Category: News

May is National Foster Care Month, and the Marine Toys for Tots Program is expanding its support beyond the holiday season to deliver emotional comfort and gifts to children living in Foster Care. The Program’s initiative, Champions for Those in Foster Care, will provide toys, books, and other gifts to be distributed to foster care children through local organizations across the country. “These children leave their homes with only a small plastic bag of their belongings. Marine Toys for Tots wants to give foster care children not only something tangible to take with them as they move, but also some tools and hope for a brighter tomorrow,” said LtGen Jim Laster, CEO of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.

“We are pleased with our year-to-date performance as we close the first quarter,” said Stephen Berman, JAKKS Pacific Inc.’s Chairman and CEO, “and are excited about the possibilities for the remainder of the year. We shipped over $100 million worth of product in Q1 for the second consecutive year and it is the first time we’ve done that in back-to-back years since 2009. We have challenging revenue comparisons all year, but our significant gross margin improvement lessened the impact in the first quarter. Our Q1 gross profit dollars haven’t been this high since 2015. We managed inventory down further and eliminated most of our temporary warehouse capacity. And, as we previously disclosed, earlier in the quarter we paid down our long-term debt to less than $30 million.

From exploring emotions through games to practicing empathy, the new “Emotional Wellness Playbook” from The Genius of Play, The Toy Association’s nonprofit initiative dedicated to helping parents raise healthy and happy kids through play, offers a curated collection of play-based activities that teach kids how to express their feelings in healthy ways while having fun. Developed in partnership with recognized mental health expert, Starr Therapy Founder, and Certified Holistic Health Coach Talia Filippelli, The Genius of Play’s new resource for parents and educators is launching just in time for Mental Health Awareness Month this May, when mental health advocates will be sparking conversations about reducing the stigma around mental health. The digital playbook features 12 play ideas for kids ages 3+ that effectively tackle the five key components of emotional intelligence: emotional self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

Unstructured outdoor playtime among kids is drastically declining. A 2022 study by Child Mind Institute reports that the average American child spent only 4-7 minutes per day playing outside, and more than 7 hours per day in front of a screen – despite nearly endless proven benefits that the outdoors can provide kids’ physical and mental health. Now, Schwinn, a brand of Pacific Cycle, Inc, aims to combat this concerning trend by announcing ‘Let’s Play Bikes,’ a new campaign designed to support parents and caregivers in getting kids back outside and off their devices.