Cats have different experiences with different toys and from those experiences seem to choose favorites. Olivia likes toys that she can carry around in her mouth and that skid nicely across a smooth floor. She generally carries toys to our entry way at the front door and she bats them around, slides and skids and has a blast all by herself—in her own little world.
Lily loved her large collection of stuffed animals, but 
she rare played with them. She simply carried them to me and dropped them at my feet. If she wanted to play, it was usually with a wand toy that I wriggled for her or a ball. She liked chasing and batting balls.
Sophie goes crazy for stuffed mice with tails. She tosses the mouse in the air by the tail and pounces on it over and over, then she’ll lay on it. Eventually the tail disappears.
What does not work for our cats are wands with toys at the end of a string. Sophie became tangled in one when she was a kitten. Being formerly feral and still skittish, it was a setback in her socializing process. She also eats ribbon and string, so she’s changed our way of gift wrapping and our choice of cat toys.
There are a lot of fun things you can make for your cats. I once made a cubby-tent for one of our cats who liked to tunnel. I’d seen one at a cat show and decided to make him one. While working on it, though, one of our other cat, Dinah, stayed by my side, watching and helping. As soon as it was finished she took it over. So I had to make two of them that day.
Here’s a site with some interesting toys and instructions as to how to make them. This site shows you how to make tantalizing toys from toilet paper rolls and catnip treat toys and even how to create useful and attractive scratching posts. Now that’s an interesting weekend project for you. https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Cat-Toys
