[Luc]

This is for car or boat camping, not backpacking. We (m&d) use those super luxe exped mega mats. Our daughter (now 4yo) used a shrunks for a few years but it was a bit cold and fragile. We're looking for something that has insulation and is comparable to our megamats - just not adult size. What I find online are backpacking pads, and no-namer car camping pads. Any recs for thick car camping pads for kids that aren't big enough for a full length?

[Randito]

An adult "torso lenght" pad should work pretty good. Kids need may more insulation than adults, but padding is less critical.

[JVesquire]

My kids (7 and 4) sleep pretty soundly on 3/4 Zrests. As Randy said, warmer but not necessarily very padded.

[sarbar]

A good 3/4 Zrest or similar works well. And a huge bonus is they can't puncture it.......if it isn't comfy enough for car camping, toss a blanket over it, then sleeping bag All my kids have done this.

[Hiker Mama]

My kids used the kid-sized REI foam-core pad. Something like this: https://www.rei.com/product/895082/rei-co-op-kindercamp-sleeping-pad-kids This was several years ago, so I can't vouch for this particular model, but they held up really well and were light weight and warm.

[markh752]

My kids didn't like the idea of using a "pad" until I purchased an Exped7. The "rest" is history!

waking up

[Hiker Mama]

LOL! My son hated the kid pads, he begged for an air mattress, so I got him the Big Agnes one on sale a few years ago. He's adult-sized now, so I think it was a good investment.