Backyard Safari Outfitters Offers Outdoor Fun for all Ages!

My boys are outside – all the time.  They come into the house at least twice a day, covered in dirt, excited to tell me about their adventures.  I don’t mind the extra laundry; I’m happy to see them exploring and learning (and out of my house for awhile.)

The new line of toys from Backyard Safari Outfitters is exactly what my family needed for some fun time outdoors.  We reviewed a Mega View Periscope, the Bug Vacuum, and a Caro Vest.  Here is what we enjoyed about each.

First of all, the vest was perfect.  I have a 5-year-old who is always outside, looking through his tiny binoculars and marking off birds that he sees in his bird book.  The vest had several nice-sized and sturdy pockets for storing the binoculars, a pen, and any other “treasures” that my son finds while playing outdoors.  As a mom who is forever doing laundry, I appreciate this little product.  With him stashing items like worms, dirt, and rocks in his vest pockets, I no longer find them in the gasket of my front loading washer when I forget to check his pants pockets!

The Bug Vacuum was played with for days when we first got it.  It worked OK to capture bugs (there are various strength setting for the vacuum suction, but none were too powerful as to accidentally suck anything up you didn’t want to.)  It got ants, a few large ladybugs, and a spider.  It didn’t work so well to capture flying bugs.  Once inside, however, the bugs could be viewed through a magnifying glass that was built right in.  As one could guess, when the allure of using the Vacuum for capturing bugs wore off (and the heat index rose too high to allow the boys to play safely outside), they used the vacuum as another “gun” in their collection and to pretend to shoot one another.  Go figure!


Finally, the periscope was our least favorite, but still a pretty good toy.  It opens easily, but doesn’t stay open on its own.  This means that you have to use it the right way (looking under water with it, as compare to over something), or it collapses under its own weight.  The bracket that holds it closed broke immediately after getting it, but we found we really had no use for the bracket – so it wasn’t a big deal.  This is a good toy for around the pool, however, as it does work, the mirrors are of high quality, and it is pretty much unbreakable (which makes it safe for even younger kids.)  I think the boys will get more use for it when we start swimming next month!

To see the entire line of products, visit their website at www.summittoy.com or follow them on Twitter or Facebook!


*Samples of the toys were received to facilitate a review on behalf of Team Mom.  All opinions are my own.

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