Caching with young children

[+PseudoHybrid]

Do your younger children enjoy geocaching? My daughter is almost three years old now, and I've come up with what have been winning approaches for us:

 

• No park-and-grabs. Jumping in and out of a car seat isn’t much fun for either of us. I take her on longer outings in parks or hike in our local nature preserves.
  
• We use a backpack carrier if we’re going out for more than 30 minutes. She also gets to pick two of her favorite toys to carry along.
  
• Playgrounds along the cache route are very attractive. Trading toys from cache to cache is a big plus.
  
• I pack lots of snacks. LOTS. Dry cereal and granola bars are big hits.
  
• We sing together. We take turns making up silly songs and I recite the poems she likes.
  
• Every 30 or so minutes I let her get down and walk (no matter how slow we go and how long it takes) until she gets tired and wants to be carried again.
  

 

What works for you? Any tips for parents of young kids?

Edited October 8, 2012 by PseudoHybrid

[+AmishHacker]

Do your younger children enjoy geocaching? My daughter is almost three years old now, and I've come up with what have been winning approaches for us:

 

• No park-and-grabs. Jumping in and out of a car seat isn’t much fun for either of us. I take her on longer outings in parks or hike in our local nature preserves.
  
• We use a backpack carrier if we’re going out for more than 30 minutes. She also gets to pick two of her favorite toys to carry along.
  
• Playgrounds along the cache route are very attractive. Trading toys from cache to cache is a big plus.
  
• I pack lots of snacks. LOTS. Dry cereal and granola bars are big hits.
  
• We sing together. We take turns making up silly songs and I recite the poems she likes.
  
• Every 30 or so minutes I let her get down and walk (no matter how slow we go and how long it takes) until she gets tired and wants to be carried again.
  

 

What works for you? Any tips for parents of young kids?

 

I have three and I find it tough to just do some while out and about. It needs to be a planned out trip so you can spot out some in a fun park. The other day I tried one which was listed as small. I was hoping for a small tupperware with a few trades since it was in the woods. Nope just a match stick container. There are so many caches in our area it takes a bit of time to filter through them.

 

Yes... in and out of a car seat is NO FUN.

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

When mine were younger, I promise of a treat after finding a cache or two helps (we have a couple of great ice cream stands near us!).

 

We would look for fun places...beaches, stream where they could wade in and get their feet wet and look for frogs and fish. They had fun while ilooked.

 

Also, don't push it with "just one more kids!". When they say "enough", pack it in and get the ice cream cone.

[+The_Incredibles_]

Sounds like you've got the right idea.

 

I can add to that:

 

Don't overdo it. 3 caches are plenty for 1 outing.

Stick to small/large, forget micros.

Bring other parents + kids along, it will be more fun.

Bring extra swag in case there's "nothing good".

 

We used to take our kids out quite a bit. We found it most succesful to go out with a group. If it's just us, the kids don't really want to go.

[+lamoracke]

My 3 year old likes about 5 caches before he gets bored so that is usually my #, but I can up it if I have other adults with us who can do the heavy lifting and searching while I hang back.

 

I make sure to have (well try to remember) some swag so he can freely trade for something he wants, and of course, make sure to hit a cache or two that day that should have possibility for swag.

 

I do try to give him some exercise with caching but I try to make it not too far vs what I know he can like. I sometimes bring a wagon so if he does get tired, he will enjoy riding the wagon the rest of the way.

 

Whenever possible, I try to minimize bushwhacking or mud, but sometimes a little happens and he is okay with it, as long as its not too much or long.

 

Stop and enjoy the bugs, the grass, the birds...that kind of stuff and my kid is usually happy about the trek.

[+onthegomom]

I go with my 4 a lot. They are 14 months, 5, 8 and 11. The older 3 enjoy it, the baby doesn't really care, as long as she is outside it is fabulous. LOL We do mostly trail ones with bigger containers, they can't stand micros (well I don't love them in the woods for sure LOL ). We take either the backpack or the jogging stroller. Bring tons of snacks and drinks, their ipod/dsi if the 5 year old gets bored. We always carry a bag of swag to trade. Oh and we also go with friends a lot, that helps

[+slukster]

I have been caching with my 2 1/5 yr old daughter and 5 yr old son and they both enjoy it tremendously. I like to take them out hiking in the local parks/ reservations which have wide open access road trails so that there is lots of room for them to run around without worrying too much about them falling down on a single track trail. When it is just the three of us I usually bring along a jogging stroller and towards the end of the hike they usually trade off riding in the stroller and either walking or being carried by me. I prefer to be back to the car before I have to start carrying them but I push the limits some times. We have also been going out with a family that we are all friends with so the kids get along great and I get to hang out with one of my buddies. The kids usually can last longer when there are other kids with us and they have fun competing to find the cache. Getting the kids out in the great outdoors at an early age is important to me so hopefully they will learn to appreciate being outdoors and enjoy it as much as I do.

[+WarNinjas]

Just don't over do it and all should be golden!

[+OZ2CPU]

I got 5 kids, I took - take them all on geocache trips,

some are now big and moved out, the small ones still like it..

 

the trick for us:

awoid micro... once in a while is not that bad,

but many in a row is not what they like.

 

bring alot of swag !!!

for some kids this is VERY much the point why they like it,

even small kids understand the trading rules, but find it a bit hard to follow them.

