots have burrowing instincts. My African Grey loves being under beds or in boxes. Get a clean box about twice the size of the bird from a packing store, wine shop or grocery and just put it on the cage bottom with the open end so he can walk right in. You can make it more enticing by cutting some wide fringe on the end of newspaper and letting that dangle over the open end, or put treats inside. Putting a layer of newspaper on top of the box keeps it clean longer. He'll probably rush down immediately to get into it, examine every corner, chew or just stand in side staring!

If you have the space in your home, you can use larger appliance boxes, or create a tunnel by cutting several boxes (at angles for curves) and joining them with tape on the outside. (Monitor to be sure the bird doesn't eat the tape.) Be sure to cut air and exit holes at intervals, and place treats, safe toys inside. You can even create different elevations with angle cuts.

No Name Game

Submitted by: Mae Jarvis - April 28, 2000
Bird toy can be used for Small Size Birds
Materials: Towel, Buttons, Mini- Bell, Yarn and Safety Pens

Step 1: Lay towel out on flat surface
Step 2: Take the safety pins and attach the buttons to the towel using the safety pins.
Step3: Attach the bell(s) to the towel. Note: pin buttons and bells with safety pin clasp at the back of the towel. The clasp should not be on the same side as the buttons or bell(s)
Step 4: Tie Yarn into bow
Step 5: Attach bow with safety pin to the towel.

Object of Game: Lay towel flat on a surface and allow bird to wander around the surface of the towel. He will soon come in contact with the bow and find much entertainment in trying to untie it.

Egg Carton Game

Wooden "Legos" for Parrots

Get the Coke Can!

Submitted by: Shelley Stein - December 30, 2000
Bird toy can be used for Medium&Large Size Birds
My Red Lored Amazon loves to push, knockdown & throw empty aluminum Coke cans. He's attracted by the red color. I set them up & he knocks them down to the command: "Get the Coke can!" He also responds to "throw it", repeats it, grabs the can by the tab & tosses it off the bed. (Of course, he runs to see where it landed.)

Squeaky Toy!

Bubble Headed Idea!!

Birdzilla

Bird Game Idea

Birdie Hit-Ball

Submitted by: Birdieboy - October 08, 2001
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Materials:
Small ball (I suggest a small superball), needle or clip, wobbly wire or a safe string, safe stick and tape

(1) Tie the wobbly wire to the top of the stick.
(2) Tie the other end to the needle.
(3) Poke the needle into the small ball.
(4) Tape the bottom of the stick to any kind of floor (for example: to your bird's cage floor, to your house floor, to a table).

Now your bird(s) can peck at ball back and forward!

Chairlift Ride

Parrot's Hideout

Submitted by: Amy and Zeka - November 24, 2001
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Birds love to "burrow" whether in boxes, under blankets or strange places. Birds also love chewables toys and variety. Why not combine all of the above?

Make a tent out of light weight materials such as bedsheets. Make sure there's enough room for your bird to walk underneath by putting tall supports under it. With a little practice, you can make a variety of rooms. In different areas of your tent, put hidden treasures such as treats, foot toys or boxes to hide in. Your tent can stretch across the entire room, or just a little ways. Set your bird loose and watch him have fun finding all of the surprises.

To be sure of your bird's safety always observe to be sure that the sheets don't fall and trap your bird.

Can You Find The Seed

Bird Circus

Fun Gym/Playground For Your Birdie

Bite-a-Button

Submitted by: ~Angelshark~ - July 07, 2002
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Take a piece of cloth and sew lots of buttons onto it. Use lots of different shapes, sizes, and colors to keep your bird interested. When you are done drape it over your shoulder and sit your bird on it. I got this idea because my two female cockatiels are always pecking at buttons on my clothes. Another idea is this: sew a zipper onto a piece of cloth, your bird will love playing with the shiny pull, and zipping it up and down, though this might be hard for littler birds. My tiels just like pecking the pull!

Birdy Fun Fair

Hampsterball Fun

Submitted by: Lynsey - September 22, 2002
Bird toy can be used for Small Size Birds
All you need is a hampsterball, the ones you put your hampster in for exercise. This game is great for lovebirds. Just put your bird inside the ball, close the lid and let your bird venture round the room inside your house. My bird Peetree loves this. She can play in it all day long!

