The Practical Side of Toddler Caching

[+Atropos3]

I think my son would be a good cacher. His vantage point provides a unique perspective and since ohhh, about 90% of the stuff in the world is still brand new to him he picks up things that are nothing but background noise to me.

 

In 1 -2 star terrain I think we'd be good. I can backpack him in to GZ and then let him wander a bit.

 

Any tips from experienced parents on how to keep the tyke safe? Check for snakes, spray some bug spray, avoid poison ivy and try to keep things out of his mouth. That much I have.

 

Am I missing anything?

 

Micro Cacher

[+Dadothree17]

I have three mini-cachers (as I call them) - ages 7, 4, and 23 months. They all enjoy helping me find the cache, and my 7-year old can even beat me to the find sometimes. So, go for it. . .plus, he's cute, so that might garner a few hints if you bump into other cachers or the owner.

[+bittsen]

Personally I don't like finding toddlers in caches. First there were hamster caches and now toddler caches? What is this hobby coming to?

 

If you are going to put a toddler in an ammo can, make sure they have a tetanus shot.

[+narcissa]

I've done most of my caching with my son, who is now 3. When he was smaller, I stuck to low terrain caches, but by now he can handle rougher trails on his own with a bit of assistance. He was with me for a good portion of The Binthair Challenge.

 

In December I took him to the GPS Adventure Maze, along with a friend and her little boys. I was so proud of my guy when he showed off his mad caching skills to the other kids.

[+Mudfrog]

Our little Tx Tadpole, just turned 2 last month. She really enjoys being out in the woods and says "ready to go" when someone mentions something about going caching. We were using a big wheeled jogging type stroller to carry her for a while but these days she walks most of the way on the shorter hikes. Like the OP is thinking, there are definitely times when she sees things faster than us adults. She's spotted a few caches first that us adults were having trouble with!

[+JBnW]

Our avatar (now 2.5 yo) has learned to yell "CACHE!!!" everytime the cell phone makes the "incoming text message" sound; and now, with every new incoming message, grabs the cell phone and comes running "CACHE, Daddy...CACHE!!"

 

A great aid in not missing those FTF chances!

[+Snoogans]

Our little Tx Tadpole, just turned 2 last month. She really enjoys being out in the woods and says "ready to go" when someone mentions something about going caching. We were using a big wheeled jogging type stroller to carry her for a while but these days she walks most of the way on the shorter hikes. Like the OP is thinking, there are definitely times when she sees things faster than us adults. She's spotted a few caches first that us adults were having trouble with!

 

Wow. Tadpole was born 2 days before the Snooglet and I haven't taken him cachin' since he was 3 days old. Maybe I should try it soon.

[+krasota]

My 2.5yo toddler loves it. Treasure hunting makes hikes more fun, he says.

 

And while they're still young and easily entertained by shapes, try hunting benchmarks.

 

He's trying to climb into the Deuter now (big ol' framepack), but I told him it's an Ergo kind of day (above freezing).

[+LeftCoastCachers]

My 4 1/2 year old LOVE "treasure hunting", as he calls it.

 

He also makes great cover when muggles are curious about why we are poking around in bushes and under rocks.

 

"See kiddo, that's a bug down there! And look, some moss!"

[+The Neumanns]

we have always cached with the kids, our little GIT(geocachers in training) are almost 5 and almost 3, they were 4 and 2 when we started.

 

We have a backpack carrier for the littlest one because she has walking issues sometimes. The almost 5yo on the other hand is a freakin prodigy, he will jump out of the truck and walk straight to them most times leaving his daddy and myself in disbelief LOL

 

as far as bringing things with us, we have a backpack we bring that has everything in it from bug spray, to baby wipes. im sure you know that with little ones you can never be to prepared.

 

be sure to bring a camera to and take lots of pictures of the kids with the caches!!

[+GeoGeeBee]

Toddler caching?

 

I suppose that would be ok, as long as the container has enough air holes. Be sure to leave them a sippy cup and some zwieback.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And maybe a hamster to keep them company.

[+Snoogans]

And maybe a hamster to keep them company.

 

Company? More like a meal if it's a day or two between finds.

Edited January 11, 2010 by Snoogans

[+bflentje]

Personally I don't like finding toddlers in caches. First there were hamster caches and now toddler caches? What is this hobby coming to?

 

If you are going to put a toddler in an ammo can, make sure they have a tetanus shot.

