Email : lionlamb@lionlamb.org

Phone : (301) 654-3091
Fax : 301-654-2394

Washington, DC – Promoting family fun and togetherness in a holiday season rocked by turbulent world events is the focus of this year’s Top 20 toy list released today by The Lion & Lamb Project, a grassroots organization working to help parents find alternatives to violent toys and entertainment.

The toys featured on this year’s Top 20 list promote fun and creative play that will bring families together around the kitchen table or the living room floor, to play games, assemble puzzles, and create projects together. This year’s Dirty Dozen list, on the other hand, includes violent video games and toys that encourage violent behavior.

"This holiday season, it is more important than ever for families to spend time together, and to have fun together," said Daphne White, executive director of The Lion & Lamb Project. "Some have called it the ‘hug’ factor, and others call it a ‘nesting’ factor. Either way, concerned adults all over the country are searching for more family-friendly children’s gifts such as board games, open-ended rescue toys that allow children to create their own hero stories, and active toys that do not include violence."

After all the destruction that Americans have seen since September 11, many families now want to spend time together building and constructing new things. For this reason, the group has placed the Zome System Adventurer Kit, a 21st century construction set, on the Top 20 list. This construction set allows children to create challenging structures such as "shadows from the 4th dimension." Because families want to have fun together, the group also recommends several board games that produce lots of laughs, including Cranium Cadoo and Don’t Make Me Laugh, Jr.

Since children need to feel secure in their world, Lion & Lamb placed police and firefighter costumes for young children on the Top 20 list, as well as hand puppets that allow children to make up stories about everyday heroes. Other toys include everything from puzzles to collaborative board games.

This year’s Dirty Dozen list contains violent video games targeted at children, including hand-held video games misleadingly rated "E for Everyone" and other toys that promote violent behavior. Many of the toys on this list are aggressively marketed to younger children, who do not understand the difference between fantasy and reality.

"When parents buy a gift that promotes violent behavior, they are sending a message to their children," White says. "In this time, when Peace on Earth is more important than ever, we can take advantage of this opportunity to teach our children those values that we as adults cherish."

The Lion & Lamb Project is a grassroots effort working to help parents find alternatives to violent toys and entertainment. Founded by concerned parents, the group’s goal is to end the marketing of toys and entertainment products that promote violent behavior in children. The Lion & Lamb Project remains committed to working with the toy and entertainment industries to end the marketing of violence to children.