7 Easy-To-Make DIY Paper Toys For Cockatiels
Have you ever gone to Amazon to buy some cockatiel toys and realised that a majority of the good toys are outside of your budget? I mean 10 – 20$ for a toy that won’t even last 2 weeks is a little pricey for most people, not to mention that those toys will need regular replacing.
As the owner of a destructive cockatiel, I can certainly relate…
Luckily, making homemade DIY toys for your cockatiel is a far less expensive option!
And you don’t even need to spend big on the various bird-safe DIY toy materials… Paper is a great inexpensive material that most people have in the home.
Below you’ll learn how to make 7 different handmade toys for your cockatiel using paper!
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Quick Navigation:
- 1) Weaved Paper Through Cage Bars
- 2) Hanging Shredded Paper
- 3) DIY Shredded Paper Foraging Box
- 4) Paper Kebab
- 5) Paper Ball
- 6) Paper Ball (With Added Feathers)
- 7) DIY Origami Toy
- Conclusion
7 Best Homemade DIY Paper Toys For Cockatiels
1) Weaved Paper Through Cage Bars
This first toy is really simple…
All you need to do is weave strips of paper through the cage bars.
Since most cockatiels love shredding paper, they’ll go absolutely nuts when it’s conveniently weaved through their cage like this.
It’s easy to access and provides shredding fun for your cockatiel.
You could make this toy more interesting by having 2 strips of paper and adding treats within the gaps to encourage foraging.
This is probably the simplest homemade cockatiel toy on this list.
2) Hanging Shredded Paper
This is essentially the same as the first toy, except it’s verticle.
Cut a few strips of paper and hang them over the ceiling cage bars, it’s very simple and quick to make.
It’ll be more interesting for your cockatiel if you have lots of paper strips.
They’ll feel like they’re in a paper jungle.
Once it’s set up, watch them shred and pull down the strips of paper.
I suggest placing the paper strips near the highest perch of your cockatiel’s cage so they have easy access to their handmade toy.
3) DIY Shredded Paper Foraging Box
This DIY foraging box is best placed on the floor or ceiling of your cockatiel’s cage.
You’ll need a cardboard box to store the paper, treats, and other foraging material inside to make this toy. I used an empty seed box, but you can use cereal boxes or some other cardboard packages you can find.
Wild cockatiels spend around 70% of their time foraging for food and this toy greatly encourages this natural behaviour. Once you make this toy, your cockatiel will enjoy foraging through the shredded paper and finding seeds, millet, and other tasty goodies.
You can easily add other foraging materials to this toy.
In the image above, you can see that I’ve added wooden pieces and millet to the box.
You could also add all-natural crinkle paper to make it even more interesting.
It takes a little longer to make, but this handmade toy will keep your cockatiel engaged for hours.
4) DIY Paper Kebab Toy
This DIY cockatiel toy is as simple as poking paper through a stick.
You can use any type of stick for this but I personally use bamboo skewers as they are 100% bird safe and pretty cheap. It’s good to make a hole at the top of the skewer so you can connect a quick link for easy cage installation.
For bamboo skewers, you’ll need a drill to make the hole.
Hang this toy near a perch and watch them chew the paper until they reach the wooden skewer (which they can also chew).
Important tip: If you use wooden skewers, cut the pointy end off as you don’t want to risk any accidents with your bird. Notice how there are no sharp points at the bottom of the wooden skewer in the image above.
5) Paper Ball
Nothing is required for these toys except paper and some treats.
Scrunch a few pieces of paper up into a ball, poke a few holes, and add some treats.
You should use more than one piece of paper per ball as using only one piece will make the treats fall out or your cockatiel will find them too quickly. Once you make the big ball of treats, you can put it on the floor or find a way to hang it using the quick link connectors.
This is a very simple, yet fun DIY cockatiel toy.
6) Paper Ball (With Added Feathers)
Make another one of those thick paper balls with added treats.
But this time, poke a few of your cockatiels feathers through the ball.
(Have you been collecting your bird’s molted feathers? I do!)
Use the flight feathers or tail feathers for this toy as those fluffy feathers won’t really work here.
As your cockatiel is shredding the toy, they can also preen the feathers that are poking out.
You could also add cockatiel feathers to the other toys on this list, such as the DIY foraging box.
7) Handmade DIY Origami Toy
Creating an origami figure for your cockatiel will spark their curiosity as they’ve likely never seen paper in such a weird shape before.
Take the time to craft a turtle or a beautiful paper crane.
If you have quick link connectors, you can use them to hang up the origami toy somewhere in the cage. Poke a hole somewhere in the figure for the quick links to loop through and hang it up, simple.
Here are some easy-to-follow origami guides:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKOVYw9R7oI (Dinosaur)
These aren’t my videos but they’ll help you if you decide to make some origami.
Conclusion
Cockatiels require lots of physical and mental stimulation to be happy.
Both homemade toys and toys available online can keep your cockatiel busy for hours, especially if treats are involved. Finding treats will encourage birds to continue playing with the toy as they are getting rewarded.
DIY toys are great for those who can’t afford to pay 10$ every time their destructive cockatiels wreck a toy.
Homemade toys can be just as fun and mentally stimulating as store-bought toys.
All the DIY toys on this list can be made primarily from paper and other cheap household materials.
Feel free to modify any of the listed toys to make them more interesting for your bird.
Hopefully, you now have a few good ideas on how to make cheap cockatiel toys at home.
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