 

Another attempt at hijacking a thread. Will it ever end...

[+DragonsWest]

There are a number of Babycachers in the Bay Area. I've seen mum or dad sign them in and write up their log entries. Good family entertainment and fun logs to read.

 

If you do find yourself in the open spaces and woods, do keep in mind that young ones shouldn't stray too far from adults. I'm always uneasy when I see a child 100+ feet from a parent in a park where mountain lions have been sighted.

[7rxc]

And maybe a hamster to keep them company.

 

Company? More like a meal if it's a day or two between finds.

 

SHHH! That's what the toddler is for...

 

Seriously, little kids do like it... sometimes. They certainly can out manoeuvre me when it comes to

bending over.

 

Doug

[+narcissa]

[+Scuba4jews]

Make sure that the cache is big enough to fit them in, kids don't fold too easily. But seriously, get them good boots, sneakers let all the leaves and dirt in leaving them with hurt'en feet.

[+Opalblade]

The mini ninjas are in the 3 to 8yo range. They are happy to find a few caches but after that start to lose interest and need some rest. We stop a LOT to throw rocks in creeks, climb things, and find interesting sticks and rocks to poke things with. Several of my DNF's are because I have a very limited time to look before they get bored or the little one starts to wander off. My eldest does not like geocaching AT ALL - he'll just watch as the rest of us look. Other three enjoy it (for limited amounts of time), and my 7yo has his own account Mini ninja #2. Sometimes I just make a note he found it with his mom, other times I'll ask him what he'd like to tell the various cache owners about their hide and type it up.

 

What I carry:

 

First aid kit

Gardening gloves (whoever is going to be poking around at ground zero puts on a pair - lots of thorny plants and trees in TX)

water

snacks, lots and lots and LOTS of diff kinds of snacks

picnic lunch if we're out for a long time

 

In Summer also:

 

Child-safe bug repellent

Sunglasses and/or hat

[+Tcaches]

My nearly 4 year old loves "treasure hunting" too. And I love to bring her along. But I have to choose the caches carefully. She's a sociable little thing and loves to tell absolutely everyone we encounter that "We are going treasure hunting!!" It's hard to look for caches and keep an eye on her at the same time. Then there are physical hazards- fatigue, hunger, boredom, bramble bushes...

 

It's a fun thing for us to do together and I think it will get even more fun as she gets older. But at this age, I have to be very very careful and plan ahead or we both get frustrated.

[+thecaswellfamily]

My 2 1/2 year old loves it, as does her 6 year old sister. Advice, don't try to do too many in one trip... as mentioned earlier, my kids love the first cache, are usually okay for the second one, and tend to declare mutiny when I'm heading for #3! Be patient, we spend HOURS examining sticks, watching ducks, exclaiming over leaves and rocks. They are both really interested in looking things up in our feild guide (it has bright colorful pictures). My 6 year old is really getting into CITO and will spot garbage (and demand it's retrieval) regardless of where we are (for example, asking me to wade into knee deep lakewater in mid January to retrieve a submerged beer can)!

 

As for my pack... I have a backpack for each kid. They contain a couple of different snacks, water, and a kiddo sized pair of binoculars, as well as a whatever SWAG they pick up. Each kid gets an engineering compass on a lanyard. I get the GPSr but sometimes I let them take turns with it. My backpack has the first aid kit, baby wipes, extra pull-ups, toilet paper, plastic bags for CITO, adult binoculars, feild guide, gardening gloves, flashlight, purel, chapstick, sunscreen, the GPSr, maps and compass. OH! And extra batteries and camera Oh yeah! And our "SWAG Bag" full of stuff to leave behind. And cell phone.

[+Atropos3]

My 2 1/2 year old loves it, as does her 6 year old sister. Advice, don't try to do too many in one trip... as mentioned earlier, my kids love the first cache, are usually okay for the second one, and tend to declare mutiny when I'm heading for #3! Be patient, we spend HOURS examining sticks, watching ducks, exclaiming over leaves and rocks. They are both really interested in looking things up in our feild guide (it has bright colorful pictures). My 6 year old is really getting into CITO and will spot garbage (and demand it's retrieval) regardless of where we are (for example, asking me to wade into knee deep lakewater in mid January to retrieve a submerged beer can)!

