Caches most liked by children

[+xenotime]

Hi,

 

While planning to hide some new caches in Poland, I would like to start a series specificly addressed to kids. I think this is quite a niche at the moment in the GC Polish community.

 

To me, a kid-friendly cache should be placed in a reasonably safe place (no life threatening), clean area (no rubbish), preferably not in a busy place (no stealth required). Preferably large with nice swap items, or a small/micro in a fancy unusual container (Donald Duck sitting in a hole in a tree... ).

Multi-caches are ok with puzzles that can be solved by kids, like matching pictures and places.

 

I am talking about smaller kids because teenagers can easily go for regular caches.

 

I would very much welcome your own opinions and opinions of your kids introduced to caching.

 

1. What caches give most satisfaction to your kids? (you can paste some links to caches and your experiences too )

 

2. What things do they like finding in the cache?

 

3. Any specific advice for me starting a new kids-friendly series?

 

Thank you very much in advance for your replies!

[+chrisandjanet]

Oops. Sorry.

Edited March 10, 2011 by chrisandjanet

[+chrisandjanet]

My daughter (5 years) loves ammo boxes in the woods, with relatively easy walks right up to about 20 feet of ground zero. She likes lots of goodies, but not necessarily expensive stuff. Stickers,small yo-yos, plastic jewelry.

[+briansnat]

When niece and nephews were young I would take them caching. Nothing would light their eyes up more than a cache filled with toys.

[+MoonCatKDT & Peanut]

I'd have to say anything big and full of goodies. Also i'd say if it's a nice length of a walk but nothing too long that they will lose interest. As long as its a good size so it can hold tons of swag for them to play with and trade I think you're good.

 

I don't have kids, but in caching with my little cousins this is what they seem to enjoy.

[+StarBrand]

Nothing like an ammobox full of toys hidden from plain sight but easily seen when close after a nice walk over/through the woods/grass.

[+the4dirtydogs]

Our daughter is 7 and she likes anything bigger than micros. She likes to trade for things like: little dolls, costume jewelry, stickers, pencils, stamps, plastic insects, hot wheel cars, games, and anything else thats cool in a cache. She also likes finding the cache on her own, which she does often.

Edited March 10, 2011 by the4dirtydogs

[+Sins DS]

TFTC (Toys for the children)

[+NYPaddleCacher]

My 7 year old son is not particularly interested in geocaching. He seems to enjoy the occasional cache find but I'd say he mostly just tolerates it. Something that I have found that helps is if the cache is located somewhere where there is something else to do that a child might like. For example, while on vacation awhile back I was looking for some caches to find and came across a couple that were in small parks. Both of the parks had small playgrounds so once we found the caches he was able to play in the playground for awhile before moving on. He's also enjoyed caches that we've found along bike trails. He had fun finding the cache, but it was the bike ride down a nice trail that he probably enjoyed the most.

 

In other words, it's not always so much about the cache itself, or the contents found within, but the fact that it was a cache that brought us to a place that a child would enjoy. As it turns out, the same criteria works pretty well for adults as well.

[+thecaswellfamily]

As noted by many previous posters, our kids love to find ammo cans full of goodies. Our seven year old recently opened her own geocaching.com account, and now is showing an interest in micros for the first time ever. Until recently it was ALL about the swag for both of them. They have been known to trade for: erasers, broken pencil sharpener, golf balls, ping-pong balls, bouncy balls (the 3 year old loves balls), figurines, McToys, plastic rings, plastic necklaces, a small frisbee, keychains, flashlights (even if broken- I have no idea why), and "special stones" (those clear squashed marble things sold in florist shops). We leave brightly colored compass caribeaner clips and plastic "jewels" from the craft store. Thank you for keeping kids in mind when placing your caches!

[+lamoracke]

there is one ammo can advertised as a micro in Seattle, but in reality, its a large ammo can with lots of trinkets. The cache itself is inside the ammo can, a bison or tube on a wire. Have seen kids go crazy over looking through the stuff.

[+CanadianRockies]

We've found most kids seem to enjoy a little scare. One of our caches has a bowl containing 100+ wiggly snakes that you must reach through to grab the log book. Another is a 5-stage multi with four bloody, wormy limbs and a full-sized head in the final cache (log book is inside a coffin). A third has a motion/sound-activated skull that flashes lights and makes scary noises.

 

We also have a Hogwarts Series that involves magic wands, a magic compass, an invisibility cloak, a snake-in-a-can, and an easy puzzle. Kids of all ages have said nice things about it.

 

All of them, of course, are well stocked with kid-friendly trinkets.

 

[GOF and Bacall]

Every kid wants to find "Grandma's Cookie Jar".

[+bruno-b]

My four yr old daughter likes bigger caches with lots of goodies... she's doesn't seem to be interested in the box itself.

 

The "scary" cache CanadianRockies wrote about looks cool for kids a bit older. If you think about doing something like that you might consider putting a warning in the description that it is not suitable for younger kids.

 

I agree with you that the place should be safe.

