Best Bird Toys for Parrots (2026), Matched to Your Bird's Size

Lafeber's toy chapter (an excerpt from D'Arezzo and Shannon-Nunn's book) says every parrot from a budgie up must have wood it can chew, and that small birds need smaller pieces of softer wood, naming pine and cholla, because hardwoods such as manzanita are too tough for them to destroy. The Balsa Stack is four balsa slats on a stack with plastic beads between, listed for parrotlets, parakeets, cockatiels and lovebirds.

A toy that a small bird cannot dent is a toy it ignores, which is why this is the first pick and the hardwood blocks sold as "for all birds" are not. Expect to replace it: destroying it is the job. Skip it for anything conure-sized and up; those birds are what the PVC Forager and the pinata below are for.

The handout's four toy types are climbing, foot, chew and puzzle toys, and foot toys are the ones most cages lack. Lafeber's chapter describes them as small toys a bird can grasp in its foot, and suggests a toy bowl in the cage so the bird can pick its own. These are balls of sola pith, the soft spongy stem of the sola plant, listed at about 2.25 to 2.5 inches across.

With nothing metal on them, they are the simplest toy here to judge. Put two in a spare dish and keep one back to swap in later. For a large parrot, a whole walnut-sized nut or a hardwood foot toy lasts longer; sola is for small and medium beaks.

Lafeber's chapter calls foraging the activity that occupies most of a wild parrot's day, and its parakeet article says budgies benefit from foraging for at least some of their food. Bonka's French Fries is a cup of bamboo finger traps over crinkle paper; Bonka lists it for cockatiels, parakeets, conures and similar birds and says it comes with a quick link.

Start easy: leave a seed or treat visible at the end of a trap so the bird learns there is food inside, then tuck it deeper. If a treat other than seed or nuts goes in, the chapter's advice is to take it out before it spoils.

Shredding is its own need: the chapter's "Preener" category covers toys a bird can preen, shred and weave, and says they are best hung near the roosting perch. Planet Pleasures' pineapple is woven palm and sisal (per the Amazon listing), and the maker's size chart runs from 5 x 2 x 2 inches to 11 x 4 x 4 inches.

The maker gives no species per size, so size it to the bird: the Small for budgies and lovebirds, Medium for cockatiels and small conures, Large and XL for bigger birds. The handout's rule for natural fiber applies here: remove it once it is soiled or frayed, and watch that the bird shreds it rather than eats it.

Super Bird Creations lists the PVC Forager for birds from ringnecks and medium conures up to greys, Amazons, eclectus, small cockatoos and mini macaws. It is a drinking-water-grade PVC pipe with plastic beads, and the listing says it is dishwasher safe. Stuff it with paper and a few treats and the bird has to pull them out.

The catch is the beads. Lafeber's handout says plastic beads are fine for small birds but should never be offered to large ones, and that wood beads are the large-bird option. So this is our pick for ringnecks, conures and Quakers. For a grey, an Amazon or a cockatoo, take the beads off or choose the Foraging Wheel below.

Large parrots chew hardest and get the fewest toys they are allowed to wreck. The chapter notes some birds turn into "buzz saws" in the breeding season and says to keep plenty of destructible toys on hand. The 14-inch Spiked Pinata is woven palm leaves stuffed with more natural material (per the Amazon listing).

Hang it with the connector the handout gives for large birds, a tight C-clamp, not a clip or a dog-leash snap. If your bird eats the fibers rather than dropping them, swap it for the wheel below.

The chapter says non-destructible toys may be the only safe option for a parrot prone to swallowing its toys. Caitec's Creative Foraging Systems wheel is that option: the bird turns the wheel to reach food in its compartments. Caitec's page recommends its foraging wheel for medium and large birds; the Gen II Extra Large on Amazon is listed at 7 x 4 x 9 inches in polycarbonate with six compartments.

Load one compartment and leave the opening facing the bird the first few times. Pair it with something the bird can chew, such as natural wood, because chewing is a separate need the wheel does not meet.