 

As for my pack... I have a backpack for each kid. They contain a couple of different snacks, water, and a kiddo sized pair of binoculars, as well as a whatever SWAG they pick up. Each kid gets an engineering compass on a lanyard. I get the GPSr but sometimes I let them take turns with it. My backpack has the first aid kit, baby wipes, extra pull-ups, toilet paper, plastic bags for CITO, adult binoculars, feild guide, gardening gloves, flashlight, purel, chapstick, sunscreen, the GPSr, maps and compass. OH! And extra batteries and camera Oh yeah! And our "SWAG Bag" full of stuff to leave behind. And cell phone.

 

What field guide are you using? I would love something like that!

 

Also, I think it's awesome that your kids are getting involved in CITO. It's wonderful to encourage little environmentally conscious kids who may grow up to be more responsible adults.

[+thecaswellfamily]

My 2 1/2 year old loves it, as does her 6 year old sister. Advice, don't try to do too many in one trip... as mentioned earlier, my kids love the first cache, are usually okay for the second one, and tend to declare mutiny when I'm heading for #3! Be patient, we spend HOURS examining sticks, watching ducks, exclaiming over leaves and rocks. They are both really interested in looking things up in our feild guide (it has bright colorful pictures). My 6 year old is really getting into CITO and will spot garbage (and demand it's retrieval) regardless of where we are (for example, asking me to wade into knee deep lakewater in mid January to retrieve a submerged beer can)!

 

As for my pack... I have a backpack for each kid. They contain a couple of different snacks, water, and a kiddo sized pair of binoculars, as well as a whatever SWAG they pick up. Each kid gets an engineering compass on a lanyard. I get the GPSr but sometimes I let them take turns with it. My backpack has the first aid kit, baby wipes, extra pull-ups, toilet paper, plastic bags for CITO, adult binoculars, feild guide, gardening gloves, flashlight, purel, chapstick, sunscreen, the GPSr, maps and compass. OH! And extra batteries and camera Oh yeah! And our "SWAG Bag" full of stuff to leave behind. And cell phone.

 

What field guide are you using? I would love something like that!

 

Also, I think it's awesome that your kids are getting involved in CITO. It's wonderful to encourage little environmentally conscious kids who may grow up to be more responsible adults.

 

I like the National Audubon Society's regional field guides for the pack, as they have a little bit of everything from rocks and minerals to bugs to fish to trees to flowers to mammals, you get the idea. We are in Washington so use the Pacific Northwest guide, I see you are in Georgia so I would check out their Field Guide to the Southeastern States. It's also handy on long car rides... amazing how entertaining looking at those pictures can be!

[+Opalblade]

So sad, there doesn't seem to be one for Texas or including Texas Did find some really neat sounding ones though that I popped into my Amazon wish list covering things like rocks, minerals, fossils and wildlife. Already have one for birds and one for wildlife. Sure would be nice to have one that had a bit of everything though :/

 

My 2 1/2 year old loves it, as does her 6 year old sister. Advice, don't try to do too many in one trip... as mentioned earlier, my kids love the first cache, are usually okay for the second one, and tend to declare mutiny when I'm heading for #3! Be patient, we spend HOURS examining sticks, watching ducks, exclaiming over leaves and rocks. They are both really interested in looking things up in our feild guide (it has bright colorful pictures). My 6 year old is really getting into CITO and will spot garbage (and demand it's retrieval) regardless of where we are (for example, asking me to wade into knee deep lakewater in mid January to retrieve a submerged beer can)!

 

As for my pack... I have a backpack for each kid. They contain a couple of different snacks, water, and a kiddo sized pair of binoculars, as well as a whatever SWAG they pick up. Each kid gets an engineering compass on a lanyard. I get the GPSr but sometimes I let them take turns with it. My backpack has the first aid kit, baby wipes, extra pull-ups, toilet paper, plastic bags for CITO, adult binoculars, feild guide, gardening gloves, flashlight, purel, chapstick, sunscreen, the GPSr, maps and compass. OH! And extra batteries and camera Oh yeah! And our "SWAG Bag" full of stuff to leave behind. And cell phone.

 

What field guide are you using? I would love something like that!

 

Also, I think it's awesome that your kids are getting involved in CITO. It's wonderful to encourage little environmentally conscious kids who may grow up to be more responsible adults.

