The 5 best toys of all time...

File this under the heading "Blog ideas that I wish I had thought of first." But I didn't, so I'll just do what I always do and blatantly steal  shamelessly borrow  graciously credit Wired Magazine's GeekDad blog and writer Jonathan Liu for condensing the all-time great toy list down to the essential 5. Mr, Liu's take -

"All five should fit easily within any budget, and are appropriate for a wide age range so you get the most play out of each one. These are time-tested and kid-approved! And as a bonus, these five can be combined for extra-super-happy-fun-time." 

1. Stick
Almost, almost, the universal toy, sticks come in all sizes, from slender twigs to oof! can't pick this sucker up! Easily available everywhere, it's almost as if they grow on trees. And with such a wide variety of shapes and sizes, the right stick can become almost anything - as long as it's a weapon. Traditionally, a stick's primary use is for hitting something. And that something is anything that's within reach, including one's sibling if he or she is not smart enough to stay out of range.

Once hitting grows old, or becomes forbidden in this household, almost any stick can quickly become a gun, or a spear! Or a knife! Or, or, SWORDS! The possibilities are limited only by the child's imagination and the parents absence. And while it is true that more boys play with sticks than girls, I still have a mark where, in the 3rd grade, Ida Jo Waller stabbed me with a pencil, which is a stick in church clothes. That, by the way, is not the only scar given me by Ida Jo, but rocks did not make the list.

2. Box
The bigger the better! Sometimes you get really lucky and find a box that is so big there's almost no way to get it home. Almost, but where there's a will there's a way. And once you possess the box - any box - it can become a rocket ship, or an automobile, or a club house, or a cave, or a ship, or a table, or (usually unsuccessfully) a chair, or a castle, or, or... What can't you do with the right box? And cardboard boxes also incorporate the thrill of sneaking one of your mother's sharp (until you get hold of it) knives, so that you can cut portholes or windows. And other things. See? Right here on my left index finger. A scar that Ida Jo was not responsible for.

3.String
Another toy that comes in all sizes and infinite lengths. It can be used to connect other toys and small furry animals, though that didn't work well in my case. Or it's great to string between two tin cans to make a telephone. It's almost always associated with other objects of play, such as tops, or big buttons (to make them spin) or if it is of sufficient girth, tied around other playmates hands and feet. As mentioned, cat's tails are not recommended. Nor is the neck.

4. Cardboard tube
Also known as a "doot de doot" in its smaller sizes for the noise they make when you hum or sing into them.  The smaller ones can also become wonderful drum-like instruments that make a really neat, annoying bonking noise when you hit them on other things, such as other cardboard tubes, or your sibling's head. See number one, above. Believe it or not, Chet Atkins released a rock and roll song in the '50s called the "Boo Boo Stick Beat" that featured - cardboard tubes being hit together. Hey! I was a disk jockey then. I actually played the song on the radio!

Cardboard tubes, if large enough, assume the properties of an artificial stick. Flimsy tubes, such as those found in Christmas wrap make wonderful swords, in that it's really hard to significantly hurt one another with these. The downside is that after a few whacks they tend to break apart and return to ordinary strips of cardboard and are quickly abandoned. Occasionally, you find an industrial strength tube, and then you become the baddest dude on the block.

5. Dirt
Now we are talking the quintessential toy! Available anywhere, in infinite quantity and multiple consistencies, dirt comes in a rainbow of earth-tones. You can work with dirt in its dry state, but to really appreciate the stuff, you also need water. Digging holes is a wonderful dirt pastime. Filling them with water is even better. Sitting in water-filled holes you have just dug tops it all. Girls appreciate a good mud pie now and then, but if you are patient and get the consistency just right, you can used dirt as - that's right, a weapon! Push it around, pack it into any container, throw it up in the air, track it in the house, even eat a little of it. There's just no end to what you can do with dirt.

So, as you brave the malls and prepare to pepper-spray your fellow shoppers so that you can grab that last X-Box, give some thought that maybe, just maybe, you can't top the top five.