toy

The old kind are the best--ones where the toy is just a prop, and the real play happens in the mind of the player. Sure, your big, honking space fighter playset with the flashing LEDs and the automatic explosion sounds is cool right now, but what happens when you get bored of fighting exploding spaceships? Plain old wooden blocks (or their high-tech plastic cousins, the Legos) may be the best ever devised.