 

I like the National Audubon Society's regional field guides for the pack, as they have a little bit of everything from rocks and minerals to bugs to fish to trees to flowers to mammals, you get the idea. We are in Washington so use the Pacific Northwest guide, I see you are in Georgia so I would check out their Field Guide to the Southeastern States. It's also handy on long car rides... amazing how entertaining looking at those pictures can be!

[+r0adki1l]

This is my lil cacher Brody he is 5 years old and LOVES caching. He always wants to go "geocaching" and even plays "geocaching" lol. it's great to get them involved in something besides video games and cartoons.

[+thecaswellfamily]

So sad, there doesn't seem to be one for Texas or including Texas Did find some really neat sounding ones though that I popped into my Amazon wish list covering things like rocks, minerals, fossils and wildlife. Already have one for birds and one for wildlife. Sure would be nice to have one that had a bit of everything though :/

 

What field guide are you using? I would love something like that!

 

Also, I think it's awesome that your kids are getting involved in CITO. It's wonderful to encourage little environmentally conscious kids who may grow up to be more responsible adults.

 

I like the National Audubon Society's regional field guides for the pack, as they have a little bit of everything from rocks and minerals to bugs to fish to trees to flowers to mammals, you get the idea. We are in Washington so use the Pacific Northwest guide, I see you are in Georgia so I would check out their Field Guide to the Southeastern States. It's also handy on long car rides... amazing how entertaining looking at those pictures can be!

 

That's crazy! Although they seem to be adding more, when we bought ours there were only two available, so maybe TX is coming. They don't have Alaska either, which drove me CRAZY when we lived up there.

[+TnAMurphy99]

Personally I don't like finding toddlers in caches. First there were hamster caches and now toddler caches? What is this hobby coming to?

 

If you are going to put a toddler in an ammo can, make sure they have a tetanus shot.

 

This made me LOL

 

I take my 3 year old niece with me as often as possible. She loves diving into all sorts of places, and it's been quite helpful on several occasions, as people will look at adults a with interest that's searching a hedge, but a 3 year old poking their head in is just being curious.

 

Also a great cover for the neighborhood park caches that she and I both love to find. We haven't had much of a chance to go out to any 'tougher' terrian, but we have gone hiking on a few easier trails and, with her at least, as long as we don't go too far off the trail and watch our step, we haven't had any close calls

 

The more succesful caching days include stopping to play on the play ground, watching birds, clouds, air planes (whatever's in the sky catching her attention). Just remember that you're doing it for fun, and to teach your kid the same, and everyone involved will have fun

Edited January 13, 2010 by TnAMurphy99

[+EscapeFromFlatland]

I plan to introduce my niece and nephews (ages 2-5) to geocaching when I surprise my family on Mothers Day, right after I get back from Iraq. The nature trail behind my parents' new house has several caches on it that are regular and large.

 

But I'm not sure any of them would fit in the caches.. might have to just stick to hamster caching.

[+Atropos3]

Learned a valuable lesson yesterday. It was warmer yesterday than it has been in weeks. MicroCacher has been FIGHTING me to stay outside even when it has been freezing out. I guess he is as tired as I am of being cooped up inside.

 

I checked and saw that there was a cache near a local park so I took him thinking to make a quick grab.

 

The parking was about 500ft from the cache and I thought we could just walk over there together.

 

HA!

 

I forgot the rule of time v/s distance when it comes to toddlers. Namely, it takes 3-10x longer for them to walk from point A to point B because everything, EVERYTHING is interesting to them...and generally looks like something that should be picked up and licked/eaten/smashed into hair.

 

I didn't make it 10ft past my parking spot because MC discovered a hill with a steep grade that he wanted to explore...so instead of dragging him away kicking and screaming I sat down and spent the last of the battery on my iPhone recording him scooting, rolling, tumbling, and crawling up and down that hill.

 

Overall I'd say it was worthwhile...but now I know that if I want to hunt a cache, mini-feet don't touch the ground until I am within spittin' distance.

[+dorothy&scarecrow]

My 4 1/2 year old LOVE "treasure hunting", as he calls it.

 

He also makes great cover when muggles are curious about why we are poking around in bushes and under rocks.

 

"See kiddo, that's a bug down there! And look, some moss!"

 

 

your geo-team sounds like my geo-team! my 4 yr old always wants to go treasure hunting! he's a big help on getting into those little places! his small hands can reach into places mine can't. also, he can get down on the ground to look for those bush caches. and yes, he's a help with the muggles...."where were you playing with your toy? by the bush?"