O'Phalen Adventures

Category: Travel with Kids

Yoto Player Review: An Amazing Travel Accessory for Kids
I can’t stop talking about the kids’ Yoto players. For devices we’d never even heard about a year ago, they’re now such a big part of our life. So a bunch of friends and family have asked me about whether we like them. I figured it was time to write a detailed Yoto player review!
Here’s our experience with them as a family that travels a lot (all the time!), doesn’t do much screen time, and values low-lift educational opportunities in our homeschool life.
Yoto Player Review: how does the Yoto even work?
First things first — what even are these things? Essentially, a Yoto player is a fancy speaker. But what makes it really magical is that it works with Yoto cards that kids can control completely independently. Even our two-year-old can manage her own Yoto player.
These cards can play audiobooks, music playlists, kid podcasts, schoolwork, and even interactive games. You have the option to buy the cards from the Yoto store or to purchase “Make Your Own” cards. Make Your Own cards can have any mp3 linked to them, which really makes the possibilities endless.
You can purchase a Classic Yoto player (UK link!) or a Yoto Mini (UK link!). The main difference is the size of the pixel screen for the icons and a nightlight feature on the bigger Yoto player. We have three Minis, and I highly recommend them. They’re easy for little hands to tote around.
Yoto Player Review: the short version!
Okay, the short version of my Yoto player review is that I’m obsessed. Here’s why:
- My kids adore these things. Like truly adore them. We started with just one for my early reader and ended up with one for each kid within six months.
- They are the perfect family travel accessory. My kids will listen to them for a couple of hours of each travel day, and that is worth any amount of money to a frazzled parent towing an RV.
- They’re relatively affordable. The cards will add up fast if you let them, but our strategy for keeping them affordable was 1. To join the Yoto Club for $10/month and get two new cards every month that way and 2. Make a lot of our own cards with library content and recording ourselves reading the kids’ favorite stories. You also can connect any kid podcast to a Make Your Own card for hours of totally free content.
- They’re a screen-free way for our kids to be independent. We use them on travel days and at “quiet time” for our kids to have some quiet downtime by themselves. We don’t do a whole lot of screen time in our house (no judgement, just a preference), and this gives us tired parents a break.
- They’re so educational if you want them to be. Our kids like to re-listen to the audiobook version of whatever read-aloud book we’ve just finished reading together. I think it really helps cement the story for them. We’ve also used a Make Your Own Card for our oldest to listen to multiplication facts. And last year when she was going through a mythology obsession, I took a bunch of mythology books out from the library and read stories from around the world for her card. My middle child was reciting Shakespeare after listening to the Shakespeare card. Nothing more hilarious than hearing, “We’re under siege by the Scots!!” coming from your 5-year-old’s mouth.
- They help extended family and friends stay in touch. We’ve asked people we love to record themselves reading stories to the kids so they can hear their voices. And this year, we’re asking people to email us happy birthday greetings to put on a birthday card for them. This feature is especially lovely for kids who live far away from people they love.
Yoto Player vs. Toniebox
Some of you might have heard of a Toniebox (or even have one!). They’re somewhat similar to a Yoto player, but there are 3 reasons why I think Yoto is a way better choice for our family:
1. Yoto content is better suited to grow with children in my opinion. Tonies are great for toddlers, but won’t age with kids as well.
2. Tonieboxes are larger, and the characters that play stories and music are WAY larger than Yoto cards. For a family that needs things to be compact, Yoto wins by a mile.
3. Tonie characters are way more expensive than Yoto cards, which makes building a collection a much bigger investment.
What are some of your favorite Yoto cards?
First, you just have to get a pack of Make Your Own cards. You can swap out what’s on there at any time, which allows you to save money and always keep things fresh.
For Toddlers, we like Kids Bop, Daniel Tiger, and Who’s In Your Audiobook.
For Preschoolers, we recommend The Chicken Squad, Hotel Flamingo, and Funny Stories for 5 Year Olds.
