Creativity Tips: Stick with the Classics

I had a friend who forbid her young son to play with guns. She wouldn't buy toy guns, wouldn't let other little boys bring them in the house, etc. Then, one day, she went outside to see what the kids were doing, and they were happily "shooting" each other. With sticks.

I was reminded of that story when the Strong National Museum of Play® recently inducted the stick into the National Toy Hall of Fame®.

"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."

Imagine that: No rules. No instructions. Now there's a creative approach worth trying -- at work and at home. No rules. No instructions. Just go!