Are you planning a road trip with kids or grandkids this year?

We’ve road tripped with our kids on short trips and long trips, in a Toyota Camry, a Honda CR-V, with a travel trailer, and in a class C RV. Each experience has had its pros and cons, high points and low points. We definitely prefer road trips with the RV or trailer, and there are some things that make the experience go smoother.

Here’s some things we’ve learned while road tripping with kiddos in an RV:

1. Pack light

Many RVs and travel trailers have limited space, but it can still be tempting to bring all the things, especially when you’re bringing kids. This is a bad idea on several fronts. Too much stuff can overload the RV or trailer, causing driving or towing issues. It can also make it difficult to find what you need when you need it, or you could always be tripping over bins or bags of stuff.

• Our very first road trip in a travel trailer was 5 weeks long (go big, or go home!). I totally over-packed clothes and food, much of which never got used on that trip. I learned my lesson, and have been much more minimalist in my packing ever since.

When packing your gear, clothing, and food, consider the places you’ll go. Fancy restaurants or lots of hiking, hanging out at the beach all day or exploring museums in the city. Try to pack things that you will actually use.

That said, rain gear and jackets are a good idea, especially if you’ll be in the mountains. Check the average temperatures for the places you’ll go, but also some of the locations you’ll drive through. Ever stopped for gas in freezing rain while wearing shorts and sandals?

2. Be prepared to do laundry

Packing light means you’ll have to do laundry more often, so factor that into your travel plans. Many campgrounds have laundry rooms, but if you’re boondocking you’ll have to find a laundromat in town.

• I dislike doing laundry, so I have a hard time with this one, but it’s a necessary evil. On the other hand, more frequent laundry loads means we’re not hauling around lots of dirty laundry and we always have clean clothes to wear.

We bring a bin with laundry detergent and everything else we need, including quarters. This keeps us from paying exorbitant prices on detergent we don’t like from laundry room vending machines.

3. Organization is key

A place for everything and everything in its place. We feel like our RV has plenty of space, even for a 4 or 5 week road trip with 5 people, and it does, but it’s because we pack light and have a spot for everything.

But we still have to be organized as some of the cupboards are too large for how we want to use them, so we stack bins in them for clothes, games, and whatever else needs to go in there. Bins and baskets are key to keeping like items together and easier to find in the oddly sized cupboards found in many RVs.

4. Bring strategic entertainment options

I don’t believe that kiddos need to be entertained all the time. Boredom can be a good thing when you can shoo them outside to find something to do, but it can be a problem when they’re strapped into seats while road tripping. No one wants to be cooped up in a vehicle with a whiny child, or worse, multiple whiny children. So we do allow more screen time while driving and we bring books and toys for them to play with.

• While we bring a few toys and books for the littles, we don’t bring very many: one bin of duplo blocks, one bin of cars and trucks, and some books. They all fit in the same drawer under the dinette, making cleanup and containment easy and convenient. Sunshine’s responsible for bringing her own toys and books, and she has a designated space for them as well.

We also bring some movies and board games for evenings or rainy days, but we try to spend more time outside when we’re traveling so we don’t bring very many. This media player, combined with a thumb drive and an HDMI cord, makes it possible to bring a lot of movies and music without taking up much space.

If you’re bringing electronics to keep the kiddos occupied, don’t forget the inverter (we have this one and this one) to charge those electronics while you’re driving, or to run the TV while driving.

We also bring bikes and scooters for riding around campgrounds and local trails. If we will be near a lake or two, we bring kayaks as well (inflatable for the win! definitely a space saver).

5. Hookups vs boondocking

Boondocking is possible, even with kiddos along. They can be taught to conserve water when washing their hands, and unless they’re really dirty, don’t need to take a shower or bath every day. You are on vacation, after all.

I hate not starting the day with a shower, and even a super short one will be enough to wake me up and get me going for the day. If we’re short on water, we like body wipes, which are good for kids and adults. I know some full timers swim in a nearby lake or river instead of showering, but we’ve never tried that as a way to stay clean. Biodegradable soap would be a must if you go that route.

Showers at campgrounds are an option if you’re staying at campgrounds and can’t or don’t want to use your own shower.

Small children can be rinsed off together, optimizing water usage, and if they’re super dirty, we use the outdoor shower. This also saves room in the gray water tank. A large bin in the shower can be used as a make-shift tub for littles who need a bath.

• Our boys love baths, and we used a bin as a tub several times while on our last big road trip a year and a half ago. It only takes a couple inches of water to keep them happy. They can splash and play and get clean at the same time.

6. Figure out the sleeping arrangements

Bring a pack n play or pop up tent (like this Peapod) for the littlest littles. They take up floor space, but are easy to fold up and put away when not needed. They keep babies and toddlers from rolling off surfaces or wandering around getting into things, so they’re totally worth it.

Over cab beds in RVs are large enough for three or more smallish children to share, or even two teenagers or two adults (just make sure you don’t exceed the weight rating). Some come with safety netting that can be buckled to the ceiling to keep kiddos from rolling out.

Some trailers and RVs have bunk beds, which gives kiddos their own space, which can be valuable in the limited space of an RV or trailer.

Jackknife sofas and dinettes are great beds for kiddos who don’t want to be sleep in the confined space of the above cab bed.

• When we first got our class C, we thought our older son (3 and a half at the time) would jump at the chance to sleep over the cab with his sister. He tried it and didn’t like it, so he slept on the sofa the first summer we had the RV. Last summer he started sleeping up there and his younger brother will probably be up there as well this summer.

Don’t forget their favorite blanket, stuffed animal, or pillow. A little bit of home will go a long way to helping them fall asleep somewhere other than their own bed.

7. Meal plan before you leave

Do you prefer to eat out or eat in? We eat in since that’s a huge reason we have the RV: Sunshine and I are leery of most restaurants because of our celiac disease.

Space is limited for food and kitchen equipment, and if you’re boondocking you won’t have the power to run all the normal appliances, so plan accordingly.

Plan some basic meals the whole family will eat that don’t take a lot of ingredients, time, or dishes (you have to wash everything you use!). Also plan for treats and snacks for driving time and while hiking, sightseeing, at the beach, or whatever activity you have planned.

Once you have your menu planned, plan out your grocery lists. RV frigs and pantry space are small, so plan on shopping every few days. Have some easy backup meal ideas if certain ingredients can’t be readily found. Taco or quesadilla ingredients can be found pretty much anywhere, but you may not have as much luck finding pastured chickens or those sugar free, low carb peanut butter cups you like to keep stashed for emergencies.

• Have a plan in place for how to keep the kids occupied during meal prep. One parent on meal prep and one keeping an eye on the kiddos, an older child helping with the littles, etc. Unfortunate things can happen during meal prep or cleanup times while parental attention is split between multiple tasks.
•  When I was 12, my almost-2-year-old brother wandered away unnoticed during dinner cleanup at a family reunion in a state park. It took search and rescue and men on horses nearly a day to find him, sleeping safely in a field, away from the lake we were near. We were very blessed in that instance, but many similar stories have not ended nearly as well.

8. Go with the flow

Learn from what works and what doesn’t, because there will be bumps. Things won’t go exactly as planned, but sometimes the perceived disasters are the stories that get talked about and laughed over for years to come.

Kiddos don’t want to sit in their carseats for hours and hours, so plan rest stops. Find some interesting roadside attractions or parks where the kiddos can run around outside, eat, use the bathroom, etc.

Do you have any tips to add?

Not sure if you want to buy an RV? Rent one first through Outdoorsy or RVShare to get a taste of the RV life with less commitment.