For Older Kids, we love Esperanza Rising, Minecraft the Island, and Shakespeare.
Okay, what else should I know?
In my opinion, a case for the Yoto is essential if you’re going to be taking it anywhere. We have these. You’ll also definitely need headphones if you plan on using more than one Yoto at a time in the car.
There are a whole lot of options for how you can store the cards. Lots of people choose card storage like this, but I prefer to attach the cards directly to the Yoto. We use sticky tabs and rings looped through the Yoto case loop so that we can’t lose the cards.
One great option for getting audiobook content for Make Your Own cards is Libro. You can get a free audiobook when you first join:

I’ll end with the fact that Yoto has amazing customer service, which we’ve used several times. I’ve always been really satisfied.
Feel free to leave any other questions in the comments and I’ll write back!
Disclaimer: Product links in this blog post may be Affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission for each purchase made through these links at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps fund our family travel and allows me to keep creating inspiring family travel content for you. I so appreciate when you use my links to make purchases you would have made anyway.
If you’re looking for other gift ideas, check out these posts:
- RV Gift Ideas (Special Ideas For Traveling Kids!)
- RV Camping Gift Ideas: Unique Grownup Gifts!
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November 24, 2023
Full Time Travel Family: 10 Lessons We’ve Learned
Our family has always been what I’d describe as adventurous, but we kicked it up a notch in 2020 when we became a full time travel family.
We were professional theatre people in New York City for over a decade, then both parents made career shifts after starting a family — Kate got her MPA and Dan became a recruiter. The pandemic was difficult, but gave us the precious gift of remote work. Because of the shift to remote work, our family has never been closer and we are able to pursue our dream of becoming a full time travel family.
When we left NYC in 2020, we planned to be away for just the summer on the coast of Maine in a charming and remote coastal village. That summer turned into a year and a half of airbnbs all over the country, which turned into buying and renovating our own RV, which turned into a life as nomads for the foreseeable future!
Lessons we’ve learned as a full time travel family for over three years:
1. Adventure can be found anywhere. Yes, anywhere.
As a New Yorker, I definitely had preconceived notions about what parts of the country were worth a visit. I can say now after three years as a full time travel family and 49 states down, those notions were mostly unfair. I was surprised by how much I loved Tucson and Page, Arizona. I had a ball in Cincinnati and Lexington. And I was delighted by Kansas City. Those places would absolutely never have made it on my travel bucket list, but there was so much to see and learn in all of them. There are adorable local libraries and underappreciated national park sites. There are fantastic tiny restaurants and unique hole-in-the-wall museums (like Haines’ Hammer Museum!).
I know that not every family can become a full time travel family, but I promise that there is fun and adventure to be found wherever you are. Local attractions can be really fun with the right mindset. One of our favorite memories is when we had a spring break staycation in New York and checked off all of the places we’d never been to as if we were tourists in our own town.
Brooklyn in 2019
If expensive travel isn’t in the cards, what fun things are day trips from your home?
2. Staying at home with kids all day is almost as exhausting as adventuring with them, so you might as well go for it.
This is one of the parenting philosophies I picked up early on, but being a full time travel family has really cemented it. So many families don’t take the trip or visit the museum or find adventure because parenting is so all-consuming and exhausting. I get it. Truly. But I’ve always found that it’s exhausting no matter what you do all day, even if it’s just staying around the house. So you might as well get out and do the fun things! You’ll be exhausted still, but you’ll be fulfilled and satisfied. Plus, the house stays neater when you’re out of it all day. Just saying.
3. Kids may not remember the places you see or the things you do, but they will incorporate it into who they are.
This is one of my best arguments for traveling while kids are too young to remember it. I’ve heard from so many folks that they want to wait and travel when the kids are “old enough,” but truly they are always old enough. Even if they don’t remember the specifics of what you do or where you go, it will be impossible for them to remain unchanged by travel. Kids build resilience and courage and flexibility and empathy by exploring the world and meeting new people. I have watched it happen with my kids, and I promise that it’s the coolest.
