Did you know that parrots, including small species like budgies, are extremely playful beings? In order to prevent your bird from getting bored, you should provide it with a variety of budgie toys to shred, chew, ring and more. 

What do parakeets like to play with? Let's have a look at 6 budgie toys these small parrots love.

Why do budgies need toys? 

If you've had (a) budgie(s) for a while, you'll know these birds are active, inquisitive, and always on the go. They're highly intelligent and very trainable, always looking for new items to inspect and trying to find ways to keep their smart brains busy. 

To prevent your budgie from getting bored, which can lead to self-destructive behaviours like feather plucking, excessive vocalisation, and even aggression, it's important to give it plenty of stuff to do. This especially applies during the hours it spends in its cage, like when you're off to work and your bird(s) is/are left at home alone. That's where toys come in!

Toys keep budgies busy by fulfilling a variety of their wild instincts:

• Chewing: they would naturally chew the tree hollows they nest in to help keep them accessible. The habit keeps their beaks trim and in good condition.
• Foraging: in the wild, a budgie would spend much of its day searching for food on the ground. They're excellent foragers and most seem to enjoy it.
• Preening: budgies are very tidy and like preening their own and their flock members' feathers. In captivity, if you don't give them an outlet, they can end up overdoing it. 

Different types of budgie toys have been designed specifically to allow your bird to exhibit all these natural behaviours. It's not difficult to see, then, why a budgie that has access to a regularly rotated variety of toys will be happier and healthier than one stuck on a perch with nothing to do!

1. Budgie foraging toys

There's a reason foraging toys are right at the top of the list: they give you the best bang for your buck in terms of enrichment for your budgie. The basic premise of a foraging toy is that it stimulates your bird to search for its food, using the same instincts it would in the wild. Playing with these toys stimulates their smart brains, helps make sure they're not just sitting around all day, and encourages exercise. 

There are all sorts of different foraging toy types for small parrots available: see-through balls that your bird will have to wedge its treats out of, rotating puzzle wheels, shreddable pockets that have to be destroyed to reach the food, and much more. 

If your budgie hasn't played with foraging toys before, go for something basic: the food should be clearly visible, but just a little more difficult to reach. For long-time foraging experts, you can eventually move on to more complicated toys.

2. Budgie ball toys

Having owned budgies ourselves, we can tell you that many of these little parakeets like ball toys almost as much as dogs do. We're not sure what it is that makes balls so irresistible to budgies, but they love picking up the toys with their beaks, throwing them off the side of their cage, and running around with them.

There are plenty of cheap options when it comes to ball toys for budgies. You can buy bulk packs of natural or vegetable-dyed rattan balls for them to throw around and gnaw on. Just replace the balls with new ones once they're too chewed up to prevent them from turning into a safety hazard.

There are also plastic ball toys with bells in them, though it's always a good idea to consider whether your sanity can handle the incessant ringing before purchasing those!

3. Budgie bell toys

Here, too, it's a good idea to consider whether you can handle more sound than what is already being produced by your budgies themselves on a normal day. If you think you can, then your birds will greatly appreciate budgie toys that ring, jingle and clang. All parrots, including these small ones, simply adore (making) noise.

There are various types of noise-making budgie toys. Most of them rely on bells, but you may also come across ones that feature steel objects, like small spoons, for your parakeets to clang together. 

Do keep in mind that you need to choose carefully. Unfortunately, our birds are sometimes too curious for their own good, meaning that a seemingly innocent object can quickly become dangerous. With bell toys, accidental removal of the clapper is a common issue, which is why we particularly like this extra-safe bell toy. 

4. Budgie chewing & shredding toys

There are few activities that budgies like more than destroying things with their beaks. If yours have been part of your family for a while, you'll undoubtedly have noticed that they'll go for anything even remotely chewable. That includes their perches, wooden furniture, photo frames, and even the wall!

You can't blame your bird for chewing up everything in sight. It's a natural behaviour for them, one that helps them keep their nest in order and their beak healthy. In order to channel their incessant urge to chew into something a little less destructive, though, it's a good idea to offer a variety of budgie toys for gnawing and shredding. 

Chew toys for small parrots are made of materials like cardboard and soft wood. They're usually colourful and have plenty of moving parts to entice your bird. Be sure to remove them from the cage once they become too damaged to remain safe.

5. Budgie training toys

Despite their small size, budgies are quite intelligent. They're curious and eager to learn, especially when offered treats as rewards, which makes them excellent candidates for trick training. 

There are loads of different tricks to teach your budgie that don't require you to buy anything. Basics we recommend teaching any budgie are 'step up' and 'come over' (recall training), but you could also consider things like wave, spin on the spot, open wings, and similar.

For more complicated tricks, you can use special trick training toys. This way, you can teach your budgie things like riding a skateboard, dunking a basketball, tossing hoops, sorting by colour, and much more. You'll be amazed at how quickly they pick up on it if you've got plenty of seed treats on hand.

The great thing about these training sessions is that it's about more than just teaching your bird to do something fun. The time spent together also helps solidify your bond, and it's a fantastic boredom buster for these little busybodies.

6. DIY budgie toys

Most budgie toys are made to be destroyed, and you'll have to remove them from your bird's cage once they're too far gone to prevent them from becoming a safety hazard. This can feel like a waste, especially considering how expensive bird toys can be.

If you'd like to save some money on budgie toys, making them yourself is actually an option. It's cheaper, and you can use a variety of special toy-making items as well as things you likely already have in your cupboards.

Simple hanging stack toys are the easiest. Get some parrot-safe pear links and strips of leather, and get to work! Some perfect budgie toy additions that you may already have in your house include:

• Muffin cups
• Coffee filters
• Uncooked pasta
• Coconut shells (you can share the coconut with your birds!)
• Pieces of parrot-safe wood
• Dried parrot-safe flowers

There are also loads of different items meant for parrot toy making that you can buy in bulk to create a variety of toys on the cheap:

• Dried loofah rings
• Dried cholla cactus
• Balsa wood
• Vine balls
• Cuttlebone pieces
• Coloured beads
• Crinkle paper

As long as you keep safety in mind, the only limit is your own imagination. You'll eventually get a feel for what your budgie(s) like(s) to play with, meaning you can custom-make the perfect toys for it to enjoy.