My 5 year old daughters are very happy with their new Critter Packs. It's roomy with lots of pockets. It feels sturdy. They will be using it mostly as carry on luggage for the plane. I can not comment on durability, as we have not yet used it that much.
This is my second rolling critters backpack for my 7 year old son, who has low muscle tone and decreased strength in his fingers. Rolling an unstable backpack with cheap wheels and flimsy stalk/handle is difficult for neuro-typical children, but even more difficult for children with any sensory, balance, or gross motor needs. Such is not the case with the LL Bean Rolling Critter Pack!
This rolling backpack is perfect for a young child of short to average height before the 3rd grade level, mainly due to compartment size within the backpack AND stalk/handle height. My son is 49.5 inches tall, 7years old -- he is on the 75% in height. This pack works well for children his size and smaller. It rolls very smoothly, has many deep pockets, and does have a sturdy hook on the back to hang at school. HOWEVER, the backpack is heavy. THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM FOR MOST CHILDREN whose parents heed the advice of modernized pediatricians, orthopedic surgeons, and physical therapists regarding limiting the use of backpacks in young children with developing musculo-skeletal systems. This rolling backpack allows my son to walk many places without feeling too fatigued and has cute critters on the fabric that make it enticing for young (pre-3rd grade) children. The wheels do light up for us -- They do work on kinetic energy and not batteries, in case anyone was worried about battery-use. LL Bean has a wonderful return policy, and they did exchange our backpack when the rubber backing started to come off. It was a fluke, just defective, but the newest backpack has held up so well. All in all, I'm very impressed with this backpack for Kindergarten to 2nd graders.
I bought this rolling backpack 4 years ago for my son who is on 2nd grade. I thought it was a little bit expensive then but, I love the blue color and my son loves the gecko logo. It was worth the money after all because now he is on 6th grade and he is still using it. I'm buying another one for him but the other kind just the rolling backpack. All I can say is that it is worth every penny it really last for a long time.
My daughter loved her backpack. She got it in first grade. Once she hit second grade and had to carry 2 books every day the backpack became too heavy. She had trouble getting it on the bus. She also is very small. Our problem with the backpack is the straps. It's not realistic for the kids to unhook the straps when using the rolling feature and then hook them back on when they need to carry them on the bus or up to the second floor. So we tried our best to tuck them in the back so that they didn't hang on the ground. Well, week 2 of school one strap broke and week 3 the other strap broke. It was a huge disappointment. She isn't rough with her things they just dragged on the ground. I have to say her wheels always lit up. The size also worked for her.
