I really enjoyed this surprising and clever post by Jonathan Liu on the GeekDad blog. When I saw the headline I immediately started thinking of all the plastic toys in my house, and then saw #1: a stick.

This versatile toy is a real classic — chances are your great-great-grandparents played with one, and your kids have probably discovered it for themselves as well. It’s a required ingredient for Stickball, of course, but it’s so much more. Stick works really well as a poker, digger and reach-extender. It can also be combined with many other toys (both from this list and otherwise) to perform even more functions.

It’s really quite refreshing to think about the simple, non-commercial toys that are all around us, and Jonathan’s writeup is funny and engaging. Check it out!

Photo by Flickr user chefranden, Community Commons