Birdie Exercise Wheel

Submitted by: Jane - May 26, 2003
Bird toy can be used for Small&Medium Size Birds
When I saw the exercise wheels for mice at pet stores, I wondered if they had one for birds, too. They don't. So I've come up with a way to make a cute exercise wheel (that my cockatiel LOVES).

It's made out of popsicle sticks glued together (with bird safe glue, of course) in a circle, about 10 inches in diameter and 5 inches wide. On the inside I glued popsicle sticks perpendicular to the others for traction.

To use it, I put my bird inside and slowly turn the wheel. She runs around in it just like the mice do, and really seems to enjoy it!

Wooden Playblocks

Submitted by: Karen - April 26, 2004
Bird toy can be used for Medium&Large Size Birds
I was scared by blue and gold Macaw would choke on Lego pieces, so I bought him a game of Jenga (I don't know if thats the US name for it). He loves building towers from it and knocking it over and he can chew it as much as he wants.

Hoopla

Submitted by: sarah - June 02, 2004
Bird toy can be used for Medium&Large Size Birds
This is a game for your wing trimmmed bird.
Buy a kids hoola hoop and get your bird to sit on it. Say 'up' and lift up the hoop. Say 'down' and bring the hoop down. Do it slowly and if he likes it he will hang on and you can help him build huge muscles that he may not be using otherwise.
When the game is over, place him on his perch and if he had a good time he'll shake out his tail feathers. Mine flaps so hard I think that he may take off with the hoop now.

Shoe Box Soccer Field

Submitted by: steven - February 05, 2005
Bird toy can be used for Medium Size Birds

you will need: 1 shoe box, coloured pencils and a bird ball with bell.

Cut lid off shoe box, make hole in the side big enough for your bird to fit in. Draw a soccer feild inside with goals at both ends.

Put in the ball and your bird will love to roll around and score lots of goals.

Maze To The Cage

Lego Maze

Submitted by: Anonymous - April 07, 2005
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds

This is a good gym for birds with clipped wings as they can't cheat in the maze but if your bird nibbles plastic I wouldn't recommend it.

Buy one or two of those big containers of Lego. Start by drawing a plan and make sure the width and height of every tunnel is wider than your bird's wingspan and taller than your bird's height.(S)he might stretch his/her wings in the tunnels and you don't want them to break a blood feather or sprain a wing. Start building the maze on the floor. Make sure there is space where he can walk and turn. Birds sort of hobble when walking so a turn has to be awfully big.Place treats in some dead ends and maybe a few toys in other places. Place lots of treats and toys at the destination to treat your pets hard work. And because Lego can be pulled apart you can make different mazes all the time for him/her. Mazes can range from just a few feet of a room for a small bird like a budgies and cockatiels to the entire room for African Greys and Amazons. You might want to cover the top with some plastic or cloth so they can't cheat if they can fly or suddenly give up and fly straight to his little treasure trove. Hope your bird has fun! Note: Not recommended for finches or canaries. They are too small and fly too much and would probably end up splat on a wall somewhere in your maze and you probably wouldn't find them until about 2 hours later and you'll need a new pet later.Ugh.

Musical Fun

Racing Track

Submitted by: Jason - September 23, 2005
Bird toy can be used for Small&Medium Size Birds

My younger brother recently got a flat racing track (with toy cars that you control with a handset) and I noticed our tiels watching the cars go round and round. So I thought they might like a go :)
I used their "poo pots". The pots were originally hooked onto the cage, full of food, but they sat on them over night. So we put the food into a tray at the bottom. I tied a pot onto 1 of the racing cars and drove it around until I managed to keep the pot and car under control. By then the tiels were screeching to have a go!
I got 1 of the tiels and put her on her pot and slowly drove around. She stayed on for a couple of seconds, but flew off when it got to the first bend. She eventually got round the whole track and loves her rides as does our other tiel. We slowly race them. It's great fun for all of us. You might like to give your bird ago but don't force them to stay on if they dont want to, theyll realise in time it can be fun! We've even started putting big bridges and hoops for them to go under and climb thru!

