Not recently but as a kid: wooden blocks, LEGO, a pad of graph paper, a pad of blank paper, ruler, mechanical pencil. Ocassionally as an adult, the pads of pap

Not recently but as a kid: wooden blocks, LEGO, a pad of graph paper, a pad of blank paper, ruler, mechanical pencil. Ocassionally as an adult, the pads of paper and mechanical pencil are great for doodling. For kids, those items alone aren't the magic answer - it's raising them so that they'll be okay with just those items. I hope to have kids in the next couple of years, and they won't be given electronic pacifiers.