What is it about sticks? We spend so much money on expensive plastics but there’s a totally free and brilliant toy just waiting to be discovered. You don’t even have to go to the park, you can find them anywhere.
The most adaptable toy of all?
Anyone whose spent any time near trees with a small (or big) child knows that sticks have a magnetic quality. Here’s something you can pick up, move about, throw away, or break into bits and no one is going to get cross with you for it. You don’t need money or parental permission. The only question is, can you find the best one?
Parents probably all know the tears that come when you tell them their 2 metre long new addition is not going to fit in the car. But it was really fun while it lasted. If they do find one that can be brought home the fun is just beginning. A stick can be written on, carved, dressed up or moulded as required. You can throw it, flip it, bury it, have a sword fight or lodge it in a nearby tree. You can give it a name and if you take it places it will help with stuff. Like making marks on the sand; or digging for treasure; or knocking the sycamore helicopters off a tree.
We have two pet sticks currently, Crocky and Flip Stick. These are their stories:
Crocky
Crocky is a gift from the 365 day nature play challenge. Back in January 2025 we were hanging around in the local playing fields looking for a challenge for the day. We had started with an acorn and a smaller stick and were doing throwing competitions when B found it. It was clearly a superior stick. It threw very well and could turn in the air if you threw it the right way. A bit green from lying on the grass for a while, we adopted it and took it home.
On the way home it showed it’s versatility by being in turns the tail of many different animals, a walking stick and a stick to chase mummy’s with.
When we got home I had a go at carving 342 on it to mark the challenge number. Then it stayed in the corner of the kitchen and was ignored, until a couple of weeks later.
We were at a loose end again and I picked it out and wondered if I could improve it a bit. The end of the stick looked a bit like a crocodile and I had a go with the carving knife to see if I could enhance that. It worked. It now had a name: Crocky. Not only brilliant at stick things, it was also good at pulling the rope for the tree pulley in it’s mouth.
It stayed up in the tree for quite a while just holding on.
Over the year of the challenge Crocky was very supportive. It was taken to treasure hunts to help retrieve clues and to the beach to draw in the sand. When it wasn’t needed it stayed in a corner of the kitchen and was a very low maintenance sort of pet indeed. The kitten, cat and rabbits could all learn a lot from it.
Flip Stick
Then, the following winter, we were hanging out at the local beach when we came across the perfect companion.
Shorter than Crocky, this stick’s surface was strangely soft and smooth. It had clearly been in the sea quite a while. A very satisfying shape and weight, it felt nice to hold. It opened into three prongs at one end and had a broad handle at the other. We took it with us.
On the way home through the park we found it was great for prodding things and pushing back brambles.
The smoothness of the wood fascinated us. It was a bit eery but there was NO WAY you’d get a splinter from it.
We worked out that it was perfectly balanced to throw in the air so it flips over 360 degrees before being caught again.
We called it the Flip Stick and it came home and joined Crocky in the kitchen.
Now regular members of the household, they’ve used as regularly as the welly boots or the hand warmers. We’ve learnt that if we take them out and about, they’re almost always helpful in some way. We have plans to carve more into them and, if we’re at a loose end, we think about other ways to decorate. I’m sure we’ll have them kicking around for a long time yet and we’re always on the look out for new friends for them.
So, if you’re heading outside with the kids this weekend why not go stick hunting? The prize for finding the best? Being the proud owner of one of the coolest bits of kit around.
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