Birdie Pinata

Bowler Hat

Submitted by: Teresa - December 10, 2005
Bird toy can be used for Small Size Birds

Get a plastic Bowler Hat from the toy shop or party shop, cut 3 openings on the sides so you bird can enter from one and come out from another.

I'll roll a bell or something in from one opening, my bird will happily jump inside, play around in the hat, poke his head out from one of the openings and have fun!

Storm's Little Bed

"Kids Meals" Have Great Toys!

Towel Tent

Submitted by: Katie - January 15, 1999
Bird toy can be used for Small&Medium Size Birds
I took a hand towel and put it through the top bars of the cage over the highest perch (if your highest perch is a swing, this idea doesn't work as well). Then I put it back through the bars about an inch and a half over, and pulled it down so the bottoms were even. This creates a cozy little "tent" for your bird to sleep in. If your bird is reluctant to enter the tent, make it a bit wider, and gradually make it as narrow as your bird likes it.

Leftover Lego?

Attacker Ball (a fun wrestling toy!)

Submitted by: Audrey Smith - January 09, 2000
Bird toy can be used for Small&Medium Size Birds
1. Buy a plastic toy ball that can be taken apart in two halves, or take a plastic ball (or even a plastic egg) and cut it in half.

2. Take a small piece of cloth and wrap enough pebbles in it to make a nice weight for the bottom half of the ball. (Super-glue it with nontoxic glue.)

3. Put the ball back together using nontoxic glue or tape...(if concerned about your bird ingesting the glue, wrap the finally glued ball in a cloth or something.)

4. You are done, unless you want to add an item to the top of the ball, such as another ball, or a plastic bird, or a chew toy. YOU decide! Go with what your bird would prefer! :)

Chewable Pine Cones

An Inexpensive Air Cleaner!

Submitted by: Laura Bothman - August 14, 2000
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Living with 7 Cockatoos, the dust can get pretty amazing!! I wasted so much money on air cleaners until I thought of this.

I bought a box fan and a 20 X 20 inch furnace filter. I then took some duct tape and attached the filter to the intake side of the fan and set the fan on low in my bird room so the air circulated in a circle around the room. The amount of dust this removes from the air is incredible. Every day I take it outside and blow it out with the leaf blower, or you could use an air compressor. The vacuum just doesn't seem to get it clean while rubbing the filter with the brush destroys the surface of the filter.

Make sure the fan isn't blowing directly on your birds and don't turn the fan up any higher that the low setting because it won't clean as well and will make too much noise. One of my little birds was sneezing all the time until I did this. Now she doesn't sneeze at all!

Paper Twister

Submitted by: Kelly - December 08, 2000
Bird toy can be used for Small Size Birds
Hi, I have two Parakeets and they love the toys I make them, but one of their favorites is the paper twister. First you take newspaper or brightly colored paper and cut it into long pieces. Then fold the strips of paper in half and tie with a twister in the middle, and there you go, a costless homemade bird toy for your parakeet or other small bird.
Norman and Birkly also love to chew the paper off of twisters. You can put twisters in your bird's cage if you make sure he won't get hurt from the sharp metel ends. You can avoid this by twisting the ends into tight balls. THESE TOYS ARE FOR SMALL BIRDS ONLY. LARGE BIRDS MAY CHOKE ON SMALL TWISTERS. Hope your bird likes his toy! PLEASE think about how safe you want your bird to be using homemade toys.

Box Frinzie

Submitted by: Antonia - June 16, 2001
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
My idea is nothing but stacked shoe boxes, with holes in them. Get 6 shoe boxes and cut holes in them. Stack the shoe boxes. Your bird will have hours of fun.

Bird companion CD

Submitted by: Meghan Power - November 14, 2001
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
When a bird is alone and lonely, and all you can provide is a mirror to make them feel like they're not alone, make a CD/tape of that specific bird's calls and happy chirps so that it thinks its talking to another bird? I know my single lovebird needs love, and my chirping just isnt cutting it.

