SpartanHope

Just figured I would post an update here, since we're partway (most of the way) through the summer. This has been a fun project for me, and some of our scouts really took interest too, while others didn't really. We had the whole gamut. What worked well -- having the scouts "vote" or submit ideas on where they wanted the TB to travel talking with the older (3rd/4th graders moving onto next grade) about geocaching, rules, and how to do things right. This age group wanted to follow the rules. posting updates about where the TB travelled on the pack FB group and public FB page. Those who were interested asked about it more. Asking my local geocaching group for help to get the TB moving. I met up with a couple cachers, who took the TB to events and meetups, allowing them to get out of state. hosting an "unofficial" cache event for the cub scouts (grades K-5th) -- they got to learn about geocaching, have fun finding caches, signing names, etc ....but when some kids didn't get the rules, it didn't mess with any official caches. (we had a couple kids empting swag and not replacing, even though we had a "swag bin" you could grab from. Other scouts kept them honest, but still....). What didn't / or what could have been done better -- I wasn't able to monitor/lead all the kids through the idea of geocaching. I think it would have been awesome, retrospectively, to get help from a couple local geocachers willing to talk about / lead interested scouts on a hike and talk about geocaching. This wouldn't work at the pack level, but at a den level, and only for the older kids, I think. Obviously I transitioned away from my idea for the pack planting actual caches. That wouldn't have worked. We did hide a couple caches, with interested scouts, but it's something that will be maintained by me. I think at this age, the parent needs to be willing to help maintain the cache for it to be a go. Some of the parents didn't really understand (or care) about geocaching. It would be good to have a couple adults (i.e. more than just one) who know how to do it, and how to teach kids the basics. Other takeaways I got a ton of help from my local (state) geocaching group. I wish I had known about that earlier. Sometimes kids who love geocaching are just not in the mood to geocache. It's okay, and don't take it personally. There are a bunch of people who are willing to offer tips/advice for you if you message them. My kids regularly ask me to ask for additional tips. And people are very kind. scouts will be much more interested in geocaching at the older ages (middle/high school)....BSA troop level. At cub scout level, Trackables are cool enough to keep them interested ("ooh, look, our trackable made it to Wyoming!"). Thanks so much for all your help, I really appreciate it.

@kunarion that's a really cool story! I'll take a look at some of those threads you mentioned. and thanks for the tips on photographability (is that a word?) of the codes etc. -- so helpful!

Thanks @TeamRabbitRun - I will do that!

Thank you all for putting up with my silly newbie questions! And for those of you who took the time to be patient with me while I revised my grandiose plans to something more realistic. Scouting event part 1 happened this past weekend. There were definitely kids who filled the range of categories. older scouts who said "I don't have a GC account, so I can't/won't participate" (appreciate their responsibility/honesty/awareness) scouts who adopted the "keep it secret, keep it safe" mentality very well scouts who could care less about the concept and preferred other activities (danger/alert! don't expose to real caches! lol) In case someone else stumbles across this thread wanting to know what I ended up doing... Just to reassure everyone -- we didn't visit/find official caches. I hid some takeout containers with party favors, old patches, a pencil, and a log. a couple really interested scouts helped me hide them, and make up riddles for finding them (these fell into category #2 above) We had a bin of more party favors/patches that they could take a few items for trading purposes It was an optional (i.e INTEREST-based) activity. Some scouts learned about it and searched, others did not. My phase two of this is as follows: do more research on trackables (I've been reading up like crazy on the forum threads before posting this time) have each den choose where they want "their trackable" to travel (I will be trackable owner/holder, and will be taking them places NOT the scouts) over the summer I will either have the trackables visit different caches in the area, or possibly set proxy trackables free to travel. In fall, we can do a recap of which cities/states were visited (I won't post cache locations, will make it more generic for those whose parents aren't into GC and don't really care) If parents are already into GC, they can watch their dens' trackable and keep their scout posted over the summer.

That's a great way to relate it to scouting. I love it. I totally get this. And over the course of this thread's discussion, definitely got it even more. Not everyone's kids may be as respectful of the concept of geocaching as mine are, hah. Thank you for that! I am not sure how I missed it. Oh yeah, it's because I'm new around here. . I'll definitely take a peek!

First off, I might be reading something wrong into your post -- but it sounds like I might have offended you. My apologies. Thank you for the idea to look into the handbook as a resource -- much appreciated! My whole reason for making a post in the first place to to educate myself about how to garner enthusiasm about geocaching at the younger ages, so that I wasn't co-teaching this unawares. I had no intentions of suggesting these kids make their own geocaching account. And I'm not trying to teach them everything about geocaching in one sitting. As you implied, that would be ridiculous.