Iceland in 2017
4. Reading about something in a book is amazing, but it cannot top experiencing it in person.
I know, I know…Kate is trash talking books?? Never. I love books. So much. We love books more than almost any family I know. Exploring through books is sometimes our only option, and it is a great one.
However, books do have limits. And there are some things that land differently through experiencing them. You can read about the life cycle of a salmon and understand it intellectually. Or you can watch how Alaskan rhythms move with the annual salmon run. See how both people and animals migrate to chase them. Spend hours perfecting your salmon catching technique, and then learn how to clean a fish. You can taste the difference between a pink salmon and a silver salmon. Watch how human made structures block their path upstream. Discover how subsistence living crosses cultures and borders. It hits different, I tell ya.
Fishing in Alaska in 2023
5. Most of us are so disconnected from the natural world, and finding our way back to it is healing.
I can honestly say that before we became a full time travel family, I could probably identify less than five types of trees. Or birds. Or wildflowers. For parts of our earth that are so necessary and abundant, it’s shocking to me how little attention I paid them. But I think it’s really common.
Now we have probably twenty types of field guides, and we spend a lot of time observing the world around us. My five year old correctly identified a juniper bush all on his own last week just using his books. We notice the small creatures and plants, and we speak to them with care. There’s something so healing about reclaiming the knowledge that we’ve lost through industrialization.
6. It’s scary going way against the grain, but it’s almost always worth it.
We’ve stepped outside of so many social norms to become a full time travel family. We’ve left the school system, we’ve insisted on remote work and created our own jobs, we’ve given up having a “sticks and bricks” house in favor of one on wheels. It takes a lot of courage to live life really differently (especially when kids are involved!).
But wow, has it been worthwhile for us. When people come spend time with us, they are always remarking on how close our kids are, how smart they seem, and how loved you can tell they feel. Not that all of that isn’t possible living a more traditional life, but I always feel validated in our life choices when people notice these things. The proof that our kids are thriving is in the proverbial pudding.
7. You will inspire people just by living unapologetically.
Relatedly, I know our life inspires a lot of people. We didn’t set out to inspire anyone, we just set out to live a life that feels good to us.
Larch hiking in Alberta in 2023
But people are always inspired watching others who live life on their own terms. It can be a hard thing to do with the way our world is structured, and it helps others to know that they can do it, too. The more of us who build our own lives, the more people will be inspired to do the same.
8. We are all capable of things we would never have imagined we are.
Listen, we didn’t own a car for a full decade. Living in New York means you just don’t need one most of the time. So for us to go from car-less to driving a super duty truck and towing a 37 foot trailer was a big change. You could say we leaped right out of our comfort zone.
I thought I’d never be comfortable towing our RV, but I really am a champ at it now. I backed it onto a ferry in Alaska this summer! If I can tow our house that’s almost as long as a semi, we’re all capable of more than we know.
9. You will take pieces of every place you visit and every experience you have with you for life.
It’s impossible to be unchanged by the travel you do. My perspective has been shifted by so many places we’ve been to and so many experiences we’ve had.
I never would have expected that I’d come to love Alaska fireweed flowers more than my beloved bodega peonies. I’ve learned to appreciate small towns and the Midwest. Our summer in Alaska inspired me to live off grid and sacrifice long showers for unbelievable views. It surprised me to discover that I find a saguaro cactus and a desert sunset to be incredibly relaxing. Camping on BLM land has made me more passionate about protecting our public land.
BLM land in Utah in 2023
I could go on and on about the places and experiences that have shaped my views over the past few years, but my point is this: it sticks with you. And it changes you at the core. And that is an amazing gift.
10. Becoming a full time travel family can be logistically challenging.
Full time travel is absolutely amazing, and it can be incredibly difficult. It’s not for everyone, but for those of you who are considering it, read on!
