The 7 Best Parrot Playstands of 2023

Our favorite is the Prevue Pet Products Parrot Playstand

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The Spruce Pets / Lecia Landis

Parrots are clever, curious birds that require plenty of mental stimulation and exercise to live long and healthy lives.

“The best parrot playstands are made from the harder woods like java or manzanita,” Shannon Kramer, founder of Birds and Beaks Rescue & Rehab in Battle Creek, Michigan, told The Spruce Pets. “Stainless steel works too, and accessories can include toys, food and water bowls, ropes of natural fibers, and more.” 

A parrot playstand can vary in height, but should provide a reliable perch, and variable textures for your bird to interact with, such as wood and rope surfaces. We looked for parrot playstands that are not only durable pieces of furniture, but also interactive spaces with perches, ladders, swings, and colorful objects to keep your parrot’s attention. 

But there are several other playstands we also love, that might work even better for your parrot.

Our Top Picks

Best Overall

Prevue Pet Products Small Parrot Playstand

Prevue Pet Products Small Parrot Playstand

Chewy

What We Like
  • Base includes storage shelf

  • Removable debris tray

  • Eight toy hoops at different levels

  • Large seed guard with rounded corners

What We Don't Like
  • Included cups are too easy to detach

The Prevue Pet Products Parrot Playstand has a variety of ways for your bird to play. The small version offers eight toy hoops for hanging, three ladders, a swing, and multiple perches. All of this is built atop four sturdy metal legs, with a wire storage shelf between them. It's widest higher up on the frame, where a seed guard with rounded corners catches your parrot’s cast-off husks and waste, confining your cleanup to the removable grill and slide out debris tray. All of this makes the Prevue Pet Products Playstand an excellent primary hangout for your bird, where it can eat, perch, and entertain itself.

The Playstand includes two stainless steel cups, which attach to the frame—each with a wooden perch of its own. There’s an arched ladder between the two bowls, and two climbing ladders leading to higher perches, and the swing hanging from the center bar. There are five toy hoops available on the middle part of the frame, and an additional three at the very top portion, beneath a eucalyptus wood perch that spans nearly the width of the stand. Each toy hoop lets you customize your parrot’s experience, and Prevue Pet Products offers a range of toys to consider.

The parrot playstand is made primarily from powder-coated metal, which makes it easy to wipe down to clean off (though it’s important to dry any wet surfaces to prevent rust).

The large version of the Prevue Pet Products Parrot Playstand stands at 72 inches tall, while the small is 59 inches high.

Price at time of publish: $114

Dimensions: 25 x 26 x 59 inches | Materials: Powder-coated metal, stainless steel, eucalyptus wood | Included Accessories: Eucalyptus wood perch, toy bar, swing, arched ladder, 2 stainless steel cups

Best Budget

Prevue Pet Products Parrot Playground

Prevue Pet Products Parrot Playground

Amazon

What We Like
  • Comes built into its own storage case

  • Easy to assemble

  • Laminated base for easy, wipe-down cleaning

What We Don't Like
  • Food and water cups are difficult to detach

This budget-friendly table top play gym is constructed of safe, sturdy hardwood and covered with easy-to-clean laminate. Its bright reds, yellows, blues and greens will attract your bird’s interest, while the toys, climbing, and food options keep them engaged. 

Six toy hangers are provided, on which you can alternate toys to keep your bird from getting bored, and there are two cups for food and water, too. A toy is also included to get you started. Plus, the shapes and textures of the items and surfaces in the play gym are good for birds’ feet. 

Price at time of publish: $55

Dimensions: 23 x 21 x 18 inches | Materials: Wood | Included Accessories: One toy and two cups for food and water

Best Tabletop

A&E Cage Company AE500M Java Wood Table Top Play Stand

A&E Cage Company AE500M Java Wood Table Top Play Stand

Petsmart

What We Like
  • Large enough for bigger birds

  • Room for wings to spread

  • Unique look

What We Don't Like
  • Limited-capacity cup

The A&E Cage Company AE500M Java Wood Table Top Play Stand is available in three sizes, including versions large enough for big bird species like macaws. Its interactive features are minimal—a cup that’s split into two compartments for various treats—but its natural features provide different textures and perches.

The cup atop the playstand is made from resin and is a little on the small side, making it okay for snacks, but less useful for water. There are multiple attachment points for hanging toys.

