Sunday, November 9, 2008

A Toy Gun, A Galloping Horse or a Magic Wand...


This list goes on and on but finally, the Toy Hall of Fame has finally gotten the bigger picture and inducted the toy that has long been a given to every kid growing up...

Whether it was a royal scepter, a fishing rod or a baseball bat, the lowly stick landed in the National Toy Hall of Fame this week and I can only say - it's about time!

Curators praised the stick and its all-purpose, no-cost, recreational qualities, noting its ability to serve either as raw material or an appendage transformed in myriad ways by a child's creativity. "It's very open-ended, all-natural, the perfect price — there aren't any rules or instructions for its use," said Christopher Bensch, the museum's curator of collections. "It can be a Wild West horse, a medieval knight's sword, a boat on a stream or a slingshot with a rubber band. ... No snowman is complete without a couple of stick arms, and every campfire needs a stick for toasting marshmallows.

The criterion for getting into the hall is first and formost: longevity. Each toy must not only be widely recognized and foster learning, creativity or discovery through play, but also endure in popularity over generations.

So, congrats and a toast to THE STICK!

I haven't been this happy since 2005, when the cardboard box was inducted. ♥

4 comments:

Janelle Willis Hurt said...

Cookie, My Papaw owned several furniture stores, so when we were little, we got GIANT cardboard boxes to make playhouses out of...kids today just miss out on so much fun by having to use their imagination!
My cardboard house got homemade curtains, and I decorated the walls with my drawings.
We used smaller boxes to make houses for Barbie and her friends, and also furniture for them...
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the days of make believe...they were great weren't they?

Janelle

Tina said...

That's so funny because my hubby used to tell my kids that all he needed for toy growing up was a box, a rock, and a stick and he was set.
T

Countryfolk Keepsakes said...

Let this be a lesson to all who stroll down the isles at Toys-R-Us with a cartful of "stuff."
Kids are happy with the simplest of things and if it breaks, there's a whole treeful of replacements.
Thanks for the smiles Goob! :> )
~Peanut
P.S.
As I kid, I was in my glory whenever we got a new large appliance. That box made the best house! (Daddy always cut out my windows for me)

tattered 'n torn prims said...

What about the neighbor lady who could turn a stick into a "switch" and crack her kids with it????? tee hee hee.....I'm pretty sure this induction would put those kids into the fetal possition!!! LOL!!!

Thanks for the chuckles!!