Clothespins and pinecones

I often hear parents (myself included) complaining about their kids having so many expensive toys and only wanting to play with cooking utensils and empty boxes. There are many times when I feel that way about my feathered children as well. I spend a considerable amount of money in Pet Smart on parrot toys. They are so fun to look at and to imagine what kind of fun my birds would create with each one. I faithfully clean and rotate the toys every week so that no one gets bored. My first hint of a cheaper way to entertain my flock was when my blue headed pionus, Callie and my senegal, Gatto spent an afternoon on the screen porch destroying a wooden clothespin that I had used to clip some millet out there for the budgie, Hunter. I managed to extract the metal spring part from their collective grasp and dispose of it but I watched in fascination as they proceeded to have more fun with that clothespin than I have ever seen them have with a toy. The next time I went to the craft store I bought a whole pack (for only 4.00!!) of old fashioned wooden pin style clothespins. These clothepins are a hot commodity among my flock. They are chewed, dipped in water bowls, flung off the edge of perches, dragged up ladders and down the sides of cages. Today I witnessed the cutest tug of war ever between Gatto and the quaker parrot, Marley....one on each end of a clothespin (of course my camera was elsewhere).
Pine cones are also a highly prized yet wonderfully free source of entertainment with my birds. These are treated much the same as the clothespins but spend more time in the water bowls for some reason. Gatto rolls them like balls across his playtop and Callie flings them from the edge of hers and then sits looking down at them as if expecting them to climb back up.
I have decided to begin saving empty toilet paper rolls for their Christmas presents. I just need to find a way to make them appealing to my human kids as well and I will have it made.