Price at time of publish: $114 (medium)

Dimensions: 15 x 10 x 15 (small); 22 x 14 x 22 inches (medium); 28 x 18 x 27 (large) | Materials: Wood | Included Accessories: Divided cup

Best Splurge

Arcametti Zeta G8 Corsair Play Stand

Arcametti Zeta G8 Corsair Play Stand

Arcametti 

What We Like
  • Uses two different types of eco-friendly wood

  • Comes with extra rope for perch repair

  • Your choice of gold or silver bowls

  • Base is concave, so you can lay down substrate of your choice

What We Don't Like
  • Drilled holes can be a little harder to hang toys from than metal loops

This breathtaking playstand combines a tropical hardwood base—combining multi-toned slices from the Samanea saman tree—and branches from the Coffea robusta tree (yes, the same tree that grows robusta coffee beans) to create a playstand that’s visually stunning and naturally expressive. 

Wood used in the Arcametti Zeta G8 Corsair Play Stand is kiln dried for three to six weeks, after a three- to five-week water submersion, which softens the bark for removal by hand. It’s also eco-friendly, sourced entirely from wood that’s certified secure and abundant by NatureServe Global Conservation Status rankings—a ranking established by The Nature Conservancy in the 1980s.

This Arcametti Play Stand isn’t just a beautiful statement piece. It also has a bevy of features that provide multiple enrichment activities for your parrot. Branches are wrapped in rattan cane and sisal rope to create perch points, while holes placed throughout the stand provide opportunities for attaching hanging toys and other accessories. The playstand comes with an additional three meters of sisal rope, so you can create your own perches on your bird’s favorite parts of the branch, or replace chewed portions. Each playstand also comes with two four-inch stainless steel food or water bowls that can be screwed on to multiple locations. 

The sturdy hardwood base has polyurethane casters with an 88-pound weight tolerance per wheel for smooth rolling over surfaces, making it easy to set this playstand up in various locations throughout the day. The base is also concave, with a raised rim, so you can put down paper, wood chips, or a substrate of your choice.

Price at time of publish: $4,300

Dimensions: 42 x 25 x 63 inches | Materials: Samanea saman wood, Cofea robusta wood, rattan, sisal, stainless steel | Included Accessories: Food cups, extra sisal rope

Best for Multiple Birds

Tfwadmx Parrot Playground

Tfwadmx Parrot Playground

Amazon

What We Like
  • Wide range of toys and included accessories

  • Easy-to-clean bottom tray

  • Multiple places to attach additional toys

What We Don't Like
  • Too small for large parrots

  • Complicated assembly

With parrots, parakeets, cockatiels, lovebirds, and even more species in mind, this playground works on nearly any table top or above-cage surface you’ve got. Equipped with a swing, climbing ladders, coconut shells for hiding, a grinding stone for beaks, stainless steel cups for food and water, hooks for hanging toys, and a clever y-shaped perch, there’s plenty to do on this play stand to entertain more than one bird. 

Non-toxic and made of only natural wood, the Tfwadmx Parrot Playground offers multiple ways to stimulate birds, while providing them with varied perches from which to observe each other. Unfortunately, it’s a little too small for large parrots. Plus, assembly is a pain.

Price at time of publish: $29

Dimensions: 14.56 x 10.23 x 16.9 inches | Materials: Natural wood, stainless steel | Included Accessories: Grinding stone, chewing toy, ladder, swing, coconut shell nest with ladder, stainless steel tray, food and water cups

Best Swing

Sweet Feet & Beak Whirly Bird

Sweet Feet & Beak Whirly Bird

Amazon

What We Like
  • Perch is textured to maintain nails and provide grip

  • Wide range of sizes and colors

  • Comes with two toys

What We Don't Like
  • Textured perch is difficult to clean

Swings are an excellent way to help your parrot remain active. They allow your bird to move around and experience mental stimulation, enabling them to stay healthy and stress-free. Some swings incorporate accessories for chewing, foraging, or preening too.

The award-winning Sweet Feet & Beak Whirly Bird has a textured “pedicure” perch that both provides grip and abrades nails, acting as a natural trimmer. Its handmade in the United States of heavy duty, beak-resistant plastic, and it has two hanging toys built-in. 

The Whirly Bird comes in five different sizes, with the large size recommended for parrots like African Greys and Amazons. The swing is also available in three different colors: blue, yellow, and orange.