 

you might also consider adjusting the difficulty to the age... for a 4 yr old it has to be pretty obvious.. older children might appreciate a bit more of a challenge... but keep in mind that the attention span of a kid is much smaller than that of an adult... (a kid does not appreciate looking for a container half an hour)

 

when making it a multi/puzzle... maybe don't worry too much about the puzzles, but spend some serious time on an adventurous story line... Like a story about a pirate who hid something... and the story described how the pirate walked and the kids recognise the place the story tells about. children are good with imagination so the story will be very realistic to them.

 

now that I think of it... you could also use a Dora the Explorer theme or whatever TV character children in Poland like... if you are not sure what storylines are suitable for what age groups... go to a book store and check out the children books section.

Edited March 10, 2011 by bruno-b

[+xenotime]

Wow, thank you for all suggestions so far. I've learnt a lot from your experience.

 

There is one more thing about kids: they are most honest reviewers and as you say, it's quite clear whether they like it or not. Their preferences would differ but I'm sure they'll appreciate a good kid-centred idea.

 

Please, keep posting. I'm pretty sure this thread will be of help to many who don't have kids and would like to hide some caches for them

 

Greetings from Krakow, PL!

[GOF and Bacall]

You do realize that "GEOCACHING DOESN'T CARE ABOUT CHINLDREN" right?

 

[+rtyrie]

As others have mentioned, children love swag!

 

In about 3 years of caching I have personally never traded a single item. However, trading is the ONLY reason that my eight year old daughter will voluntarily go caching with me. Also, children prefer short hikes.

[+NicknPapa]

My partner is a bit older, not quite a teenager but getting real close. He likes bigger caches with swag to trade and hikes to new and interesting places, preferably with water involved somewhere. He absolutely hates deceptive caches, i.e. a film canister shoved up a plastic rabbit's ...errrr... you know and called "small". By that logic you could put one in a knothole in a Redwood and call it a "bloody giant huge"

[+BuckeyeClan]

What everybody else said about easy hikes and large containers filled with fun stuff.

 

I would add to pay special attention to the terrain immediately surrounding the cache. Young kids (maybe 6 and younger) can struggle with terrain that an adult doesn't even think about. Things like: a slope covered with slippery leaves; a lot of twisted roots or downed trees to step over/around/through; prickly plants that have to be avoided; loose rocks, or anything that makes your footing or balance a little iffy. Small kids with their short legs and tiny feet will often struggle with terrain that an able-bodied adult doesn't even notice. It's hard for them to have fun searching when every step becomes a struggle! (And it's more fun for the parent, too, if they don't have to carry their child, or hold their hand with every step.)

 

Good luck with placing kid-friendly caches!

[+rdeg]

When we take our grandkids with us they for sure like the larger ammo can type caches that are relatively easy for them to spot. I always try to let them be the ones to find it even if I have to gently steer them to the right spot. They love the McDonald toys and stuff you and I would consider junk. I like to get the kids meals when I go to the fast food places and I put those toys in the caches. I know many adults consider them to be annoying junk but to the kids they are often treasures. The best thing my grandson found once was when we visited a geocache that had books as the theme. It was the largest ammo can I have seen and it was full of books of all kinds that people were trading. My grandson actually found the second book in a series of books he had started reading. He was surprised and very excited to have found it.

[+Penlowe]

What everybody else said about easy hikes and large containers filled with fun stuff.

 

I would add to pay special attention to the terrain immediately surrounding the cache. Young kids (maybe 6 and younger) can struggle with terrain that an adult doesn't even think about. Things like: a slope covered with slippery leaves; a lot of twisted roots or downed trees to step over/around/through; prickly plants that have to be avoided; loose rocks, or anything that makes your footing or balance a little iffy. Small kids with their short legs and tiny feet will often struggle with terrain that an able-bodied adult doesn't even notice. It's hard for them to have fun searching when every step becomes a struggle! (And it's more fun for the parent, too, if they don't have to carry their child, or hold their hand with every step.)

 

Good luck with placing kid-friendly caches!

Yes yes yes!

My husband annoys our children regularly by walking through bushes and vines that promptly sproing back and hit them in the face, he has yet to learn how to pick a kid friendly path through the woods. I have very long hair. I always tie it back or braid it when we go hiking, but he manages to drag us through brush that still catches my hair at every turn. Next time we go out I'm leading the way.

[+BlueMoth]

If I could point out just one example of a great children's cache it would be one that I found in Mississippi. Here is a link to Treasure Chest of Sparkles. A very fun and easy mystery cache for kids all ages, filled with pirate flags, eyepatches, mardi gras beads, etc. I believe that the CO keeps it well stocked.

 

edit to say mystery, not multi

Edited March 12, 2011 by BlueMoth

[medoug]

A neat idea for children that I came across when finding a multi-cache was to include an easy small 20-piece jigsaw puzzle in the first-stage container. After the picture side of the puzzle was solved, the puzzle could be turned over to read the coordinates to be entered into your GPS to find the second stage.

 

medoug.

Edited March 12, 2011 by medoug

[medoug]

BTW... Adults liked the cache too.

Edited March 12, 2011 by medoug

[+xenotime]

We made a similar thing once: a 3-D puzzle to assemble and then you read coordinates.