Improve the selection
If you are taking preschoolers camping in cold weather, this compact backpack is your best option. There is a sleeping pad pocket on the back of the bag for extra warmth and comfort; you must provide your pad, however.
For kids older than about preschool age, the Wolverine is probably the best fit — it works for those up to 4-foot-8.
If your family does a lot of cool or cold camping, it would be great to get one of these Big Agnes bags for your child. Both stand out with their built-in sleeping pad sleeves, which will keep your baby on top of the pad – and thus even warmer and more comfortable – all night long.
The three sizes available work for a wide age range. Big Agnes makes baby bags in three sizes, all rated at 20˚F. Little Red is designed for children up to 4 feet tall. The nearly identical Wolverine is for kids up to 4-foot-8 (but, as we found out with the REI Co-op Kindercone 25, this bag can fit kids a little taller than that). And the adjustable Torchlight EXP Youth 20 is aimed at those up to 5-foot-4 — but it’s lower mounted and more expensive than the other two bags.
If we were buying a large Agnes bag for a 2-year-old or a 3-year-old, we would get the Little Red, assuming that the child will get at least two years of use out of it. For any child older than that, we might go straight to Wolverine (unless there’s a younger sibling who will need a smaller sleeping bag in the future). A father from Boulder, Colorado, we know bought his son a Big Agnes bag when he was just 1 year old. “In tents, in cold temperatures, it’s cool and doesn’t wake up,” my dad wrote to us, recommending the sleeping bag sleeping pad system.
They create a warm, comfortable setup. Big Agnes built its reputation on quality sleeping bags with built-in sleeping pad sleeves that – if you’re stuffed with a sleeping pad purchased separately – eliminate the need to tuck under the bag.
At first we thought that the program seemed too much for young children. But a mid-30 degree February night in Joshua Tree assured us of Little Red’s superiority. One 5-year-old subject often rolled over on his sleeping pad in the middle of the night. It was nice to know that with this bag, his protective gear would sit securely under his tiny, 37-pound body, greatly reducing the chance of him waking up lying between air mattresses – cold, confused, and begging to climb into bed with mom and dad. Big Agnes’ program solved a problem that we had never had before that needed to be solved.
Works with most standard width camping pads. Any pad 20 inches wide and less than 4.25 inches thick will fit into Big Agnes bags – and you may already own one. Otherwise, Therm-a-Rest’s Z Lite Sol, the budget pick in our guide to the best sleeping pads, will come in a regular or small version, and is a great option for kids as it’s close to indestructible. Nemo Equipment makes a shorter version of its Switchback pad, and that’s another option, like this inflatable kid-sized pad from REI.
These bags are lighter and pack smaller than our other picks. The two smaller Big Agnes bags have a polyester ripstop shell with a water-repellent coating, and use a proprietary synthetic fill. They pack down smaller than REI bags, making them a great option for a first backpacking trip. You can also buy a bag of stuffing stuff from Big Agnes to make it even tighter. Wolverine’s bag weighs 2 pounds 4 ounces; that’s significantly lighter than the similarly sized Kindercone 25, which weighs 3 pounds 3 ounces.
They are incredibly soft and comfortable. That filling about making it feels so low and so easy – during our 2025 testing, kids found these bags over and over again for movie snuggles and “caterpillar fights,” and even some of the more colorful and cute sleeping bags available.
Starting in 2025, all Big Agnes bags are made without PFAS. The bags have an optional warranty.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
They are very expensive. Some parents may hesitate to send their child to a sleeper with expensive outdoor gear, and end up buying a second, cheaper play bag. We get that, but know that Big Agnes bags are adjustable and can survive in normal bad houses.