The Complete Buyers Guide To Caravan Gear For Kids

Packing a caravan for two adults is one thing. Packing for a family with kids is a completely different sport. You’re not just fitting in the essentials for daily life on the road; you’re fitting in toys, bikes, school supplies, a rotating wardrobe of clothes they’ll grow out of mid-trip, and enough snacks to feed a small army.

The good news? After thousands of travelling families have done it before you, the gear has caught up. There are genuinely smart products designed for small spaces, rough roads, and kids who are hard on everything. This guide covers every category of gear your kids will need on the Big Lap, with specific product recommendations for each. It’s not about buying everything on this list; it’s about knowing what’s available so you can pick what suits your family, your van, and your budget.

Sleeping & Bedding

Kids who sleep well travel well. That’s not a platitude; it’s a survival strategy. A tired, cranky child in a 17-foot caravan at 6pm will test even the most zen parent. Getting the sleeping setup right is one of the highest-return investments you can make for your family’s Big Lap.

Bunk Bedding

Caravan bunks are almost never standard mattress sizes, which means your regular single sheets from home won’t fit properly. They’ll bunch, slide off, and drive you mad within a week. Purpose-made caravan bunk sheets are worth every cent. Look for fitted sheets with deep elastic or strap systems designed for the narrower, shorter bunk mattresses most Australian caravans use.

For the mattresses themselves, most factory-supplied bunk mattresses are thin foam that flatten out after a few months. A quality mattress topper makes a real difference, especially for kids sleeping on bunks for 12+ months straight. The Kmart Memory Foam Mattress Topper (~$29) in a single size is a budget option that plenty of Big Lap families swear by, though it will need trimming to fit most bunk dimensions.

Sleeping Bags & Liners

Even with proper bedding, a good sleeping bag is essential for the colder legs of the trip and for nights at bush camps where the temperature drops unexpectedly. Kids’ sleeping bags need to be warm enough for southern winters but not so bulky that they eat your entire storage space.

Surviving the Drive: In-Car Entertainment

A 500km driving day is nothing unusual on the Big Lap. For adults, that’s a podcast and a coffee stop. For kids, that’s an eternity. Having a solid in-car entertainment kit isn’t optional; it’s the difference between a peaceful drive and a mutiny before you hit the highway.

Tablets & Screens

Love them or hate them, tablets are a Big Lap essential for families. Pre-load them with movies, shows, audiobooks, and educational apps before you leave (mobile data in remote Australia is either non-existent or painfully slow). A rugged case is non-negotiable. The Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Edition (~$279) is purpose-built for this: it comes with a chunky kid-proof case, a two-year worry-free guarantee, and Amazon Kids+ for a year of content. For families already in the Apple ecosystem, an older-model iPad with an OtterBox Kids EasyGrab Case (~$65) does the same job.

A headrest-mounted tablet holder keeps the screen at eye level and stops the “Mum, can you hold this?” requests. The UGREEN Car Headrest Tablet Mount (~$25) fits most tablets and adjusts easily between driver and passenger side headrests.

Non-Screen Entertainment

Screen time guilt is real, especially on long-trip days. Having a stash of non-digital activities ready to rotate in keeps things balanced. Travel-sized board games, magnetic drawing boards, and audiobooks are all Big Lap family staples.

A few standouts worth grabbing before you leave: the Getting Lost Card Games (~$25) are Australian-made travel games designed specifically for road trips. The Spotto books from Adventure Awaits are perfect for younger kids. And don’t underestimate a simple sketchbook and a decent set of pencils; some kids will draw for hours.

Outdoor Play: Bikes, Scooters & Active Gear

This is where the Big Lap really shines for kids. Every new campsite is a new playground. But the gear they play with needs to survive corrugated roads, red dust, salt air, and daily thrashing. Cheap plastic toys from Kmart have their place, but for bikes, scooters, and active gear, invest in quality that lasts the distance.

Bikes

Bikes are possibly the single best investment for kids on the Big Lap. Every caravan park becomes an adventure, every campsite gets explored on wheels, and kids burn off energy that would otherwise come out as cabin fever in the van.

The challenge is storage and transport. You’ll need a caravan bike rack, which means factoring in the weight impact on your tow ball. For kids’ bikes specifically, look for lightweight alloy frames rather than heavy steel ones. Every kilogram matters when you’re carrying 2-4 bikes on the drawbar.

For the bike rack itself, the GripSport 2-Bike Van-Rack (from ~$650) and the iSi Caravan Bicycle Carrier (from ~$800) are the two standout options for Australian caravans. Both are drawbar-mounted, Australian-made, and built to handle corrugated roads. The iSi is the premium choice with the best weight distribution; the GripSport is excellent value with a tilting design for easy boot access.

Scooters

Scooters take up less space than bikes, weigh almost nothing, and kids of all ages love them. They’re also easier to throw in the tunnel boot than strap to a rack. A folding scooter is ideal for Big Lap travel. The Micro Sprite LED (~$150) is the benchmark: lightweight, folds in seconds, and the build quality means it’ll still be going strong at the end of a 12-month trip. For younger kids (2-5), the Micro Mini Deluxe LED (~$130) with its three-wheel design is the most popular option in the Big Lap community for good reason.

Water Toys & Beach Gear

You’ll spend a lot of time near water on the Big Lap, whether that’s beaches, rivers, rock pools, or caravan park swimming pools. Compact, packable water toys earn their space. Boogie boards, snorkel sets, and inflatable toys that deflate flat are all worth bringing. Skip the full-sized pool noodles (they eat storage space); go for inflatable alternatives instead.

Road Schooling & Education Gear

Whether you’re doing formal distance education through a state school, homeschooling with a curriculum, or taking a more relaxed unschooling approach, you’ll need some physical gear to make it work. The trick is keeping it compact. Your van is not a classroom, and it shouldn’t feel like one.

