While many of the toys inducted into the “National Toy Hall of Fame” are manufactured classics such as Mr Potato Head (2000) and the Etch-a-Sketch (1998), the Stick (2008), the Blanket (2011), and the Cardboard Box (2005) all have made the list.
“[Sticks] are the original building blocks for creative play. Sticks also promote free play—the freedom to invent and discover. They encourage playing outside instead of inside. Sticks are all around us; they are natural and free.”
“With nothing more than a little imagination, [cardboard] boxes can be transformed into forts or houses, spaceships or submarines, castles or caves. Inside a big cardboard box, a child is transported to a world of his or her own, one where anything is possible.”
After a long list of ways kids play with blankets, they conclude, “And best of all, blankets gave cover to legions of kids who read by flashlight long into the night.”