I'm on an e-mail list for people owned by parrots (not just Quakers) and I've done other research and the consensus seems to be that you have to give your bird all sorts of stimulation beyond toys and playing with him or you're not doing right by him.

Clyde is manifestly NOT interested in such things as playstands. He plays with toys when left to his own devices in or on his cage, but if he's out of his cage, generally speaking, he wants to play with US. He'll fly to us if we don't come and get him, and if I walk by without picking him up, he holds up his little foot and sort of waves it at me, waiting for me to pick him up. Of course, I can't resist that. However, being a worrywart, I'm afraid that giving him toys and carrying him around the house and spending evenings sitting on the couch playing with him or serving as a human playstand isn't enough. I'm happy enough with this state of affairs. I WANT to hang out with him as much as I can. But I want HIM to be happy, too. He seems happy with things the way they are. He doesn't pluck or squawk or act bored. Does he need a playstand? He has shelves around the top of the dining room and a ladder to get up there if he wants to go up there and wander around, but he doesn't. He has a fake fig tree and sometimes he yanks the leaves off and drops them but he doesn't want to sit on it. He rejected the playstand I got for him (I'm hoping Bonnie will eventually decide she likes it, so it isn't just gathering dust -- she got a couple of his other rejected toys and likes those).

What do you think?

Play tops can be a total waist of money because they can encourage your bird to pull away from you and spend more time on the play top then with you and become aggressive with you. This is VERY true of quakers, not all but many. It is also true of the larger species of birds.

I recommend never getting or adding anything higher then shoulder level, even the cage if you can. Some birds have to be in large cages so this is not possible, for all birds to be shoulder level or lower.

I had to take all things down that were higher then Booger and Boo until they learned to trust me and that when I called they would come with out hesitation. Then I added bunches of things that hung from the ceiling, which I wish I has now for Popeye my CAG, but I gave up my rescue and all the toys, ropes, boings, play stations. It was by all means the best thing I did for those two birds.

My birds do not even like their playtop. I don't know why. I have tried to encourage them but they will not get on it unless I make them. Then they are OK to sit up there for a while, but they'd rather be somewhere else.

My playtop comes off the cage top. I have it sitting on a counter across the way from the cage. Coby is on the playtop half the day, it is at my shoulder level when I'm sitting in my chair. His favorite place is on top of the cage. It's also the only place that he won't usually come to me when I say "c'mere" to him. He has yet to be aggressive towards me at all. I pick him up several times a day and he flock calls when I leave the room, so sometimes I take him with me.

Ekko's cage is a dome top that he loves playing on top of. SO..I decided to get him a playtop cage to put in the family room so I wouldn't have to move his cage back and forth and it would give him a new area to explore, the playtop and the cage itself. He HATED the playtop part! He had a very hard time getting up there...I had to arrange and rearrange rope perches to get it so he was able to get on top easily. Once up there he climbed the lader to the perch and sat there looking miserable....he didn't play at all. I finally sold it to my neighbor and her Alexandrine is happily living in it...tho to be honest I have never seen her on the playtop either.
Ekko does have a playstand my husband and I built...he LOVES it. He spends a good amount of his day playing on it....when he isn't on the top of or in his cage.
The idea of playstands to me is a way to add variety to Ekko's life. He can go to and from it when he chooses. When he is tired of playing alone he lets me know its time for one of our many sessions of "tickles" or 'gonna get your toes/nose' games, which always end up with lots of cuddling.
Each bird is different....as long as he and you are happy and he is able to entertain himself when you can't be with him I don't see where he HAS to have a playgym.
You can always leave the playstand close enough he could get on it if he so chose to...one day he may decide he does like it. Then again maybe not! Not much help am I??
How old is Clyde?

I have no idea how old he is and I'm not even sure he's a male -- we say "he" for convenience and based on his flirting behavior, which is more boy than girl. Clyde is a rescue who turned up in the yard and adopted us, and no one ever claimed him, so we know nothing about him except what we can surmise from his behavior.

His cage sits on the dining room table and as a result, the top is higher than both our heads, but he steps up readily from there. We don't have any issues with aggression or anything. I just wondered if it would be better for him to have someplace to hang out other than on his cage or on one of us, though his clear preference is to hang out on us, and he prefers a hand or lap to the shoulder these days. I wish he'd sit on my shoulder more so I could use my hands! I actually have to urge him to sit on my shoulder so I can make a cup of coffee and he grumbles about it. He used to PREFER my shoulder.

He has toys on the outside of his cage and he has the ladder AND a ramp to climb up on the shelves around the dining room ceiling if he wants to, and a swing hanging from one of those shelves, and he's just not interested. Sometimes he walks up the ladder but he doesn't go all the way up. I think maybe I'M his playstand.

I use a portable playstand that is usually beside me or I place on top of their cage for playtime. I like them to be able to play on their own with out having to be in their cage or on me. All of my birds enjoy playing on it and take turns with it. If I don't put it on their cage I place it in a kitty litter box with newspaper on the bottom and that makes it portable to take it to another room with me too. Anyway, its made out of a wooden dish rack and then has toys attached using plastic cable toys, with wooden spoons for perches. They enjoy chewing on it as much as playing with the toys. I buy the racks at Big Lots or WalMart for about $8. Here are some pictures.

I feel small and portable is the way to go. Or if you have a larger bird large and portable.

I use pvc, 1/2 inch I think elbow joints with three joints that will allow the pipe to fit in, T's as support and to help build it taller for my gray. When I get to the second level I increase the size of the pvc to 1 inch and the third teir if there is one 1 1/2 inches and so on. I use Vet wrap on it to allow the bird to hold on with out slipping. I also vet wrap the Pvc that goes horizontal (Up and down) It's a little more expensive then NCVON's but it's so much more fun to put together and oh to see the joy on the birds face (haha) the first time he see's it.

PVC is also great for making dog agility course items- Pm me and ask about what can be made for dog agility corse with PVC if you want to know and don't already.