My hamsters usually have about 15 minutes of out of cage time where I'll put them in the playbins which are furnished with climbing toys, a wheel, tubes, a sand bath and a water bottle. I'll often hide treats in amongst the toys too so that they can have fun finding them.
Alternatively, I may spend time encouraging them through an agility type course if I want to really interact whilst they're exploring and this is often the time that I'll do any taming if it's needed.
As they're Chinese, it wouldn't be practical to allow them to free roam in a room although Jessie tried once (she climbed out of a box that I thought she couldn't).
