7 Ways on How to Teach Birds to Play with Toys at Home

how to teach birds to play with toys? Every bird, like every human, is an individual with distinct preferences. Toys are a vital element of the mental health and mental and physical agility of birds, who are extremely clever creatures. Toys stimulate fitness and provide the beak and nails a nice workout. To keep the bird from becoming bored, swap toys in and out of the cage every couple of days. This article will feature how to teach birds to play with toys.

Birds are highly sociable creatures who require a lot of mental stimulation and social connection in order to be genuinely content.

The emotional complexity and general intelligence of parakeet, cockatiel, cockatoo, lovebird, macaw, budgie, and African grey species are all astonishing, and they all desire to develop a link with you and your family.

To play, toss a small Koosh ball, bauble, or soft, lightweight toy in your parrot’s direction and say, “Catch it!” Your bird may run after the thing and pick it up with its beak if you’re lucky. Say, “Good bird!” if this happens. Teach your bird how to return the thing to you.

How to teach birds to play with toys

A bird’s reluctance to play might be due to a variety of factors. Fear, lack of confidence, apathy, and a lack of information are examples of these feelings. Some birds like to gnaw on non-moving toys, therefore placing them on the cage’s side or on the cage floor is sometimes preferable.

However, it’s critical to know how to manage and play with your parrot appropriately so that you’re transmitting only good, friend-only signals.

It’s also crucial for you and your family to understand that the greatest approach to create trust and foster a healthy flock mentality is for you and your family to engage with your bird on a regular basis.

This tutorial on how to properly engage with your bird is a wonderful place to start if you’re wanting to encourage a new bird to warm up to you or simply search for methods to deepen your connection with your current bird. Lets learn below how to teach birds to play with toys.

1. Demonstrate to your Birds New Bird Toys

I’ve discovered that the greatest method to educating a bird to play with toys is to demonstrate how much fun it is to play with their new parrot toy yourself. Birds are flock creatures, and you are their flock in a human house.

Birds like playing with your personal items, such as your pen or phone. This is because they watch you do it and assume it must be enjoyable if you spend all of your time writing or chatting on the phone.

Because birds consider our human nose to be the same as their beak, you should “beak” their new bird toy with your nose. While you’re playing with it, laugh and have a good time.

The key is to laugh and have a good time. If all of your attention is focused on their new bird toy, your bird will feel compelled to participate. After all, you’re having a good time, and they want to join in.

If you have another family member who is ready to assist you, you may have them beak the toy with their nose as well, with the two of you taking turns “beaking” and having a good time.

2. Experiment with Different types of bird toys

This is a critical point. Not every bird will enjoy the same sort of bird toy, just as not every person enjoys the same flavor of ice cream. In fact, you could get hooked on chocolate ice cream and only eat chocolate ice cream in order to practice how to teach birds to play with toys.

Then one day you become bored of it and decide you don’t want it for a time. This isn’t to say you despise chocolate ice cream; it just implies you’re ready for a change.

Birds may be the same way. They may enjoy softwood, but then decide one day that they are tired of it and no longer want to play with a softwood bird toy.

You can be demonstrating to your bird how to play with a specific bird toy, but no matter how many times you attempt, he just doesn’t seem interested. This isn’t to say that your bird will never play, or that he will never play with that toy in particular.

It just suggests that he might not want to play with a bird toy with such material at this moment. What you can do is attempt to pique his interest for a few minutes, then switch to a different textured toy and return to it at a later time.

This is why it’s critical to supply a variety of bird toys. When I teach my birds to play, I give them a variety of parrot toys with varied textures, such as softwood, soft chewable plastic, leather, and Supreme cotton rope for preening. They may like all of these toys or just one of these parrot toys, depending on their mood at the moment.

3. Sing and talk with one another

Birds interact mostly through vocalization, thus this is an excellent approach to foster friendship. If your bird is having problems warming up to you or isn’t quite comfortable with your family, this is a terrific tip to try.

A calming, low-key engagement such as speaking to your bird in low, calm tones or quietly humming tiny songs to it will go a long way toward helping your bird feel safe and content so that you can apply how to teach birds to play with toys.

You may do this while holding your parakeet if it enjoys being held. Otherwise, simply leave the cage door open and let your bird determine whether or not to leave its comfortable surroundings.

4. Treats can be used to encourage play

The greatest approach to foster enjoyment and friendship with your bird is through food. Pick a favorite dessert and play foraging games with your friends.

When choosing games to play, remember to keep your bird’s size in mind. Play a guessing game with a little parrot food and some toy cups, or hide lovebird food inside a balled-up piece of paper that must be torn apart to reach the gift.

If your bird isn’t interested in other activities like fetch or hide and seek, use goodies and positive comments to make the time more enjoyable.

5. Take a supper together

Sharing food with your cockatiel, budgie, or African grey will make them feel more connected to you. While you’re probably not interested in eating parrot or parakeet meal pellets, you can select for gourmet mash feeds like Bird Street Bistro’s mixes.

If not, try for parakeet or lovebird food that you would like, such as seeds, nuts, fruits, or vegetables.

6. Teach your bird some amusing skills.

Trick training is one of the most enjoyable and gratifying play experiences for both parrots and their owners. They like learning new activities since they are so brilliant.

Games like “birdie basketball,” “peek-a-boo,” and “fetch” may take some practice, but once your bird learns how to play, you’ll have a lot of fun.

Learning step-ups, dances, waving, and other skills allows you to lavish attention, praise, and goodies on them while also allowing them to “show off” for outsiders to motivate how to teach birds to play with toys.

7. Patience

The most important thing to remember while training your bird to play is to be patient and persistent. Some birds will understand straight immediately, while others may need more time. I’ve discovered that I value the things I’ve worked hard for more than the ones that have come easily to me. It’s the same with teaching your bird to play. Both you and your bird will benefit from being committed to your objective and eventually attaining it.

I enjoy spending time teaching my birds how to play with bird toys. The time I spend with them fosters a strong link of love and friendship. This event, I believe, will bring you closer together and strengthen your relationship of trust.

So never give up on teaching your feathery companion to play. When it occurs, and it will, no other emotion in the world compares to the sensation of fulfillment and love!

Birds who are afraid of toys

Because they were not exposed to toys as young birds, some pet birds are afraid of anything unfamiliar.

This is what Greys are known for. Young Greys can learn to play with toys just as easily as other animals.

Patience is required to overcome this prejudice. While the bird is in her cage, keep the toy visible to her. Keep an eye on her body language. She’ll indicate when the thing is getting too close for comfort. Every day, bring it closer. Most birds will eventually accept the unfamiliar thing. Just take your time.

In front of her, play with the toy. Show her your hand while she is on it.

It might take anything from a few days to several weeks to desensitize a phobic bird, but with patience, the majority of birds will accept a toy.

Finally, you are well aware that your bird’s favorite toy is you.

Take away

Pay attention to your lovebird or macaw’s body language and pay attention to it during all of your fun and socializing. Don’t impose a game on your bird if it isn’t interesting. Switch to a new game or let your bird walk around the room as you converse or sing.

In the end, getting to know your parrot and knowing the games, treats, and sorts of interaction it enjoys are the “correct” approach to play with it. The most essential thing to remember is that you and your family are your bird’s sole flockmates, so it’s up to you to ensure that he or she feels safe, happy, and loved. We hope you have enjoyed this article on how to teach birds to play with toys.