Parents, before you pack up your motorhome, or you pick up your rented weekend rig, don’t forget to spend some time choosing some age-friendly activities to help entertain your kids while driving or hanging out inside of the RV. Family RV vacations are exciting, simply because it’s cool to travel in a house on wheels, but like every activity, there comes a time when the fun wears off, and kids want something else to do other than count license plates or play I Spy. Parents, it’s possible to travel with kids in your RV without going crazy; all it takes is a little work on the front end of your trip. Before you know it, everyone, kids included, will have something fun to look forward to during moments of downtime during your RV trip.
RV activities for kids at a glance
- Buckle up first: in a motorhome, kids ride in a seat belt or car seat on a forward-facing seat; with a trailer, they ride in the tow vehicle.
- Pack an activity bag for each child with compact travel games, an activity book, and a journal they help choose.
- Load up on audio: Libby lends free audiobooks with a library card, and Audible and Calm are paid subscriptions with free trials.
- At national parks, kids (mostly ages 5–14) can earn Junior Ranger badges, and U.S. fourth graders can get the free Every Kid Outdoors pass for 2026–27.
- At the campground, try scavenger hunts, the Seek by iNaturalist app, campfire stories, and stargazing.
How Do You Travel With Kids in an RV?
Traveling with kids in an RV isn’t much different than traveling with kids on an airplane, train, or car. Each method of travel requires kids to sit for an extended period without getting up and walking around. You’ll want to establish some rules for sitting and moving before pulling out of your driveway. Treat a driveable RV like a car, and require your kiddos to sit where they are safest using seat belts or car seats. Car seats belong only on forward-facing seats, and many side-facing sofa and dinette belts in motorhomes weren’t built to hold one. If you’re towing a travel trailer or fifth wheel, the kids ride buckled up in the tow vehicle, never in the trailer. Keep children in a booster seat until the seat belt fits properly and in the back seat at least through age 12. Rules vary by state, so check our guide to RV seat belt and car seat laws for kids before you go. By setting the ground rules before leaving on your journey, you eliminate the desire for kids to want to stand in front of an open refrigerator or dangle from a bunk bed while the motorhome is moving.
RVing With Kids: Establish a Plan
Like adults, kids want to know where they are going and how long it will take to get there. Unlike adults, kids don’t always have a concept of time, so what might seem like an hour to a kid may only be minutes in reality. Each day, before driving or heading outside for activities, share your itinerary with the family. Discuss everything from snack time to bathroom breaks, and tell everyone how long you think you’ll be driving. You can even post your itinerary with times and images, so everyone has something to look at to determine the passing of time. In our experience, kids handle long drive days better when they can see the plan and check off each stop.
Give your kids a bag or basket filled with activities and treats made especially for them, and allow each kiddo to contribute. By giving your kids choices before you start your drive, you’re allowing them to pick from items they’re invested in, and you eliminate an endless stream of rejection from the kids in the backseat. Kids need structure, and although you might be on vacation, a little structure goes a long way. Traveling with little ones? Our guide to camping with a toddler in an RV covers naps, sleeping spaces, and safety.
Activities for Family RV Vacations
To RV with kids, it’s essential to overplan rather than underplan and always stay one step ahead of your kids’ needs. If your family is like most families, you’d rather spend your days outside exploring and your nights socializing next to a campfire. RVing is all about quality time spent out in the fresh air, unplugged from day-to-day life, after all. But, as most RVers will tell you, there are times when being outside isn’t possible. For those times, we’ve come up with some conventional and not-so-conventional games and activities that will keep your family RV vacations running smoothly, even when you must stay indoors.
Games
Loading up the RV with particular games or activities that you’ve set aside just for your family RV vacations is the key to keeping restless kids engaged. Deeming certain games as RV-only games can be the excitement equivalent of campfire s’mores. Since RVs are generally small, and space is limited, choose compact travel versions of your favorite games, like Yahtzee National Parks, the Oregon Trail Card Game (no longer made, so look for a secondhand copy), or small box card sets like UNO or Skip-Bo. We've heard from plenty of parents that an RV-only rule makes even a familiar deck of cards feel new.
For games that require family interaction, print a list of characters from your kids’ favorite TV shows, movies, or books before leaving home, and then reference that list when assigning roles to play a human version of Guess Who? If your family gets tired of guessing characters, mix it up, and play charades with the titles of the TV shows, movies, and books you used to generate your character list.
Don’t forget to bring family favorites like Rummikub, Mexican Train Dominoes, or another game for national park lovers, America’s National Parks Memory.
