The Lowly Stick Inducted Into Toy Hall Of Fame

What was your favourite toy when you were a kid? Maybe it was a doll or one of those Tonka trucks.

Or maybe it was something a lot simpler that didn’t cost your parents a dime and came without any fancy and expensive accessories or instructions.

Like a stick.

Yes a stick.

The lowly piece of wood beloved by children and dogs has become a star in its own right, after its inauguration into the National Toy Hall of Fame. The museum dedicated to all things play-filled and playful inducted the grows-on-trees icon into its hallowed collection on Thursday, along with the Baby Doll and the skateboard.

They joined 38 other classics of childhood, including Mr. Potato Head, the bicycle, the kite, marbles and Crayola Crayons as symbols of growing up in North America.

Those are all products you can buy but the stick is a cheap alternative that can be found anywhere. It joins the cardboard box as an unusual honouree, testimony to what a little imagination can provide for a kid.

“It’s very open-ended, all-natural, the perfect price – there aren’t any rules or instructions for its use,” points out curator Christopher Bensch. “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 Baby Doll was included because of its realistic features and the many innovations it’s undergone. Over the years, technology has allowed it to crawl, speak, cry, eat and yes, wet itself. 

“It is generally thought of as lovable and cuddly, even if it can doze off or cry during play,” associate curator Susan Asbury outlines. “Toy designers have spent decades making it ever more lifelike and true to form. … It promotes imaginative play and brings out the nurturing side in all of us.”

Few things have undergone as much change in status as the skateboard, which has become a marvel of modern design, and a far cry from the wooden conveyance kids propelled themselves to school with back in the days of “Leave It To Beaver.”

To qualify, a toy must have universal recognition and encourage creativity through play while remaining popular throughout the generations.

Which is why of all the additions, it’s the stick that’s getting the most attention. Despite its wooden expression, the experts have finally twigged to how special it can be. “This toy is so fantastic that it’s not just for humans anymore,” praises Bensch. “You can find otters, chimps and dogs – especially dogs – playing with it.”

Because in the end, it’s not how much something costs but what it can become in a child’s mind that matters. And as Shakespeare might have said about a toy museum located in the Hamlet of Rochester, N.Y., in the end, “the ‘plays’ the thing.”

That’s one legacy that might just ‘stick.’

Other toys in the Hall of Fame:

Alphabet Blocks,
Atari 2600 Game System,
Barbie,
Baby Doll,
Bicycle,
Candy Land,
Cardboard Box,
Checkers,
Crayola Crayons,
Duncan Yo-Yo,
Easy-Bake Oven,
Erector Set,
Etch A Sketch,
Frisbee,
G.I. JoeT,
Hula Hoop,
Jack-in-the-Box,
Jacks,
Jigsaw Puzzle,
Jump Rope,
Kite,
LEGO,
Lincoln Logs,
Lionel Trains,
Marbles,
Monopoly,
Mr. Potato Head,
Play-Doh,
Radio Flyer Wagon,
Raggedy Ann & Andy,
Rocking Horse,
Roller Skates,
Scrabble,
Silly Putty,
Skateboard,
Slinky,
Stick,
Teddy Bear,
Tinkertoy,
Tonka Trucks
View-Master.

For the history of all these amazing icons, click here.

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