The Votes Are In: Children Pick Top Holiday Toys, Goddard Schools Announce Top 10 Toys of 2011 that Encourage Playful Learning

Are you shopping for a preschool-aged child this holiday season? Look no further! Children and educators from select Goddard Schools – leaders in early childhood education – have announced their top toy picks for infants through children six years old for the 2011 holiday shopping season. The Goddard School® Toy Test is the only national toy test designed exclusively for children in the preschool age range.

After a national call for submissions, Goddard educators and children evaluated entrants based on a number of criteria, including:

• Interactive, child-initiated play focus
• Creative, social or engaging
• Appropriate for infants through children six years of age

“Our play-based FLEX™ Learning Program focuses on the value of playful learning,” said Lisa Fisher, Communications Director at Goddard Systems, Inc. “We feel that our Top 10 Toys list will serve as a great resource for parents, grandparents and other family members as they enter the gift-giving season.”

Top 10 Preschooler-Approved Toys (in alphabetical order):

· Animal Sounds Hay Ride (Learning Curve)

· Bristle Block® Stackadoos® (B. Toys by Battat)

· Citiblocs Camouflage 100 Piece Set (CitiBlocs)

· Citiblocs Little Builders Rattle Blocs (CitiBlocs)

· Count Your Chickens!™ board game (Peaceable Kingdom)

· Elemenosqueeze (B. Toys by Battat)

· Hoot Owl Hoot! ™ board game (Peaceable Kingdom)

· Little Shopper Playset (Earlyears)

· Sassy® Sensory Ball Set (Sassy)

· Soft Chime Garden (Lamaze)

For more information on the Top 10 Preschooler-Approved Toys, visit www.goddardschools.com/toys.

ABOUT GODDARD SCHOOL

Recently named No. 1 Childcare Franchise in the United States by Entrepreneur magazine, for the tenth consecutive year (January 2011) and one of the Top 200 Franchise Systems (in worldwide sales), by Franchise Times, for the fourth consecutive year (October 2010); Goddard Systems, Inc. (GSI) is expanding The Goddard School® network throughout the United States. Headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, GSI currently licenses 370+ franchised schools with more than 45,000 students in 34 states. With a successful system in place and dedicated franchisees, GSI is the acknowledged leader in franchised childcare and a premier childcare provider in the United States.