Bullet Journaling
Break out the Bu-Jo and the gel pens! Bullet journaling is a popular activity for older kids (and even adults) because it allows creative people the space to track everything from mood and physical activity to trip planning or bucket lists. Since bullet journals start with a blank dotted or lined notebook, each page’s design comes from the mind or heart of the person creating it. If you don’t know where to start, search through the thousands of resources on Pinterest or YouTube to gather ideas or a system for bullet journaling. If your family likes national parks, one cool way to display your national park stickers, stamps, and artifacts is by using a bullet journal. Create pages dedicated to each trip and construct a place where your kids can keep their travel memories.
Activity Books
Before heading out for your next RV trip, give your kids a chance to shop online or spend a little bit of time at a local bookstore to search for kid-friendly and age-appropriate activity books. Timeless activities like Mad Libs, crossword puzzles, word searches, mind games, sudoku, coloring, matching, and problem solving provide entertainment for kids of all ages. Allowing your kids to choose the activity book that suits their interests helps to ensure each child has something interesting to try along the journey. We've heard from parents that a brand-new activity book saved for the last hour of a long drive works wonders.
Audiobooks
Who says road trip activities have to lack educational value? Road trips are the best time to introduce kids to stories of adventure, tall tales, history, sports, fantasy, cultural topics, and much more because it’s easier to find time to sit and listen while riding in a car or RV. Whether you want to download a book for the whole family to listen to together or choose a different book for each child, applications like Audible make it simple to search for kid-friendly or family-friendly audiobooks (it’s a paid membership after a free trial). Audible isn’t the only audiobook application. For free audiobook downloads, check out the easy-to-use app, Libby, which connects you to your public library; all you need is a library card. Libby allows people to download available copies from home, so you don’t even have to go to the library. If you prefer short stories or stories to help soothe anxiety, introduce mindfulness, or help kiddos sleep, the Calm app has many options for downloading soothing sounds and narratives that relax the mind, including kids’ sleep stories, with a subscription. If you are looking for kid-friendly podcasts, check out Kids Listen, a resource designed to help families choose age-appropriate podcasts that generate discussions, spark questions, and build knowledge. Renters we talk to often say a family audiobook is the one thing everyone in the RV agrees on.
Newsela
Newsela isn’t just a resource for teachers; parents who have reading-aged children can sign up for a caregiver account to help facilitate a safer and more structured way to present current events to children. Newsela is different from most news websites or applications because it’s designed to present topics relating to history, science, civics, current events, art, culture, sports, and much more to kids, appropriately. Many of the stories on the Newsela platform come from mainstream news organizations, but the staff at Newsela pull apart the content and publish the material according to reading level or age. The best part? The accompanying images and comprehension and extension questions help build grade-level reading skills and help generate discussions. A fun way to use Newsela is to either read the articles aloud to kids, or load the same article on everyone’s device, but scale the reading level for each reader. The whole family can read the same article and then use the questions to generate conversation or extend the topic further.
How can kids explore national parks on an RV trip?
Sign them up to be Junior Rangers. The National Park Service’s Junior Ranger program is aimed mostly at ages 5 to 14, but anyone can join. Kids pick up a booklet at a park visitor center (or download one), complete the activities, and earn a badge, patch, or certificate, depending on the park. Some parks hand out the physical badge only in person, so plan a stop at the visitor center. We've watched kids wear their Junior Ranger badges for the rest of the trip, and they make a great page in that bullet journal.
If you have a fourth grader, get the free Every Kid Outdoors pass. U.S. fourth graders, including homeschooled kids of the same age, can earn it by finishing a short online activity. The 2026–27 pass runs through August 31, 2027, and covers the student and family at more than 2,000 federal lands and waters: everyone in your private vehicle at sites that charge per vehicle, or the student plus up to three adults at sites that charge per person. You can print the pass or, at some sites, show it digitally. Not every site accepts the paper version, so call ahead.
What can kids do at the campground, rain or shine?
When the weather cooperates, send the kids outside with a job. A simple scavenger hunt list (a pinecone, a smooth rock, a bird feather, a leaf bigger than your hand) keeps everyone moving. The Seek by iNaturalist app turns any walk into a nature quiz: point the phone camera at a plant, bug, or mushroom and Seek identifies it. Kids earn badges and can join monthly challenges, and no account is needed. After dark, swap ghost stories by the campfire and look for constellations. We've seen a scavenger hunt turn a quick walk to the bathhouse into a full-blown expedition.
When it rains, the RV becomes the activity. Build a blanket fort in the bunk, host a movie night with popcorn, and give kids a real job at dinner, like stirring the pancake batter or setting the table. Save one new game or book for a rainy day so there’s always something fresh to pull out.
Ready for Some Family Fun?
The fun isn’t just in the destination but in the journey. Find the fun on the way with these kid-friendly activities that are sure to keep everyone smiling from the road to the RV park.
About this guide
Originally written by Outdoorsy author Meagan Butler. Updated in November 2026 by the Outdoorsy Editorial team. The facts in this guide were checked against official and primary sources, linked throughout. Pass rules and app features change, so check the official pages before you go.