There are a lot of practical considerations when becoming a full time travel family. How to make an income, what method of travel works best, how to build community on the road, what travel pace will keep everyone from burning out, how to store everything in a small space…
If all of that feels overwhelming, we’re happy to help! You can book a call with us here. Take advantage of everything we’ve learned the slow, hard way 😉
I’m also available to answer quick questions about being a full time travel family on Instagram! Find me at @kateophalen any time.
For more RV Life posts, check out the other posts we’ve written about life in an RV:
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November 6, 2023
RV Gift Ideas (Special Ideas For Traveling Kids!)
In our years of full time travel, finding RV gift ideas for our kiddos has been a challenge! Those of us who are living tiny know how carefully we have to think about every item that comes into our home, so I’m extremely careful about what we buy. In the past, I’ve searched for RV gift ideas lists for the kiddos and come up pretty empty! So today I’m sharing a list of RV gift ideas that have been tested, tried, and true for our family.
December is a wild ride for us, with three kid birthdays (!) and Christmas all within a few weeks. I save gift ideas to wish lists all year long and hoard extra money for months so that everyone has a magical December. Last year, our oldest told me unprompted that I make Christmas magical, and it was just the sweetest thank you for all of the effort. I know you’re putting in so much effort to make this time of year special for the kiddos in your life, too. From fall clothes shopping to Halloween costumes to holiday gifts and seasonal parties. I see you!
Hopefully this list will give you some RV gift ideas that you haven’t already considered. I’ve separated gift ideas into categories for easier reading, but if you want to see my whole list of recommendations, head here.
Indoor Toys
Our kids own about a quarter of the toys that they did when we lived in an apartment, and they are totally satisfied. But when you have fewer toys, you want to make sure that they’re open-ended toys that can be played with in many ways. That’s always our goal when bringing in new indoor toys, and these are our favorites:
- Magnetic tiles and fun accessories 1, 2, & 3
- Lego and fun lego storage for big kids, minifig wall display
- Duplo and vehicle accessories for toddlers
- Playmobil vehicles like this cute RV
- Peg people (we painted ours!)
- Animal figurines (we’ve been collecting these slowly for years)
- Dinosaur toys
- Matchbox cars
- Bluey RV
- Little People camper
- Road tape
- Hexbugs
- Pop toys
- Puzzles (we often thrift and donate ours, but a state puzzle is a must!)
- Jewelry organizer for nature collections
Craft Supplies
Our kids are big into crafting, so we dedicate a fair amount of our storage space to craft supplies. Craft supplies are the perfect RV gift ideas item because they’re consumable and won’t take up space forever!
- Paint by sticker books
- Colored pencils
- Watercolors
- Sketch books
- Colors of the world markers
- Portable photoprinter for scrapbooking
- Cardboard box toolkit
- Fairy garden supplies
- Drawing books
- Art supply organizer
- Artwork storage
Outdoor Toys
We have way expanded the number of outdoor toys we own since living in apartment. We’re outside so much more thanks to RV life that it makes total sense! Plus, these items ride in the bed of the truck or toy hauler room on travel day. So they don’t take up too much inside space!
- Portable swing frame
- Saucer swing
- Small trampoline
- Bounce house
- Walkie talkies
- Compact sensory table
- Folding water table
- Kinetic sand or dollar store beans, rice, or pebbles
- Stomp rocket
- Foam glider
- Tonka dump truck
- Outdoor stepping stones
- Catch and release (my kids LOVE this!)
- Reusable water balloons
- Collapsible buckets
- Digging tools
- Bug catcher
- Slingshot
Hiking Gear
We spend so much time hiking now that hiking gear had to make the RV gift ideas list! Plus, kids are always outgrowing their gear. I resisted getting our kids fancy hiking boots for a long time, but it has been totally worth the investment (have you read our hiking with kids tips?).
Books
When you’re traveling and out in nature all of the time, there’s so much to learn (even for grownups!). These are some of our favorite books for learning about the world around us.