Experience comes over time, right? Takeaway....next time, before I believe such comments, I might want to look and see if they have a lot of finds under their belt. Thank you! Based on your advice (and the others' comments here too) ....I'm contemplating a new thought process for this. 1. Teach the scouts about basics of geocaching and etiquette as per above 2. Hide some unofficial caches for them to practice finding during our event 3. Have scouts vote on a travel goal for TB.... and drop a couple in different existing caches around the area. 4. Maybe create one or more scout-maintained caches at a future date - assuming enough scouts show continued interest in helping me and the other adult maintain them. Thoughts?

I looked on the comments of the geocache and multiple users mentioned that the cache wasn't there... and may have been taken or moved as of X date. Being new, I assumed that to be fact. You're absolutely right in that I maybe shouldn't make assumptions. My apologies!

Thanks. I'm not sure how I missed that page.

Got it. Thanks for that info. I'll revise our plans a bit as we proceed here so that we can hide a long term cache. Appreciate it. Is there a good thread to look through for "hiding your first cache" -- I want to make sure that I don't miss anything.

I like that concept. Thank you.

Really good point. I will make sure to emphasize this when we talk with the scouts.

Good to know. Thank you!

Thanks - this is really helpful. I like the hands on aspect, and letting them practice before doing a real hike. Good tip about friends hearing about hidden treasure. Thank you!

Thanks for the honesty. I get it. I'm working with another leader who has been geocaching since 2004 -- so they know the ropes a lot better than I do. That being said, I don't want to help out with this while being completely unprepared -- so I decided to do some research here ahead of time. I'm also planning to do some geocaching this week to get my feet wet because I agree with you 100%. Sorry it came across as a random "hey, we're gonna dump some caches and never check on them again." Yes, we will be teaching responsibility for maintenance to the scouts. I don't want them dumping random caches out in the wild and never checking on it. I don't have much experience, but I know that is definitely not right. While they are out there, we'll definitely maintain them.

Thanks for asking! I edited my original post to mention that while I haven't done any official geocaching, one of the leaders has been doing so since 2004. They're indisposed this week so I figured I would get a start on learning the do's and don'ts -- because if I'm going to help out with something, I want to make sure to do things right. While I haven't found any caches yet.... the few caches I did try to find last year weren't there anymore. Being new to geocaching, I didn't know you could mark something unfound....so I didn't even mark us unsuccessful in those. My kids have done geocaches with their teachers through school -- which obviously weren't listed on geocaching.com. We'll be heading out this week to find some caches so I have some successful finds under my belt before helping teach scouts. We won't be placing any caches without maintaining them. Our actual plan is to place them for the summer, and then remove them at the end of the summer. I haven't researched the details on activating/deactivating caches (that probably isn't even the right term, my apologies) but if that's the right way to do things, I'd love to be pointed in the right direction. All said and done we definitely don't want to be leaving any caches unmaintained. As you mentioned, that's a poor representation of scouting -- and I don't want to be a part of that. Thanks again for your response. I appreciate your candor and honesty.

Thanks for all the good tips... and appreciate your elaboration on the proxy tags. I'm taking notes so I do this right!

I signed up for a geocaching account last year but until now, haven't really had time to do much official geocaching. That is about to change though -- I'm helping our cub scout pack put together some geocaches that we are planning to hide for the summer, and would love any tips you can share to help make this a fun and exciting experience. I've ordered some trackables, and have been advised by a longtime enthusiast to write the trackable number on an item rather than including the trackable itself in the cache. We're planning on including some scout patches and other scout-related items too. Any tips for someone new to geocaching... at making a successful cache? Any other tips to help make this a success for the kids? Thanks!! ETA: My official geocaching record is as limited as my profile suggests. That being said, we do have other leadership in the pack that has been geocaching since 2004, and still does it regularly. They will be helping with this but are tied up this week with work.... so I figured I would ask here in the meantime. ETA (again): Based on advice given below ....I'm contemplating a new thought process for this. 1. Teach the scouts about basics of geocaching and etiquette as per recommendations 2. Hide some unofficial caches for them to practice finding during our event 3. Have scouts vote on a travel goal for TB.... and drop a couple in different existing caches around the area. 4. Maybe create one or more scout-maintained caches at a future date - assuming enough scouts show continued interest in helping me and the other adult maintain them.