DIY Safari Bags & Easy Ideas for a Fun Backyard Safari

This shop and my ideas for a backyard safari have been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions and tiger sightings are mine alone. #FuelTheirAdventures #CollectiveBias

Bubbles has a lot of different interests, but one that hasn’t waned since she was even just a few months old is her interest in animals.  She’s curious about their habitats, what they eat, what they liked to do, and more.  So we read a lot of animal-themed books and then I try and come up with projects or activities to tie in to reinforce the learning (and fun).

One idea I came up with recently would be for us to have a backyard safari.  We don’t exactly have a savanna or jungle behind our house but I thought we could do a few fun things.  Here are some suggestions for your own backyard safari.

Backyard Safari Ideas

• Let kids dress the part!  Pick up (or DIY) a safari vest and hat and a pair of binoculars.  See if you can find animal-themed pins or stickers to further embellish their outfit, too.

• Stash some jungle animals in different areas around the backyard.  For example, we had a gecko sunning himself on the “rock”slide, a giraffe eating leaves in the savanna, an elephant sipping water next to the pond, etc.  Then let your kiddos break out their binoculars and go exploring for them.

• Make up some “adventuring” cards to give them.  Research a few fun facts about different animals (like tigers are great swimmers and giraffes can weigh as much as a pickup truck!) and talk about them together.

• Eat like an animal!  Serve up a platter of fruit for your little monkey fan, a salad of herbs and leafy greens to nosh like a zebra might, or a “buffalo” burger for your carnivorous tigers.
• Get crafty.  There are lots of fun animal crafts you can have your kids make, including animal masks, bookmarks, pompom creatures and more.

To pack up your jungle-themed lunch and snacks, I put together some cute DIY Safari Bags.  They’re easy to make and add an extra little touch of fun for your day.

DIY Safari Lunch Bags

Supplies:

• Brown paper lunch bags
• Animal-print scrapbook paper
• Scissors
• Tape or glue
• Animal tags or stickers (get my free printables below)

Tutorial:

1. Fold the top two or so inches of your bag down, like you’re closing it.
2. Cut a piece of scrapbook paper to match the size of the front of your lunch bag.
3. Cut a strip of the same paper about 1″ wide and long enough to run from just under your fold in the back, to the bottom of the bag.
4. Glue or tape each piece of paper to the bag.
5. Fill with your backyard safari lunch, like a banana, a Dannon® Danimals® smoothie, and a PB&J.
6. Close the bag and add one of the animal tags (click for my free printables: zebra, monkey, giraffe, lion).  You can print them out on sticker paper, too, if you’d like.  Add them to the back of the bag to close, the front of the bag, or both!

We had such a great time on our backyard safari.  Long after Bubbles had found all the animals that were hiding, she still wanted to search.  She was the safari “guide” and she helped me over the imaginary river of crocodiles, around some big rocks, through the jungle, and past the spider cave.

I found all the supplies I needed either at home or at Walmart.  When you’re there picking up the supplies you need, keep an eye out for the Cotton Candy/Strawberry Dannon® Danimals® that are a limited edition at Walmart.  Bubbles loves all the flavors she’s tried and we like them because they have Only the Good Stuff®.

No matter which flavor you choose be sure to get the collector’s edition packaging with the cute monkey athletes.  If you find the “Golden Bongo” bottle you can win a Play60 Field Day for your school with NFL pros!

Which Dannon® Danimals® will you pack for your backyard safari?