Rubber Band Toy

Hair Twisties

Submitted by: ~*Angelshark*~ - January 06, 2003
Bird toy can be used for Small&Medium Size Birds
My two cockateils like to play with hair elastics. They like it when I hang one around their neck and they peck at it and try to get it off. Once they get it off, they like to chew it and flip it around. Just make sure that your bird won't choke if you put it on and don't leave them alone. That is why this idea only works for smaller birds.

Teach your bird to talk

Submitted by: Jade, Crystal and Ruby - March 12, 2003
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Every day at around the same time sit on a chair next to your bird, and repeat the same few words over and over and over (... You get the message!) again. Do that for about an hour a day. Start by saying easy words like...
-Hi
-Bye
-Welcome

Your bird will only repeat the words it likes, so you might want to try 5 words at once. Keep teaching the same words for about a month or so and then keep adding to it's vocabulary. Whenever you pass by it's cage remember to say "Hello" or "Hi". This will keep the progress going on.

Necklace Toy

Birdie Bath Time

Submitted by: Debbie Brannock - January 24, 2004
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
My conure loves his bath. It's impossible to keep him out of the water when I am in the tub. He is constantly jumping in there with me. So now he gets his own bath tub. I fill up a paint rolling tray with nice warm water and set it on the toilet seat there next to me while I lay in the tub. It is the perfect birdie pool since it gradually gets deeper. He splashes and sits in the water and takes his own bath and waits for me to get his towel to dry him off.

Kleenex

Submitted by: Melissa - June 05, 2004
Bird toy can be used for Small&Medium Size Birds
I have paid lots of money for my cockatiel's toys, but who knew he'd like Kleenex the most!! I just put it in front of him, on the cage, cover him with it, or play peek-a-boo and he absolutely adores it!! Plus its incredibly cheap! Who would have thought, of all the things, Kleenex!! ^^ (Oh and by the way, I dont know if its very good to let your bird eat it)

Rock Bath

Submitted by: Lynn - July 26, 2004
Bird toy can be used for All Size Birds
Get a bowl, depending on the size of your bird, put smooth rocks in it and add some cool water. Your birds will get cooled down as well as having lots of fun splashing around.

New Trays For Old Cages

Sisal Rope Knots.

Submitted by: Justin - March 08, 2005
Bird toy can be used for Medium&Large Size Birds

I buy a roll of Sisal Rope from Walmart and cut it into 12-15 inch strips. I then dye each piece using Vitacritter bird safe dyes. All I do is tie each strip in knots throughout my birds cages. I tie some in single knots. Others in 3 or 4 knots. My Blue and Gold spends hours trying to figure out how to untie them. My African Grey was a little more hesitant to try them at first but once he figured out they were not about to kill him he really enjoyed them. It's a simple, safe and cheap way of helping to satisfy your birds curiousity.

*** Just keep an eye on the sisal for frayed ends and trim them back if you come across some ends that are frayed. I've never really had a problem with it but do keep an eye on the birds when they are playing with it just to be on the safe side***

Bird Phone

Submitted by: Krystalyn K. - May 16, 2005
Bird toy can be used for Small Size Birds

You will need:
"pom-poms" (medium-sized)
a narrow box but long box with a lid (about 3in. x 7 or 8in.)
9 medium sized pom-poms (about an inch)
a small mirror (an inch and 1/2 by 1 inch)
scissors
glue and tape
glitter (optional)
pipe cleaners

First, cut 9 holes that are as big as a pom-pom evenly spaced (leave about 3" of empty space at the top) into one side of the box. Glue each pom-pom into a hole (make three columns so they look like buttons on a phone). Next, neatly center the mirror and glue it so it looks like the screen on a cord-less phone (do it on the same side as the buttons). To make it safe, use a strong tape on the edges of the mirror so they're not sharp. Now, you can fold the pipe cleaner in half so both pointed edges are on one side. Then, poke it through the top of the phone (on the left or right side) so it looks like the antenna of a phone. To help make it stay, neatly put glue around the botton. You can also twist different colored pipe cleaners to make it really colorful. If you chose to use glitter, NEATLY put glue on the tape and put glitter on it. If you want, you can always write on it or add more glitter, just make sure it dries all they way. Now, let it dry and let your bird enjoy it!

Playing Area in a Cage