Best cubicle toys for programming
I need some employee/co-worker Christmas gift ideas. Do you have any good cubicle toys that help you to do any of:

1. think about programming problems
2. solve programming problems by representing common abstractions
3. can be directly programmed
4. can interface with a PC based IDE to be programmed.

Disallowed items are:

1. reference material in book, pamphlet, poster or cheat-sheet form, even if it has kick ass pop-cultural references.
2. edibles. [discuss separately]
3. things that need their own lab-space and/or extensive tools to be worked with.

So yes, Lego Mindstorms come to mind, but they aren't cubicle toys because they cost more than cubicle toys would, and they have too many losable parts.
Best cubicle toys for programming
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I need some employee/co-worker Christmas gift ideas. Do you have any good cubicle toys that help you to do any of:

1. think about programming problems
2. solve programming problems by representing common abstractions
3. can be directly programmed
4. can interface with a PC based IDE to be programmed.

Disallowed items are:

1. reference material in book, pamphlet, poster or cheat-sheet form, even if it has kick ass pop-cultural references.
2. edibles. [discuss separately]
3. things that need their own lab-space and/or extensive tools to be worked with.

So yes, Lego Mindstorms come to mind, but they aren't cubicle toys because they cost more than cubicle toys would, and they have too many losable parts.