What You Need: Hiking Gear for Kids
Despite being similar, hiking with kids is not a walk in the park! You need to be prepared to have a good time. Read on for all of the gear for hiking with kids!
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Hiking has quickly become one of my family’s favorite things to do while traveling, but also while spending time (read: quarantining) at home. With two young kids and a baby I have learned that I really need to be prepared in order to have the best experience possible. Everything from the proper footwear to all of the little things you might not think about.
So let’s start at the beginning!
Hiking Gear for Kids: Carry All The Things
Hiking with kids means that mom (or dad!) turn into a pack mule. I tend to encourage my kids to carry a small backpack or their own water bottle, but since they are still young I end up with most of the burden!
A Good Backpack for Mom or Dad
The first thing you need when hiking is a good backpack! I have definitely been known to carry my diaper bag on hikes especially since I have a baby on board, but when we are doing more involved hikes, my favorite backpack is our Osprey. I love all of the compartments on this bag and the super comfortable straps. It’s great for carrying and organizing everything you need and has stood up to dozens of trips and hikes! We have the Parsec, which is no longer available, but this one is really similar!
Water Bottles
A good, insulated and sturdy water bottle is a MUST. We love Thermoflask bottles for everyone in the family because they keep our water cold, they can handle a drop (or 5) on the trail and they have convenient handles for the kids to wrap their fingers in, or to hook to carabiners. Here are the adult bottles and the kids bottles.
Carabiners
Speaking of carabiners… they are such an unsung hero when it comes to hiking with kids! I use them for everything. I have four or five all over my baby carrier and backpack to hook my keys, water bottles, first aid kit and more that I need to have easily accessible and not lost somewhere in the backpack or on the trail! The kids can easily hook and unhook their water bottles to my backpack with me having to take it off. Win-win. Here’s a set of small carabiners that are easy for kids to operate.
Baby Carrier
We love using our Ergo Original baby carrier on hikes for newborns to about 6 months. It’s sturdy and comfortable and not an “extra” thing since our baby is still small and in the carrier for a lot of other times. I particularly love the large zip pocket on the front while hiking to stash lollipops, some wipes and my phone so I can grab it all easily when we need them!
Backpack Style Hiking Carrier
With slightly older and heavier babies, you will definitely want something more heavy duty to carry them on hikes. With our older boys, we used a discontinued carrier, but this one from Deuter Kid Comfort is what we plan on using with our third baby. It comes highly recommended from some of my close friends in the hiking community!
Don’t plan on hiking a ton like we do or mostly doing more casual hikes? Here is a more affordable option.
If you aren’t ready for carrying your baby and want to check out some stroller hiking tips, check out this post.
Hiking Gear For Kids: Clothing And Accessories
Make sure your kids are dressed for success! Wear comfortable, movable clothing. Dress in layers that can be shed as it gets warmer and clothing that dries quickly if they get wet! We like to wear lightweight shorts and t-shirts with a zippered hoodie. Pants are great too if your kids will wear them!
Water shoes
One question I get a lot is whether or not my kids wear hiking boots/shoes. And the answer is NO! Kids do not need an extra pair of expensive shoes that will probably only fit for one season! Their center of gravity is lower and their ankles are more flexible! As long as there is tread on their tennis shoes, that’s perfect!
However, if you are going to put anything on your kids besides tennis shoes, I recommend water shoes. You never know when there will be water the kids want to play in and water shoes can go straight from the trail to the water and back without much fuss! I hate trying to put socks and shoes back onto wet, sandy feet!
We like this pair because they have good tread and are pretty enclosed so the kids aren’t getting rocks and twigs in their shoes on the trail.
Hiking socks
Although I don’t recommend hiking shoes, hiking socks or high rise socks are definitely helpful to protect little ankles from scratches and bites! Since my kids normally wear ankle socks, we opted to just grab them some hiking socks that are reserved just for hiking.
Hats/Sunglasses
This probably goes without saying, but make sure to grab your kids’ hats or sunglasses! It’s so important to protect their skin and eyes from the sun anytime you are outdoors.
Hiking Gear for Kids: Keeping Cool and Healthy
Hiking becomes 100x worse when kids (or the adults) are hot and uncomfortable! My boys tend to run hot, so I’ve discovered lots of ways to keep us cool.
Cooling Towels
Cooling towels are one of my favorite inventions! You just add water and wring it out and the towel stays cool! I particularly love it for babies in strollers or carriers, because you can lay it under them and it will keep them cool and absorb their sweat! Bigger kids can wear them over their neck or heads! My favorite brand is Frogg Toggs.
Mister Fan
I also carry a small mister fan if it’s going to be really hot. It’s a fun way to cool down the kids and they often have fun spraying themselves and each other. I like this portable version because I can use a carabiner to attach it to my backpack or baby carrier. It’s hard to tell from the listing photos but ours has a handle at the back to easily slip a carabiner through!
First Aid Kit
I love when my kids are adventurous on the trails, but that often means they end up with a scrape or two. Nothing can dampen the mood like an ouchie, but most kids rebound quickly if they can put a bandage on and move on! I like this small first aid kit for travel and hiking because it fits easily in my backpack or can be hung as well!
Baby Wipes
Another MUST HAVE for us are baby wipes! Even when we didn’t have anyone in diapers! Wipes are great for cleaning your hands before you have a snack, wiping up scrapes and dirt, cooling you down and refreshing your face and more. I always keep a package in my bag, or if we are packing light, I put 10-15 wipes in a sandwich baggy.
Sunscreen & Bug Spray
Of course, you should never forget your sunscreen and bug spray. I’m sure you have one you love, but if you don’t, we really love Alba Botanica sunscreen and All Terrain Kids Herbal Armor insect spray. They both smell great and don’t bother our kids!
Hiking Gear for Kids: Keeping Everyone Fed
Nutritious, Energy Giving Snacks
Some of our favorite snacks for hiking include high-energy, easily digestible foods! We like granola bars like Cliff ZBars, apple slices, peanut butter pretzels and crackers. These Maverick Snacks are brand new and Maverick sent us some to try and we LOVED them! They are low sugar, vegan and made without GMOs or artificial colors and preservatives. And they taste great!
Lollipops or Other Candies For Encouragement
It’s amazing what a bit of sugary incentive can do on a hike! I have a bag of Dumdums in our cupboard that we don’t bring out any time other than hiking! I bring a baggy of them on all of our hikes and hand one to the kids when they are getting tired or I really need them to just get up the next incline! Other motivational treats include Sour Patch Kids/Swedish Fish and Jelly Beans. A reader told me she brings Trolli candies in case they run into any angry trolls in the forest and need to pay them off! It’s a fun game for the kids and they eventually eat the candy when they need it. I thought it was brilliant!
Cooler in the Car with extra water and cool snacks
Lastly, I always keep a cooler, like this one, in the car stocked with more ice water and refreshing snacks like berries, jello cups, PB&J sandwiches or other favorites. We usually end up drinking most of our water hiking and I love having ice cold water and refreshing snacks when we are done!
Hiking Gear for Kids: Keeping Them Entertained
Keeping kids entertained is so important on hikes! In fact, it’s so important that I wrote an entire post about it! So instead of duplicating that content here, I will just send you over to read that on games and activities for hiking with kids!
