What kind of stuff can you see in a small recreational telescope

The Sun (with suitable filter), the Moon, double stars, variable stars, open star clusters, globular star clusters, diffuse nebulae, planetary nebulae, galaxies. In short, just about everything you can see in a large amateur telescope, though not as many objects, nor as easily seen. I've observed ALL of these in telescopes as small as 80mm aperture.

The moon looks very cool... you can see the phases of Venus, the Galilean moves of Jupiter, and the rings of Saturn.

Stars all pretty much look like points, but you might see the cloudy structure of the Orion nebula.

big stuff, small stuff, bright stuff, dim stuff... lots of stuff.

The Moon, not much else.

the moon and not much else