Where to Find ... Quality Binoculars for a Child?

[lizzywednesday]

DD is 4 years old and can be careful with her things, but is mostly rough-and-tumble.

She is OBSESSED with the Doc McStuffins "meteor shower" episode (http://www.tv.com/shows/doc-mcstuffins/arcade-escapade-starry-starry-night-2429452/) ... and, well, she may or may not be able to stay up for the Perseids this summer, but I'd like to be prepared.

I started looking on Amazon, but figured I'd tap into the collective experience of the BBB for recommendations.

They need to be good quality, easy to use, and compact, but not necessarily "for kids."

If possible, I'd like to keep the cost at $25 or under.

Do such things exist?

[YouAreTheFocus]

My DS is 4, and is also into binoculars due to various influences :) He has a pair that were DH's when he was little, as part of his tool drawer. So I can't steer you towards a current, quality item.

However, I did want to share that we were recently at Monterey Bay Aquarium, searching for otters in the bay, and several of the guides told us that kids DS's age can't really see with binoculars (or at best it is very difficult for them). Something to do with eye/pupil development. My DS loves his binoculars, but we have no clue what they do for him!

[Snow mom]

I was with you until you said $25 or under. At that price point it's really kids binoculars (and those things are TERRIBLE). My DD is a little birder and we are just now looking at getting her a pair of nice binoculars. She can finally use them at 5.5 years to find and observe things but all the pairs we have are too heavy. For kids you want lower magnification (easier to find what you are looking for in a larger field of view) and smaller objective lens. This is written as something like 8x35 (magnification power x objective lens size in mm). The ones DD has been using are 8x42 and that is too big to be comfortable for her.

[newnana]

For someone experienced, these are probably garbage, but we got something like this for DD when she was your DD's age: http://www.amazon.com/BUSHNELL-POWERVIEW-COMPACT-BINOCULARS-10x32mm/dp/B000083JEZ/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1396912868&sr=8-7&keywords=bushnell+binoculars

We paid about $10 for them at Wal-Mart. That was years ago and she is still very into them and uses them all the time. They aren't bad and will serve the purpose.

What we like about them is that they are easy for her to fold down to her eye size, but not so easy that she has to hold them there once they are right.

As much as I don't love Wal-Mart, it was perfect for us for this. They are in the sporting goods section near fishing type stuff.
Have fun!

[nomnom]

We got a pair at a children's museum that are sturdy and functional for about $15 iirc.