Parrots love to play games with their human companions. Interactive play is a great way to spend some bonding time with your bird and it’s healthy for you too. More often than not, you will both be laughing as a result of spending this time together. Here's some of our favorites:
Peekaboo/Hide & Seek
In our house this game is called “Where’s the Mama” and it has a few variations. If playing with a bird on the couch or in bed, it involves covering up with a blanket whereby they must find me by pulling back the covers. At other times, I’ll just leave the bird room and go around the corner and call to them until they peek around the corner. This game is usually followed by a game of chase.
Chase (I’m gonna get a birdie…)
A favorite game for our greys is "I'm gonna get a birdie" where I chase after them on the floor or bed while wiggling my fingers and threatening them with a tickle when I catch them.
Toss & Catch (sometimes)
This games involves the gentle tossing of an item as simple as a wadded up piece of paper or a whiffle ball such that it rolls near your birds feet. Our greys love to grab the paper and fling it right back at us and it's pretty amazing how good their aim is (most of the time). When their aim is bad it becomes a game of fetch, bend and pick it up for Mom which helps with the human exercise factor.
Let’s Dance
Many birds love to dance to music especially when their companion is singing and dancing to the music. We hold our birds on our hands and dance gently and before long they are bobbing and swaying right along with the beat.
Let’s Fly
Wing flapping is a great way to get your bird some aerobic exercise. The routine in our house is to get the birds out at least once a day and run around the house with them on our hands while they pretend to fly. They all love it as evidenced by their gleeful proclamations of “whee” while flying.
The games you can play with your bird are only limited by your own imagination. Cut loose, be a kid again and have fun !!!!!!
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