My cats have a lot of toys. I had a cat that I had taken in as a feral adult, and she would make very good use of the toys, even putting them away when she was done. Every now and then, she would gather up every toy in the house and put them in one place. This include pens that she stole off my desk and anything else that struck her fancy, however. Unfortunately, she is no longer with me. She lived to be twenty-two and was playful to the end.
I have two twenty-six year olds, and they don't do a lot of playing with toys. One of them uses them as props, though. She will bring me a toy and meow in order to get my attention. Then she will ask for whatever it is that she wants. She might get into her box if she wants me to slide her around the room or fly her through the air in the box. Or she might get me to follow her if she wants to go out, if she wants more food, or if the water bowl is empty, simply by leading me to whatever it is that she needs. Sometimes, it's clear that she hadn't really decided what it was that she wanted before she got my attention. She will look at her box, decide no, that's not what she wants. Then if I follow her, I can see that she's trying to decide on something.
Our three year old is very playful, but she doesn't make a lot of use of the toys that we have around. She loves Da Bird and isn't impressed with any of the knock offs. She'll get excited when I take out the toy, then simply walk away if it's not Da Bird.
Her favorite toys, and pretty much the only ones she will play with by herself, are plastic bottle caps, like from a water or milk bottle. She will bat them all over the room, and sometimes carry them to the stairs where she will throw a cap down and chase after it, then carry it back up the stairs again.
She's got balls that she can spin around a circle. She has things that she can bat at, and they'll pop right back up. She's got any number of toys, but she'd rather have a bottle cap. She's more thrilled with boxes than she is with anything that might have come in them. If something comes in a large box, I can cut flaps and windows in it and she will spend hours in her new fort. After she tires of it, I can compost it.
