building in your backyard: stick-lets

We were sitting outside already, playing with sidewalk chalk and debating the finer points of Hopscotch, when the perfect summertime package arrived in the mail: a bag full of Stick-lets.

After showing her the Stick-lets booklet, Birdie immediately began telling me about her “secret stick stash”. We then went hunting all through our yard and the neighbors to find it. Luckily we found several stashes, though they weren’t necessarily hers! We tried to build a teepee, but our sticks were a bit bent. She tells me that’s ok, it will look great in a museum, because it’s a  “Masterpiece of Art”. What more could a momma want than that?! Stick-lets are a brand new building concept that takes one of the most common elements of nature and makes it buildable. It’s ingenious on several levels. First, of course, is the build-your-own approach. The flexible pieces accommodate all kinds of sticks and a kid’s endless imagination (there’s no right or wrong way to assemble them). It’s also extremely portable – a small muslin bag of stick-lets can come along on any play date ,to any park, or any campground. It encourages thrifty critical thinking: finding the sticks, then finding the right stick for the job, then figuring out how to build with them. The bright colors are a fun contrast to all the natural wood. Let’s face it, I’m in love. I’m certain you will be too.

Help support Stick-lets in their big Kickstarter campaign – it ends June 17th, so run over now and reserve your own set for the summer! Stick-lets provided samples for this review. All opinions are, as usual, my own.