If you like retro toys and look for toys with real play value, then a Melissa and Doug stick pony is exactly what you need. I’m always watching how parents choose toys. If you frequent the toys stores, as most parents do, you’ll notice that many parents are completely absorbed looking at and reading the complicated instructions that come with so many toys these days.

When confronted with something as simple as a stick horse, they pick it up, shrug and move on. In reality, anything that comes with few instructions is the best toy for imaginative play. Without a back story so common in anything based on a TV show or movie and without electronic parts, simple toys let children figure out what to do with them.

Stick horse are great because they can play a part in so many different stories. Young knight one day, cowboy the next, a favored steed plays the part. Stick horses can be stabled or ridden or fed or turned into elephants or even motorcycle for a truly imaginative child.

This is a toy that will take a child through the toddler and preschool years and even be ridden fondly on occasion as the child enters school age years..