My favorite toy when growing up was Legos. I could never have enough Legos and the great thing was that they pretty much last a lifetime. I still have some of my old Lego blocks from when I was young and I can still use them to build the occasional Lego "sculpture". They're also great for putting together simple stands for your electronic devices.

The other great thing about Legos is that you can continue to expand as your child grows older. There are kits with motors and small computers that let children build pretty elaborate robots.

Legos are a great investment and a really fun way to teach kids how to build things.