Tag Archives: Tips for RVing With Kids

Best RV Stops: Family-Friendly Children’s Museums Across the U.S.

05 Wednesday Mar 2025

Posted by in Kids and Camping, Travel Destinations

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When our son was younger, we would make a point of visiting children’s museums wherever we went. Now that our daughter is old enough to appreciate these museums, they are making their way back into our travel plans.

In this article, we will discuss the best children’s museums we’ve seen so far. Choose one from this list when planning your travels, and you really can’t go wrong!

The Magic House

St. Louis, MO

St. Louis is home to a number of great attractions. There is a free zoo that is amazing, as well as a free science center, a history museum, and an art museum. The city is also home to the incredible City Museum, which should be on every traveler’s must-see list. Another favorite St. Louis spot of ours? The Magic House.

I have fond memories of visiting the Magic House when I was little, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the museum met my expectations all these years later. The place plays host to climbing structures, sand- and water-play areas, an outdoor play area, and the crown jewel: a kid-sized city where kids can try out different occupations for a while.

Houston Children’s Museum

Houston, TX

Houston is another city with lots of wonderful museums to choose from. The Health Museum is fantastic, as is the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Of course, you definitely don’t want to miss the Houston Space Center, nor do you want to skip the amazing Houston Children’s Museum.

The latter museum features one of the bigger kid cities I’ve seen, and the city is complete with currency, meaning kids can get “jobs” and earn “money” to go spend at the businesses in the tiny town. Other cool things in this museum include a huge outdoor play area, an awesome indoor climbing structure, and a super fun maker space where kids can create new inventions.

Children of Gettysburg

Gettysburg, PA

One of the more unique children’s museums we’ve seen, Children of Gettysburg is small, but it has a very specific purpose, and it does its job well. The purpose? To present the story of Gettysburg in a way that kids can understand and appreciate.

The museum follows a set of children from various backgrounds through the events of the Battle of Gettysburg. Everything is explained in a way that kids can connect with and digest, and there are plenty of hands-on activities to engage young visitors and help them dive into the world of the 19th-century children they are learning about.

My kids especially loved the last room where they could care for an “injured soldier” and make a speech as President Lincoln.

Bay Area Children’s Museum

San Francisco, CA

Bay Area Children’s Museum may be a lesser-known children’s museum, but we thought it was absolutely magical. In fact, we loved this museum so much that we returned for a second round of fun a couple of years after the first.

The museum is set up in several different buildings, which I appreciated, as it helped my busy little guy focus on the thing he was doing rather than being distracted by all of the other exhibits. There was a lovely outdoor space between the buildings with the coolest “natural” play area. We really loved the art room at this museum and probably could have stayed there all day long.

How to Save on Children’s Museum Visits

One of the things I don’t love about children’s museums is how expensive they can be. Fortunately, we have found some ways around that:

  • Many children’s museums offer free or cheap days each week or once a month. Look for these days and try to plan your travels around them if you can.
  • Additionally, some museums will offer coupons or Groupons. Search for these before paying full price; you never know what you might find.
  • Lastly, a lot of children’s museums are part of reciprocal museum programs. ASTC is a science museum reciprocal program that offers members free admission to all member museums. ACM is a children’s museum reciprocal program that offers cardholders half-off admission to the museums in their program. Both include plenty of children’s museums all across the country.

As you can see, there are lots of amazing children’s museums scattered across the country, and really, these are just a handful of them. Hopefully, this article inspires you to check out a few of these super fun spots for yourself!

About the author: Chelsea Gonzales

Chelsea has the amazing opportunity to take part in full-time RV living and traveling with her tiny tribe. She homeschools her five-year-old son as they travel, and takes full advantage of their unique situation by using the entire world as her son’s classroom. A group of total Disney fanatics, Chelsea and her family often find themselves in the Orlando area in order to visit the Disney parks, but they have also visited over 25 of the 50 states with plans to see many more along the way. No matter where her travels take her, Chelsea enjoys riding bikes, gazing at beautiful sunsets, finding new coffee shops, Irish dancing, and sitting around a campfire with her family.

You can join her adventures through her blog, Wonder Wherever We Wander.

Tips For Creating An RV Classroom

12 Wednesday Feb 2025

Posted by in Kids and Camping

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Roadschooling is an amazing thing. It gives families a chance to bond while learning fascinating things in incredible places. Of course, to jump into road schooling, you’re going to want the right tools. Enter: the RV classroom.

