Geocaching With Kids

[sesvacamas]

We are tutoring kids this summer in beautiful rural New Jersey and want to expose them to learning through the outdoors. How should we go about getting them started on geocaching? Can any age be part of finding and/or creating a geocache? How about urban youth taking part in their first experience outdoors? Any feedback or stories on kids who have been part of geocaching before, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[+briansnat]

Its simple enough to get started. Get a GPS, plug in the coordinates and bring the kids along. If your program has money available you might be able to buy an inexpensive GPS or two (The Garmin Geko 101 is around $50) and let the kids take turns holding the units.

 

Kids of any age can participate. I started taking my nephew along when he was 3 and he really enjoyed it. Now that he's 7 he can't wait for me to visit so we can go geocaching. Its the first thing he asks about when he sees me.

 

Kids can also participate in placing a cache. You should select a quality container and then allow them to stock it. Then you can head out with them and let them hide it (of course you should retain veto power over the hiding spot in case you think they used bad judgement).

 

Where are you in NJ? I can probably suggest some good, kid friendly caches.

[+Sevilon]

We look through the available geocaches and choose ones that mention they have a lot of kid's things in them, or that say they are family friendly. A lot say things like "great park for the kids nearby". Some even mention getting into the vicinity and then handing the GPS to the kids, as they made the find somewhat easy for children.

 

My kids are 6 and 7. We have been geocaching for about a year, and they love it. We try to keep terrain to 3 or lower, and generally do hikes that are a couple of miles each way or less. We can increase as they get older.

Have fun with it.

[Keystone]

For hiding geocaches, try having each kid place a cache for the others in the group to find. These can be "private" caches with the descriptions written up on paper and photocopied for the others.

 

Having caches published on Geocaching.com is a different matter. If they are inside of the summer camp, and the general public is not allowed there, then you will face an uphill battle to get the caches published. You will also need to comply with the Geocaching.com listing guidelines.

 

Recently in my review territory, a camp program director took the students to a nearby state park, where each of the 8 group members placed a cache. Unfortunately, the caches were spaced closely together -- 35 feet apart, 125 feet apart, etc. -- because that is where the group got off the bus to go practice. And, the group did not apply for the permits required by our State Parks. I had to deny all eight listings.

[+GreyingJay]

A number of years I found a post here on these forums from a fellow who did something with, I think, a Scout troop. I liked his ideas so much that I basically copied them when I made plans for a summer camp activity this past year...

 

At the summer camp I volunteer with, we just launched a new program called Explorers for older teens (14-16 years old) so we were looking for larger-scale activities to do with them. One of the things we did was a mix of things based on the Scout troop idea, Geocaching, and the TV reality series "The Amazing Race".

 

The event was billed as "The Amazing Race: Explorers Edition". It was basically a big campout. The kids packed their sleeping bags, etc. into a truck which drove away to the "secret" sleepout area before the race started. The object of the race was, like the TV show, to be the first get around to all the waypoints and finally arrive at the sleepout area.

 

We had T-shirts made up in different team colors for the kids to wear. Each team was given a GPS unit, basic instructions and rules, a clue envelope, and nothing else (the original plan was to give them backpacks with basic supplies, but this didn't turn out to be necessary -- their counsellors had first aid supplies and radios, and anything else they needed could be supplied along the race). Like The Amazing Race, teams had no clue where they would go or what challenges they would face.

 

On "Go", teams ripped open their clue envelopes, which revealed GPS coordinates to their next clue. It was basically a giant multi-waypoint geocache, with events, twists, or other clues in between. Not every waypoint was given with GPS coordinates, some had word clues based on their knowledge of camp. Some clues were hidden inside green ammo boxes, Geocaching-style. Others were hidden under wooden benches, inside a birdhouse attached to a tree in the woods, etc. Some waypoints required teams to do some work, like peel potatoes (to be cooked for dinner later that evening), eat an entire box of Oreos before continuing, shooting at targets with slingshots and paintballs.

 

The race took 2-3 hours to complete. The winning teams got their pick out of a treasure chest full of Geocaching-style swag (in fact what I did was simply took my box of Geo-swag up to camp and let them pillage it!)

 

I told the campers about (actual) Geocaching after the race ended. After camp ended, I took a camper to do some actual caches around the city, and now he can't wait to do more