Backyard Safari Bug Vacuum - Review of a Great Educational Toy

Sadly, kids need to be encouraged to spend time outside these days. (Says the woman who also spends too much time inside at a desk!)

One of the easiest ways to get them to enjoy their backyard time is to give them something specific to do, an adventure, a quest.

The Backyard Safari Bug Vacuum can be a part of that, along with the rest of the Backyard Safari line of toys. (Teach them about the weather, birding and more with these toys.) I also love the idea of a bug vacuum when it's time for that ubiquitous bug project every elementary school child seems to have to do. Ugh! Still, a safe and easy way for them to collect those critters.

I recommend this particular bug vacuum because it has three power settings so you can tailor the amount of suction to the kind of insect, and it comes with a field guide to help in identifying your capture. (Check out a more detailed insect book to supplement if you live in a place with a lot of insect variety.) There are two capture sections so you can hold more than one insect at a time and a built-in magnifying glass so you can get a closer look at that critter!

Your child will be occupied for hours trying to find bugs to suck up and release. Best of all, kids learn more about the insect world and how to identify potentially dangerous ones while having the time of their lives.

So, you've been sucking up bugs of all kinds from all over with your Backyard Safari bug vacuum. What to do with the cool ones you'd really like to keep? (With mom's permission, of course!) A bucket or jar will work just fine for a few insects. But to build your own insect city, check out the Backyard Safari Bug Podz Habitat.

You can construct the habitat however you like, creating your own bug city. Each podz serves as a mini-habitat for the bugs with the tubes connecting them so they can travel from habitat to habitat. Add dirt, grass, leaves - whatever will help your insects make a home they will love. There's more than 50 pieces (that's a lot of bugs!) so you can create quite the bug city with this one. (I'll leave it up to you to decide just which insects should be habitating with which!)

Note that some people said the podz habitat didn't connect together very well, but the pieces are quite snug and your child probably won't be able to get them tight on their own. So make sure you double-check them before moving the habitat around or you might end up with more habitat than you wanted!

If you want to provide a bug home for just a few insects or for a fairly short time, check out the options below. Definitely the kind to have for more of a catch and release program.

As I was looking at bug vacuums, I wondered if the Backyard Safari bug vacuum really was the best one. It's not the cheapest (or the most expensive), but is it the best value?

So I took a look at the Toysmith Bug Vacuum Set because it was half the price and had the same average star rating, although more of its stars were lower than the Backyard Safari vacuum.

My first thought was that the Toysmith vacuum just doesn't look as cool. That's totally a personal preference of course, and your child might not care about the looks as much as being able to suck up bugs. The Toysmith has just two power settings, and many reviewers complained about the sucking power, saying low was worthless and they didn't think high was strong enough. However, their kids were still able to capture insects with no problems. (To be fair, the suction power on any of these isn't going to be near what you think of when you think vacuum. This isn't a replacement for your Dust Buster.)

The Toysmith vacuum also comes with an observation tube with a magnifying lid and a pair of tweezers for bug observation. Overall, if price is a concern, a young child will probably enjoy this one just as much as the Backyard Safari option. Older kids might need the Backyard Safari vacuum with its higher power and sturdier construction.