No, I’m not saying you need to have an entire room in your RV that is just for road schooling. In fact, the magic of road schooling is that it can happen pretty much anywhere. That said, it is nice to have a dedicated space that you use for schooling. This can help kids focus when intense focus is necessary and will also ensure the whole family gets to learn in comfort.

Here are my top tips for setting up an RV classroom.

Finding a Space

First, you will need to find a space for your RV classroom. How you go about this will of course depend on your RV. That said, I do have a few ideas to offer.

Use a Bottom Bunk Area

I’ve seen countless families pull a mattress out of an extra bottom bunk and use the bottom bunk space as a learning space. The area is a bit on the short side, but a rug and some pillows will make it a cozy nook for young students looking for a place to hide away and do some math or reading.

Remove Furniture

Some families will remove pieces of furniture to make room for their RV classroom. If you have two couches, consider removing one and putting desks in its place. If you don’t use the upholstered chair, that could be a good spot for a desk as well. Look around, find furniture you can live without, remove it, and put a desk in this place.

Head Outside

The outdoors can also be a great place to set up an RV classroom. This doesn’t have to mean sitting outside at a picnic table all the time (although it could). Instead, consider setting up a Clam tent and putting together a classroom inside of it.

The tent is nice because it offers shade and shelter from wind and light rain. It also helps kids stay focused when there is a lot going on in the campground, at least compared to having them sit at that uncovered campsite table.

Make Use Of the Table

If all else fails, you can always make use of the table in your RV. This isn’t ideal if you want a spot that is dedicated purely to roadschooling, but as long as you’re willing to remove distractions, it does get the job done in a pinch.

Getting Set Up

The next step? Setting up your space. There are several options you can try, and what you choose to go with depends on your space and what you want it to do for you. Below are a few ideas to get you started.

TV Trays and Folding Chairs

In our old RV, we had TV trays and IKEA folding chairs (with cushions) for the kids. This was an amazing solution because it gave them a nice surface to work at, but could also be folded and put away when we needed extra floor space. I also appreciated that I could use the TV trays as extra prep space when cooking.

Custom Foldaway Desks

I’ve seen a few different custom foldaway desks in various friends’ RVs. These are awesome because they can fold away behind a cabinet door, onto a wall, or even under the bed, and be pulled out only when needed. Maybe your RV has a spot to put a foldaway desk!

Lap Desks

If your kids prefer to sit on the floor, on a couch, or on their beds while working, you could consider investing in lap desks. These are nice because they are small and easy to store, and there are some versions that even provide little cubbies for storing supplies.

Rolling Storage Carts

I love, love, love these storage carts. Our friends have one and I fully intend to buy one myself. They are ideal for storing books, paper, craft supplies, and more. A cart like this can store neatly against a wall and can be rolled anywhere it is needed.

Cabinet Shelving

Storing your school supplies in an RV cabinet is also totally effective. In fact, it might be the best option because it keeps everything up and out of the way when it isn’t in use. That said, if you want to keep things neat and organized, I highly recommend buying some cabinet shelving to help.

Spill-Proof Bookshelves

Currently, my kids have shelves like these in their beds to hold all of their books. I appreciate them because they are on the smaller side, meaning they fit well in a lot of different spaces in an RV and would be great for an RV classroom. To keep books from spilling out on moving days, you can secure the shelf to the wall and use small tension rods across the fronts of the shelves.

As you can see, there are a lot of routes you can take when creating an RV classroom. Choose the options that work best for your family and space, and remember that you can always change things up should your roadschool style morph. Happy learning!

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About the author: Chelsea Gonzales

Chelsea has the amazing opportunity to take part in full-time RV living and traveling with her tiny tribe. She homeschools her five-year-old son as they travel, and takes full advantage of their unique situation by using the entire world as her son’s classroom. A group of total Disney fanatics, Chelsea and her family often find themselves in the Orlando area in order to visit the Disney parks, but they have also visited over 25 of the 50 states with plans to see many more along the way. No matter where her travels take her, Chelsea enjoys riding bikes, gazing at beautiful sunsets, finding new coffee shops, Irish dancing, and sitting around a campfire with her family.

You can join her adventures through her blog, Wonder Wherever We Wander.