My son love anything that has to do with bugs, dirt or rocks and loves “exploring” the backyard. Backyard Safari Outfitters is a good fit for him and he loves it! I was given a wonderful opportunity to work with Backyard Safari Outfitters on a review and we were sent quite a few different things to try out. I can send him outside to play for hours!
Most, if not all of these products’ age recommendations are for ages 6 years and older but our youngest (almost 3 year old son) loves to go out and play with his brother. They both really love the Base Camp! Also (not shown above), we also received two Backyard Safari Outfitters cargo safari hats which look really cute on them! They are great too because the sides can be buttoned up and they have a chin strap that can be raised or lowered. I love these hats because they also shield there faces from the sun.
The Field Tools are really cool and they all come attached to a clip that can be clipped on to a belt or even the Cargo Vest that is sold separately. There’s a probe, grab, brush, pick, tweezers and a little trough. My son likes to dig up little holes to find rocks and things and will take his time to brush off and clean the rocks he has found. He keeps telling me that he is going to find dinosaur bones eventually.
He thinks the Dual Vision Night Optics are really cool. The middle of them has a switch and he can switch it one way to turn on the white LED lights and use them as a flashlight, or the other way to turn on the red LED lights for night vision. The red light makes it easier to see things in the dark and we found them to work pretty well. The other thing about them that we think is really cool is that there is also a button on the top of them that you can press to actually signal with the white LEDs! According to him, the glasses are comfortable to wear but sometimes he has to hold them on his face or push them back on his face if he is looking straight down. He’s only 6 and he is a little small faced though.
The Field Binocs are a lot of fun to play with too. They have a 5 x 30 power which makes things appear really close. I tried them out myself. Standing about 20-25 feet away from my refrigerator, I could make out most of the words on the bottle of cleaning stuff we had on top of it. They are really clear too and they don’t seem to get “fuzzy”. They are adjustable and our son loves that he can wear them around his neck so that they are always handy. We have a cornfield across the road and we see deer out there all the time. I was excited that the last time we saw deer out there, he could actually see them!
The Storm Chaser Mobile Weather Pod is really neat. At first we couldn’t get it to start working because we didn’t see the instructions at first. There is a way to reset it (it saves the highest and lowest temp) so it had something to do with that. We got it all figured out though. The controls are simple to use. There is also a compass on it so that you can find true north and then fold out the arms so any wind blowing will move them recording the wind speed. There is a cup at the bottom that comes off that can be used to collect rainwater to measure the rainfall. He thought that was pretty neat to see when we left the cup out in the rain so he can check when it stopped. We found it to be pretty accurate too. I find it to be pretty educational as well and the weather vane also points in the direction the wind is blowing.
The Base Camp Expedition is a base camp shelter kind of like a cabana. It’s really easy to set up which is a big deal to me, that way I don’t have to go out there and set it up every time they want to play with it. After I had shown our son how to set it up, he doesn’t have a problem doing it himself. Taking it down can be a little tricky for him though. It comes with three collapsible poles. All you do is simply put the poles together and the longest pole goes through the insert across the front of it and down the sides. The other two poles are inserted in the back and goes under the other pole and inserted in the top to form the awning and roof. The reason I say that taking it down is a little tricky for him is that he keeps forgetting that if he pulls the poles out instead of pushing them all the way through, the pole sections become un-attached inside the area where they are inserted. It makes it a little more difficult to get them out if they are pulled and not pushed through. It even states that in the instructions.
The plastic pieces that the poles are inserted into at the bottom has two holes on each one. The poles go in one of them. I was confused at first because I couldn’t figure out why they were there until I read that they are there so you can use tent stakes (which are not included) to secure it to the ground. We have some extra tent stakes and if you have them, I would recommend using them especially on windy days. The Base Camp is over 40 inches and can sit 3-4 kids in it so it has plenty of room. It also comes with a battery powered lantern which both our boys love! There are D-links attached to the roof of it so they can attach the lantern to the roof along with other tools they have. There is also a mesh pocket area to store other tools too and a little window in the back!
He LOVES Backyard Safari Outfitters. He really enjoys being out in the yard exploring and excavating. Some of these products or toys come with a real patch that can be ironed on and he kept asking me for the Cargo Vest which I am going to get him to go with the rest of his gear and iron on his patches. Another thing that I find really neat is that some of them also come with a pop up field guide. When he opens them up, everything pops open like a pop up book and has all kinds of information about all kinds of things. The Weather Pod came with one and it has all kinds of information about different kinds of storms.
My final opinion of Backyard Safari Outfitters? I think it’s great. I think it’s wonderful that my kids can go out in the yard and discover all kinds of things. I can tell you, it’s really exciting for a 6 year old. I didn’t even think there was much to discover in our backyard! I love how it gives them the chance to explore hands on, promotes creative play and is also educational! Two thumbs up from this mom!
Buy It: Visit Backyard Safari Outfitters to buy yours. Prices vary from $39.99 for the Base Camp all the way down to around $5.99. Most of the toys average $10 to $20. You can get Backyard Safari Outfitters at stores such as Walmart, Target, and Kohls. You can also buy online. Visit their website for more details on where to buy.
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The product(s) was sent to me for free by the company for my use and review. I was not paid to write my review and my opinions are honest and 100% my own although they may differ from others.
