Caravanning Essentials for Kids

Little Trekkers Campaign Manager Gemma has been a busy bee renovating a caravan getting it ready for family adventures around the UK and beyond. Here she share's with us some of the things they have found useful in their caravan.

Early last year we had adventuring in a renovated Caravan on the brain, and after a long search we found our 2001 Elddis Odyssey and named him Walt.

We spent 8 months renovating Walt in storage, while he had good bones and didn’t need stripping out, he was old, dated and a bit smelly. So after some (a lot) of coats of paint, some vinyl worktop covering, adhesive floor and wall tiles, new cushion covering and lots of love, he’s almost just as we wanted him.

We took our maiden voyage at the beginning of May and haven’t looked back, with trips booked every month until November, even a jaunt over the channel to France in the Summer, but we are also very much looking forward to some winter trips.

I wanted to share some of the things we’ve so far found invaluable for the kids:

Kelty Calisto Sleeping Bags – We decided against new bedding for the boys in the van, or remembering to take duvets back and forth so settled on these fab sleeping bags. They use them unzipped in their bunks which we built in the back of the caravan. They roll up small and store away nicely in between trips.

Spotty Otter Base Layers – Although the van gets pretty toasty we love these Spotty Otter Base Layers as Pyjamas, and I’m sure they will be layered under other PJ’s come our winter trips.

Crocs Classic Clogs – If you’d have told me a year ago my kids would be in Crocs! But they really do make the best camping and caravan footwear, easy to slip on, lightweight and they don’t get soggy when they are running around on the grass first thing, the boys have very quickly embraced their new Crocs wearer status.

Kelty Bestie Blanket – The cosiest blanket for snuggling up around the campfire, we love our Kelty Bestie Blanket. We’ve used it as a blanket on the floor on warmer days too.

Kleen Kanteen Bottles – We each have a Klean Kanteen bottle and they are great for keeping by the boys beds at night, and taking on our adventures.

Fleeces – Perfect evening and campfire layers, they boys have a fleeces from Spotty Otter and Jack Wolfskin that are packed every time we go away.

Wellies – For the rainy days that Crocs Clogs just don't cut it, our boys love their Spotty Otter Forest Ranger Wellies and Hunter Little Kids Original Wellies for puddle jumping their way to the shower block.

Dock & Bay Ponchos & Towels - We love our Dock & Bay Towels for the beach, but now for the van too! Super quick to dry after a swim or shower and they roll up nice and small to pack and store.

We have a few more things we’d like to do to finish off our renovation and you can follow our progress so far and our adventures on Instagram at @adventures.withwalt, on TikTok or on our Blog.