Travel Day Activities
Traveling kids spend long days in the car. So items to help pass the road trip days are the perfect RV gift ideas for kids! These have made our travel days so much more enjoyable. Especially the Yotos. Worth every penny.
- Yoto player, plus protective case and headphones (read my detailed Yoto review!)
- Kindle paperwhite kids
- Nintendo Switch
- Doodle board
- Storage clipboard for artwork and schoolwork
- Scratch & sketch book
- Travel bingo
- Bento lunchbox
Memberships & Subscriptions
Traveling families can take incredible advantage of museum memberships that have reciprocity agreements. We have visited at least a dozen science museums with one science center membership, thanks to the ASTC reciprocity program. This makes a membership the perfect addition to the RV gift ideas list.
- Science center membership with ASTC reciprocity
- Zoo membership with AZA reciprocity
- Children’s museum membership with ACM reciprocity
- Kindle Unlimited or Audible subscription
- Library card with excellent e-book options
RV Gift Ideas for RV Living
There are a few miscellaneous items on this RV gift ideas list that just make RV life a bit better.
I should probably add that if you’re buying a gift for someone else’s traveling kids (how sweet!), you should always check in first. Space really is so limited, and you want to make sure their kids need the same things that mine do. I also want to note that it’s totally okay and maybe even necessary to scale down how much you buy for RV living. Don’t let this RV gift ideas post make you feel like you need to buy all the things. Your kids will be totally happy with less, as you’ve probably already learned <3
Don’t miss our RV gift ideas for grownups post, too:
- RV Camping Gift Ideas: Unique Grownup Gifts!
- RV Gift Ideas (Special Ideas For Traveling Kids!)
Disclaimer: Product links in this blog post may be Affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission for each purchase made through these links at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps fund our family travel and allows me to keep creating inspiring family travel content for you. I so appreciate when you use my links to make purchases you would have made anyway.
Other RV Life Posts:
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October 1, 2023
Hiking with Kids Tips: 10 Best Tips for Family Hiking
After three years of almost weekly hiking with kids, we’ve learned a few things about how to have an enjoyable family hike! After I wrote my last post about the best places to hike in Alaska with kids, I realized that we’ve only been able to enjoy Alaska hiking so much this summer because we’ve practiced and re-practiced how to keep everyone in the family enjoying themselves. So I thought I’d do a little series with our best tips and tricks for hiking with kids.
1. Start Small
We hiked 8+ miles and 3000 feet of elevation at Exit Glacier a few weeks ago, and our kids did So well. But we sure didn’t start that way! Our first year hiking with small kids, we aimed for 2 miles or less for a good hike. Even just last year, I was only aiming for 4 mile hikes! There are so many incredible short hikes, that I would recommend starting very small if you and your kids are new hikers. That way, you can build success and confidence in their stamina and your preparation skills. Plus, their little legs will just get bigger each year!
2. Tailor Hikes to their Interests
My kids are so much more likely to be cheerful and motivated on a hike if they know the payoff includes a feature that they’re excited. This might include a tidepool, a waterfall, an abandoned vehicle, or a likely animal sighting. So one of my best tips for hiking with kids is to choose your hike wisely according to their interests and get them hyped up about what you’ll see!
3. Pre-game the Flora & Fauna
No matter where you are in the world, there are interesting plants and creatures to observe. Hiking with kids is so much fun when you’ve prepared ahead of time and can identify what you find! We’ve started collecting field guides (the Peterson Guides are among our favorites — starting with this birds guide and this reptiles and amphibians one would be fun!), and the kids get a real thrill every time they correctly identify something as small as a moth or type of fungi. If you’re visiting a National or State Park in an unfamiliar area, the visitor’s centers will often have posters displayed or field guides available for purchase in the gift shop.
4. Make It a Game
In this picture, my middle is hiking with a giant stick between his legs because he was pretending to be a quidditch player in Harry Potter (we’ve been reading the books out loud together lately!). This kept him from complaining that his legs were tired on a hard hike for almost a mile. We play silly games while hiking with kids alllll the time. Some ideas: pretend you’re cars that need to take gas breaks or visit the mechanic every few hundred feet, hike like a local animal that you love and make their silly animal noises, or act like that water crossing is actually a lava crossing and you can’t fall into it! This can turn a hike where we’re on the struggle bus into a fun family memory.