Price at time of publish: $22 (large)

Dimensions: 5 x 10 (x-small); 7 x 10 (small); 10 x 17 (medium); 11 x 18 inches (large); 11 x 18 (x-large) | Materials: Beak-resistant plastic | Included Accessories: Two hanging toys | Colors: Blue, yellow, orange

Best Custom Perch

Manzanita Burlworks Custom Play Gym

Manzanita Burlworks Custom Play Gym

Manzanita

What We Like
  • Made from real, locally-harvested wood

  • Redwood trim

  • Accommodates custom requests

What We Don't Like
  • Since each play gym is custom-made, dimensions online are only approximate

Manzanita Burlworks makes high quality bird perches and playstands out of manzanita wood harvested within an hour of its shop, and incorporates redwood trim as well.

The custom play gyms are available in three sizes, ranging from 24 to 60 inches in height, with perching affixed at multiple places along the branches.

Price at time of publish: $250 (medium)

Dimensions: 24-36 inches (small); 24 x 24 x 54 (medium); 36 x 24 x 60 (large) | Materials: Manzanita wood harvested in Southern California | Included Accessories: Toy Holder an additional $16

Final Verdict

Our favorite parrot playstand is the Prevue Pet Products Parrot Playstand, which offers multiple ways to play and perch. It also has features that make it easy to clean, and even provides storage. If you don’t need a comprehensive playstand, but instead are looking for new enrichment opportunities for your parrot, check out the Prevue Pet Products Parrot Playground instead. It offers multiple modes of play, while its laminated hardwood is both colorful and easy to clean.

What to Look for in a Parrot Play Stand

Materials

“Usually for parrots, we like the harder woods such as java wood or manzanita,” Shannon Kramer, founder of Birds and Beaks Rescue & Rehab in Battle Creek, Michigan, told The Spruce Pets. 

Stainless steel is another good, durable option, as are several other types of wood like balsa, birch, maple, walnut, elm, apple, poplar, basswood and pine—although some of these might not stand up to the beaks of chewing parrots as well as java and manzanita woods will. 

Any ropes or cloth integrated into the play stand should consist of fibers like natural hemp or untreated cotton. 

Perch Size

Kramer shared with us that there are over 200 different species of parrots, all of varying sizes (including parakeets and cockatiels), so at Birds and Beaks Rescue & Rehab, they break parrot play stands, playgrounds, and other structures into categories based on size: super small, small, medium, large, and giant. Different-sized structures will have varying widths and feet measurements for the wood, which will benefit the various species of birds. 

She advises that it’s best to stick to the basics; i.e., if you’re looking for a great parrot stand, don’t get a small stand for a giant bird. 

Aside from that, there are countless options for perches, play stands, and playgrounds, including table top varieties, standalone structures on a base, metal types with wheels on the bottom, and more. These can be chosen according to optimal safety, what your parrot likes, and whatever you prefer for your household.

Accessories 

Accessories can also vary substantially depending upon the play stand or playground. “Most stands and playgrounds,” says Kramer, “especially with java and manzanita wood, will have eye hooks drilled in through which you can hang wooden toys, shredder toys, stainless steel toys, and others.” She says that shredders, toys designed for the birds to chew on or otherwise tear apart, are often made of grass matting or raffia type materials. 

She adds that you might be able to put tree nuts in toys or utilize other forms to stimulate the birds’ brains like a puzzle to shred and destroy. Some play stands and playgrounds have bowls on them for water and food, perches, or other places for parrots to hang onto, 

Kramer reiterates that hard woods are best for parrots, and a nice base that you can protect with puppy pads or newspaper is great, too.

FAQ
  • How large should a parrot play stand be?

    According to Kramer, the size of a parrot play stand depends upon the species. As a general rule, the larger the stand, the better.

  • What's the difference between a parrot play stand and a parrot perch?

    Kramer explained to us that a parrot perch is essentially a single branch or other type of straight object (such as a dowel rod) that an animal can stand on. It can go inside a cage or be part of a standalone structure. Perches are often made of natural wood from non-toxic trees like manzanita wood. 

    A play stand is usually a more complex collection of different textures with a base. It is often set away from the cage as a standalone structure, different from anything you’d place inside a cage.

Why Trust The Spruce Pets?

KJ Callihan is a writer for The Spruce Pets and a lifelong animal lover currently owned by a shelter cat named Arlo. Callihan enjoys writing roundups about the best pet products she can find, and she spent hours researching the top parrot play stands and playgrounds for this story. To make sure the best features were considered, she also consulted Shannon Kramer, founder of Birds and Beaks Rescue & Rehab in Battle Creek, Michigan, for her wisdom and expertise on the subject.