What do you look for when buying toys?

Both high- and low-tech toys have made the Canadian Toy Testing Council's list of favourite toys this year.

A foam Pyro Dragon from Bloco Toys Inc. perches on a table at the Hot Toys for the Holidays preview. (Evan Mitsui/CBC) The council's 2012 toy report includes 10 products that a team of 500 children deemed to be their favourites after playing with them for six to eight weeks.

Toddlers enjoyed riding on the Little Tikes Play 'n Scoot Pirate Ship, while board games were a hit with preschoolers.

For kids eight and up, the Snap Circuits Jr. electronics kit was fun and educational, and a Nerf foam dart launcher that can shoot up to 20 darts from a spinning barrel was a big hit.

And for that tween who's always hard to buy for, the council recommended a Mythbusters kit for building your own mini marshmallow launcher.

What do you look for when you're buying toys for the little ones? Let us know in the comments below.

Related: Which toy will be the hottest gift this holiday season?

With files from the Canadian Press.



(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)