Workspace

Every road schooling family needs a dedicated space where kids can sit and work. For some, that’s the dinette table. For others, it’s a clip-on lap desk that works in the car or on a camp chair. A stable, flat surface at the right height makes a real difference to focus and posture, especially for longer sessions.

Supplies & Organisation

Keep school supplies in a single, self-contained organiser rather than spreading them across multiple drawers. A hanging wall organiser with clear pockets works brilliantly in caravans; mount it on the inside of a cupboard door or on the wall near the dinette. Pencils, pens, erasers, scissors, glue, and a small ruler all fit in one place and the kids can see exactly where everything belongs.

For stationery, go minimal. One exercise book per subject (not five), a small pencil case, and a pack of good-quality coloured pencils. The Faber-Castell 24 Watercolour Pencils (~$18) double as both colouring pencils and watercolour paints with a wet brush, saving space and weight.

Tech for Learning

If your kids are doing distance education, a tablet or laptop is essential. A Bluetooth keyboard turns a tablet into a workstation for older kids who need to type assignments. Pre-download educational content for offline use; ABC Education, Khan Academy, and Reading Eggs all have offline modes or downloadable content.

Eating & Mealtimes

Feeding kids in a caravan is an exercise in space management. Your kitchen is small, your bench space is limited, and if something can spill, it will. The right mealtime gear makes cooking and eating with kids in a small space significantly less stressful.

Dinnerware

Leave the glass and ceramic at home. Melamine plates and bowls are the standard for caravan life, but for younger kids, silicone or bamboo dinnerware is even better: lighter, virtually indestructible, and dishwasher safe. Look for sets that stack flat and include a plate, bowl, and cup.

Snack Storage & On-the-Go

Snack management is half the battle on driving days. Reusable snack containers with divided sections keep things organised and reduce waste. The Melii Snackle Box (~$25) is a favourite among travelling families: bento-style divided sections, leak-proof, and small enough for kids to manage themselves.

For water bottles, go stainless steel and insulated. They keep water cold in 40-degree heat, survive being dropped on rocks, and don’t develop that plasticky taste after a few months. The Cheeki Kids’ Insulated Bottle 400ml (~$30) is Australian-made, fits in most car cup holders, and comes in colours kids actually want to use.

Highchairs & Booster Seats

If you’re travelling with toddlers, a portable highchair or clip-on seat saves huge amounts of space compared to a freestanding one. The Inglesina Fast Table Chair (~$99) clips directly to most table edges (including caravan dinettes and picnic tables), folds flat, and comes with its own carry bag. It’s been the go-to for travelling families for years because it genuinely works on almost any table thickness.

Safety & First Aid

Kids on the Big Lap are exposed to more of the outdoors than most suburban children experience in years. That means more scrapes, more bites, more sunburn, and more encounters with Australian wildlife. A well-stocked, kid-focused first aid kit and the right safety gear are non-negotiable.

First Aid

Your standard caravan first aid kit probably doesn’t have enough kid-specific supplies. Add children’s Panadol, children’s antihistamine (Zyrtec or Claratyne), child-appropriate bandage sizes, and a digital thermometer at minimum. In remote areas, you might be hours from a doctor, so having the basics to manage fevers, allergic reactions, cuts, and bites is critical.

Sun Protection

Australian sun is no joke, and kids burn faster than adults. Beyond sunscreen (SPF 50+, reapplied every 2 hours, no arguments), proper sun-protective clothing makes a real difference. Long-sleeve rashies for swimming, wide-brim hats with chin straps, and UV-rated sunglasses should all be in the rotation.

Campsite Safety

For toddlers and crawlers, a portable playpen or play fence creates a safe zone at camp without requiring constant hands-on supervision. The Kmart foldable pet playpen has become a cult favourite among travelling families; it’s cheap, packs flat, and works perfectly as a contained play area on a picnic blanket. Pair it with a muk mat (from ~$100) as a clean ground surface and you’ve got a safe play area at any campsite.

Storage & Organisation

The number one complaint from families on the Big Lap isn’t the driving, the heat, or the flies. It’s the mess. Kids generate chaos in direct proportion to how small the space is. Good storage and organisation systems turn a cluttered van into a liveable one.

Clothing Storage

Packing cubes are the single most effective storage upgrade for families. Give each child their own set in a different colour: one cube for tops, one for bottoms, one for underwear/socks, one for pyjamas. They can pull out what they need without emptying an entire cupboard, and packing up camp takes half the time.

For clothing quantities, most experienced Big Lap families recommend per child: 4 shorts, 4 t-shirts, 2 long pants, 2 hoodies, 2 sets of pyjamas (summer and winter), 2 sets of swimmers, a hat, and a rain jacket. That’s it. You’ll find laundromats or caravan park laundries every few days.

Toy Management

Give each child a backpack or a small tub, and the rule is simple: if it doesn’t fit in the backpack, it doesn’t come. This puts the curation in their hands and prevents the slow accumulation of plastic souvenirs from every visitor centre between Brisbane and Broome.

Magnetic tiles (like Connetix Tiles (from ~$60)) and LEGO are the two toys that consistently top every Big Lap family’s “most played with” list. They’re creative, keep kids occupied for hours, and pack reasonably flat. A shallow under-bed storage container with a clip lid keeps pieces contained and accessible.

Hanging & Vertical Storage

Vertical space is the most underused storage in most caravans. Over-door hanging organisers with clear pockets work brilliantly for shoes, toiletries, school supplies, and small toys. Command hooks (the damage-free adhesive type) on cupboard doors, the bathroom wall, and inside the wardrobe create instant hanging points for bags, hats, and towels without drilling into your van.