5. Bring More Snacks
This is one of my number one pieces of parenting advice no matter the location: bring more snacks than you think you’ll need. This is especially true while hiking with kids and burning extra calories. All the snacks. Alllll the snacks.
6. Invest in Good Shoes
It’s less important if you’re new to hiking with kids and learning to love shorter hikes, but as you hike longer distances as a family, good hiking shoes are a must. Our kids have these Keens hiking boots this year in Alaska, and we’ve been so happy with them. Investing in quality hiking gear can be expensive, but we bought the big kids their hiking boots on sale around Black Friday. Our youngest got hers from a thrift store since her feet grow so fast as a toddler. My boots also are thrift store finds since my feet grew after every pregnancy. I’m hoping to upgrade for Christmas this year, though! Your local Buy Nothing group might be another option for finding hiking boots if budget is a concern.
7. Grab Fun Hiking “Toys”
Our honorary Aunt Clare introduced a bunch of fun hiking toys last winter that have proven to make our kiddos much perkier on hikes. Some of these are dollar store finds and inexpensive, but they are often only available there seasonally, so I’ve linked similar ones here:
- Toddler style binoculars
- Sand and water fine motor skills toys (these also double as sensory bin toys!)
- Bug catcher kit
- Slingshots
- Compass
- Catch and release tank
- Notebook and pencil for recording observations
- Kid-sized backpack to hold all of it!
8. Pack Layers
Sudden temperature changes, an increase in the wind speed, or an unexpected drizzle are all extremely common on a hike. And nothing ruins a fun trip hiking with kids faster than a kiddo being uncomfortably cold. Unless it’s literally 85 degrees out, we always hike with our favorite Columbia fleece jackets rolled up in the backpack or tied around the kids’ waists. If there’s any chance of rain whatsoever, which has been like all summer in Alaska, we’ll also pack a lightweight rain jacket. Those Columbia fleeces can be spendy multiplied by more than one kid, but they take a beating and absolutely everything we’ve thrown at them across multiple years of hiking with kids has washed right out. Pro tip: get jackets in colors that look nice together in photos like the ones above!
9. Take More Breaks
There are a lot of hikes that feel too daunting when hiking with kids if you power straight through like an athletic grownup would. But we’ve found that a great many challenging hikes can be accomplished with kids if you just slow way down and take as many breaks as you need (sometimes every ten minutes!). Pack a lunch and take one long break whenever it’s needed. Then use snacks and hiking toys and the other (plentiful) breaks you may need, especially on trails with elevation or in very hot weather.
10. Let Them Help Choose
Another general parenting tip of mine that translates well to hiking with kids is to let them help you choose what to do. I’ll often pull up my AllTrails app and Google Maps reviews and let them see a couple of hikes I’m considering and what the most appealing features are and give them a say in what we choose. My kids appreciate a beautiful view now and will often agree to push themselves to get to it or another fun feature (like I mentioned above!). But sometimes they’re honest about their capacity that weekend and we take it easier. Just giving them options helps them feel like active participants in the experience, instead of being grouchy about something they’re being forced to do.
What do you think about hiking with kids — love it or loathe it? What’s been your favorite hike with kids? What are the hiking with kids tips I’m missing? Let me know in the comments!
And if you’re considering a trip to Alaska — absolutely DON’T MISS hiking with kids there! Here’s my list of the best Alaska hikes with kids and a travel guide for your time here.
Disclaimer: Product links in this blog post may be Affiliate links, and I will earn a small commission for each purchase made through these links at no extra cost to you. Affiliate income helps fund our family travel and allows me to keep creating inspiring family travel content for you. I so appreciate when you use my links to make purchases you would have made anyway.
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August 28, 2023