DIY foot toys!

[mrgoogls]

hey guys. my quaker, Cooper, recently discovered all the foot toys in his foot toy bowl( the cage came with 3 bowls, i have, 1 food, 1 water and fill the other with toys). he especially loved these little acrylic shapes. i wish i bought more of those. to bad the store i got them is an hor and a half away...lol. when i go to get him cliped again maybe but anyways, he also likes soeme other things. like a star made out of natural vine, and "barbell" which he threw within a minute. i think the only reason he picked that up in the 1st place is because it have one of those shpes on the bar. once he realized he couldnt get it off, he threw it. So, anyways, i spent half my day picking up all his toys for him

but, my foot toy selection is limited. how do you make some of your foot toys? (quaker sized if possible, if bigger then ill scale it down i guess) maybe if you even have something like what i put above. or if you have a link to something similar to those shapes i would be greatfull!

please list the materials you use to make it and step by step instructions. a picture of the inished product would be nice. even better if you put step by step pics.


sorry for such a long post. thanks so much if you acually read

 

[azdesertrhino]

This is one we made for MAC.

A piece of Cholla, dowel rod and a couple of pieces of Pecan wood.

A variation with leather. MAC loves to chew leather.

 

[mrgoogls]

thanks. ill try to scale that down to quaker sized if i get a good one ill send u a pic. anyone else with cool foot toy ideas?

 

[brianlinkles]

what do you use to glue the dowel to the pecan wood?

 

[ConureCrazy]

Bella and Zora love popsicle sticks. Simple, but they love it. =)

 

[azdesertrhino]

what do you use to glue the dowel to the pecan wood?

No glue. I just drill the hole so the dowel goes in very tight.

 

[headfeathermistress]

Well for my quaker I cut up bits of cardboard in different shapes, offer sucker sticks and coffee stirrers, quaker sized wood beads with paper ribbon threaded and knotted

 

[mrgoogls]

cool. great ideas guys! ill try to get some beads and ill grab some coffee stirers from McDonalds or Burger King. a got a few questiongs though. since treated wood is bad, how do you know if popsicle sticks are safe? or if the wood they are made of is safe?

 

[mrgoogls]

sorry to sound impatient. but how do you know if popsicle sticks are safe??? i want to get some things from the craft store tomorow and those are on my list( and a lot of them between making toys and just for foot toys ) so how do you tell? pleaselet me know by snday(hope fullyXD)


PS: what is a sucker stick? lol

 

[Birdlover11]

I would presume its safe since when you eat Popsicles the stick goes into your mouth , I've seen a lot of toys made out of pop sticks . Maybe you could call the company ?

 

[Eloy]

Yes popsicles is safe. In Sweden it's beech or birch. But ask what trees they are made of.

 

[azdesertrhino]

According to what I found on a quick web search they are made of Birch wood.

Hope this helps!!

 

[ConureCrazy]

Yup mine are birch. The package I got them in says 'untreated' as well, but I'm pretty sure they aren't all like that.
NOTE: Don't buy painted popsicle sticks from craft stores. About 99% of the time they use unsafe paint.

 

[mrgoogls]

i went to the store today and got a load of stuff! so happy! i got some popsicle sticks(plain uncolored) in a normal and small size. the normals i am making toys out of. the small are for foot toys. i got 2 balsa wood sticks and a small sheet of balsa for toys. i got some plastic beads. i also got food coloring ment for cake icing to dye the wood. then i got "match sticks". all they are are little sticks of wood like a match, just without the part that burns lol. ill post picks of the toys as soon as i get my hands on my dad's drill

 

[KBEquine]

Another inexpensive dye for toys is unsweetened kool-aid, if you can find it.

 

[WannaBeAParrot]

did u ever drop blueberries on light color kitchen counter, clothes, etc? nice purpley stain... right? that's what it'll do to your natural light wood. get some blueberries, beets and carrots. They'll give you great colors on light wood. Mash the fresh blueberries. Cut up the beets (you can cook them in a little water to make a dye bath). Just cut carrots and rub the flesh on wood -- orange it will be. And all of it is yummy.

As for popsicle sticks - have given them to Pritti all of twice, because within one second he starts to crush it in his beak and made long, thin, sharp splinters. They were very scary looking spears. So just watch and make sure all looks well with the popsicle sticks.

I use colorful plastic measuring cups and spoons for toys. Also, the colorful plastic rings that screw on to the tops of the cups for my Magic Bullet blender/mixer. Pritti loves tossing them in the air and flipping them over. It's so funny, like a circus event. Different shape dull-edged cookie cutters. Pretty much anything that isn't sharp or poison is a potential parrot toy - I stick with kitchen stuff because it's all food grade .

And of course, boxes of all sizes, shapes and the more colorful the better for Pritti. Small empty boxes from my Celestial Seasoning tea bags. He seems to like the colors and goes in and out of them like half tunnels.

(Gotta say -- as I'm typing on my laptop, I'm reclining on the bed on my left side and Pritti is snuggled in the corner of my neck on my right side (the side higher up toward ceiling) and feels so soft and warm and every now and then he preens a few locks of my hair. I'm melting in love with this boy.) He even fell asleep with his head backward for a while -- Talk about comfie -- but I can barely move and have my hands stuck on the keyboard now, hahaha.)

 

[aliray]

I also have the same questions about popsicle sticks. When I found them they were in the craft department of Walmart and the pkg says made in china of course. I also looked at a lot of of their craft supplies such as alphabet blocks made by the same china co. and it said not safe for under 14 years of age. Ihaven't found food grade popsicle sticks yet I will eventually try a cooking store but in any case I didn't buy those. One toy I have bought is plain wooden spoons used for cooking at the supermarket and they like chewing on them. You could drill holes and hang them.