MONTREAL -- For parents have been banging their heads trying to keep little ones occupied during the lockdown brought on by the pandemic, and now with the holidays not so far away, the Protégez-Vous 2020 Toy Guide has lots of suggestions.

Like so many other aspects of life, COVID-19 also created a difficult environment for testing the toys that make it into the annual guide.

This year, instead of sending toys to families to test, experts at the consumer magazine narrowed down the selection, then found families who had already purchased the products and asked to review the items. More than 260 families, including the children, participated by filling out online questionnaires.

This year’s edition recommends more than 370 toys such as board and video games, books and other toys for toddlers to teenagers.

Protége-Vous says some of the games that stood out are the memory game Yokai for ages eight and up, Let’s Glow Bowling for toddlers and the two-player board game Watergate for 14-year-olds and older.

The Protégez-Vous 2020 Toy Guide will be in stores Friday or you can get a digital version at pv.ca/boutique

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2020