INTRODUCTION

We as parrot owners are always looking for ideas to keep our parrots busy and engaged in playful activities. In the following pages you will find several examples of parrot toys you can make at home. Also included are examples of some great ready-made toys you can purchase and where to find them.

I got started making toys for my parrots after purchasing the book: Parrot-Toys & Play Areas by Carol S. D’Arezzo and Lauren Shannon-Nunn. Then I attended a parrot toy making class. At that class I was introduced to so many ideas for making my own toys that I couldn’t retain them all in my head. I remember thinking I would have liked a take home instruction book to keep for reference. This is that book.

I get most of my ideas for toys or play gyms by watching my parrots play and from searching for toys on the internet. I am always thrilled to make a toy that my parrots actually play with.

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but once more for the record, no parrot toy is 100% safe. Please observe your parrot playing with every new type of toy you introduce to his environment before you leave him alone with it. Check old toys often for frayed cotton rope or long strands of any material. Birds have been known to get pieces of string or threads wrapped around their toes, necks and wings. There is no need to be paranoid or overly suspicious of every toy, just be knowledgeable and careful, and use good sense. Most of the internet sites that sell parrot toys have sections on safety tips and information on picking the right size toys. It is worth your time to click on those pages and read the information provided.

D’Arezzo and Nunn in their book Parrot-Toys & Play Areas have pages of wonderful information on toy safety as well as parrot-safe methods to hang toys and safe materials to make toys from. This is a book you can read over and over to get ideas from. Sometimes I think we consider toys an optional item. So often I’ve heard parents of small children say, “You don’t need any more toys, you don’t play with the ones you already have.”

Well our parrots are not children, and a toy for them is not to be considered a bonus item. It is a necessary item. Parrot toys provide opportunities for our birds to have something to do during the day. Toys afford them the possibility to make choices, solve problems and keep active. If our birds don’t play with the toys they have, then perhaps they need another type of toy.

In this book, I plan to give you all sorts of ideas for helping to keep your parrot active. I hope you have fun reading this publication and find it useful—I know I am going to have fun writing it.

Kris Porter

The Parrot Enrichment Activity Book by Kris Porter (version 1.0) - pdf	Offered to parrot owners free of charge with permission by Kris Porter.
The Parrot Enrichment Activity Book by Kris Porter (version 2.0) - pdf	Offered to parrot owners free of charge with permission by Kris Porter.