Try a metal tape measure! Pull it out, wag it around (scratching your hardwood floors, for sure . . . . . . don't tell my husband) and then retract it . . . that is the new, novel toy according to my kitties.

Seems like the most ordinary, household items hold more interest than the store-bought ones.

I took a heavy-duty, made for workboots type of shoelace and attached a twisted, bent-up pipe cleaner to it. They liked it well enough, but I never would have thought that the cats now prefer the plain end with nothing attached, being dragged around for them to stalk and pouce upon!