I use them to wind strings of beads or ribbons on,( or bits of fancy stuff like that). I sometimes put them into wall hangings in decorative manner and the rest go to the local kindergarten so that they can string them or count them or use them in craft.
When I was a child my father made French knitting tools out of them for us to play with. He also used to attach them to all of the doors in the house at our height so that we could use them as a door handle.