 

let them find the cache, remember to prase them

WOW you found it, you are sooo cool,

hand them the GPS, show them the distance number and the red arrow,

even at 3-4 years old, they get it,

read the hint for them, so they know what to expect at 0m

 

if you bring a few kids out at the same time,

you might run into a little problem,

one find it, the others cry about they did not seek or find it,

take turns, to seek first.

 

no hurry up, let the kids set the speed,

I know this is a killer.. but else they dont like to go again.

 

if (when they get tired or slow)

kids love to race against mom or dad

and they do win most of the time, this way you trick them to move faster.

 

show them all the other funny things you see out there,

stop and lift a stone, pick up a frog,

roll down a hill, get dirty, or what ever you think will make them laugh,

 

check if they look happy, kids feel alot more safe when holding hands.

 

find a tree, set up a robe swing and a stick to sit on, this is easy

and they see trees are there to look at, climb, and play with.

 

stones and such near a path are there to walk on or jump from stone to stone :-)

Edited October 9, 2012 by OZ2CPU

[+Alkhalikoi]

I have an 8 year old and a four year old and they're both quite into it. We'll often just grab a quick cache or two when were out and about doing errands on weekends, so to make sure I've always got some trade stuff, I've taken to keeping a stack of foreign bills in my wallet. Lately, I've been going through a stack of Zimbabwe $10,000,000,000,000 notes which I bought in bulk on Ebay (100 for about $40). There are a lot of cheap bills to be found on Ebay (Zimbabwe dollars and Vietnamese Dong are both available for less than $0.50 a bill in bulk (search for "currency +bundle" and you'll find quite a few).

[+Mudfrog]

We took our daughter the Tx Tadpole, on her first outing when she was about a month old. It was a 1.5 mile round trip hike but she didn't mind since she slept for half the trip. The front carrier worked great and didn't slow me down at all. She really enjoyed caching for a while there but since her 4th birthday, she's not quite into it. I guess i took her on too many microcache hunts.

 

That's the first question she asks before a caching trip these days,, whether or not they will be big caches or little ones. As for many of us, big is good,,, little is not!

 

As others have stated, and from our experience:

 

Make sure you have small or regular size caches in your itenarary.

Also, don't make every caching trip an all day affair.

If you come to a cache hidden in a park, let them do some playing while you're there.

Along the way games such as each person finds certain colored cars work good on those longer trips.

[+PseudoHybrid]

I have an 8 year old and a four year old and they're both quite into it. We'll often just grab a quick cache or two when were out and about doing errands on weekends, so to make sure I've always got some trade stuff, I've taken to keeping a stack of foreign bills in my wallet. Lately, I've been going through a stack of Zimbabwe $10,000,000,000,000 notes which I bought in bulk on Ebay (100 for about $40). There are a lot of cheap bills to be found on Ebay (Zimbabwe dollars and Vietnamese Dong are both available for less than $0.50 a bill in bulk (search for "currency +bundle" and you'll find quite a few).

 

Great idea on the foreign bills... thanks for that!

[+niraD]

Great idea on the foreign bills... thanks for that!

I carry foreign coins to use as trade items. I ask friends who travel abroad to bring me back their pocket change, and sometimes I buy them by the pound from a local coin shop.

[+FishieFive]

We always cache with our two kids (soon to be 3 kids). They are 7 and 2. Our 2 year old likes throwing rocks, so generally he's happy. Our 7 year old likes making the find and getting the swag. We carry a bag with a LOT of good quality swag so that she can trade for whatever she wants. Like others have said, we generally avoid micros. When we "go caching" we try to find a local trail that has 4-5 caches and some other points of interest, like a river or pretty flowers. Otherwise we mostly stick to those in town that are park & grabs. And we take it slow...over 18 months of caching we're just now coming up on 200 finds.

 

Kids are great excuses for just about anything if a muggle comes around! Once we were surprised by a runner when we'd just pulled out the cache. With no time to hide it, our daughter threw her jacket over it, struck a pose, and I took a picture. LOL The runner commented as she ran past "Great spot for a picture!" We were totally out in the middle of nowhere with no earthly reason to be standing halfway up a hillside.

 

Edited October 16, 2012 by FishieFour

[+NYPaddleCacher]

Great idea on the foreign bills... thanks for that!

I carry foreign coins to use as trade items. I ask friends who travel abroad to bring me back their pocket change, and sometimes I buy them by the pound from a local coin shop.

 

I have a baggie with foreign coins that I use for trade items as well. When I travel I always "keep the change" though in some countries coins are rarely used any more as they have little value. When I get home I toss a couple coins of each value into my sons coin collection box and the rest go in the baggie for trade. I'm actually started to get a little low. I need to go traveling again. There are a lot of coin collecting web sites where one can buy foreign coins in bulk but so far I haven't done that yet. I've also seen one of those $100 billion Zimbabwe dollar bills while I was in Tanzania.

[+howarthe]

My ten-year-old has to make the find herself. When we get close to ground zero, I give her the Garmin and I stand very still. I don't walk around or I will find it before she does, and that spoils it for her. My seven-year-old finds a light saber (stick) and battles droids all the way down the trail. He doesn't really care about the cache unless there are cool toys in it. The last time we all went out together we were hiding caches and we spied four different animals: spider, ant, lizard and rabbit. That was fun.

[+Mike & Jess]

Our two boys (soon to be joined by a sister) where born into geocaching and the outdoors.

Park and grabs are a no go normally with the boys. Out in the bush is where they want to be.

 

We've logged hundreds of hours with one of the boys in the kid carrier backpack and many, many miles.

The tricks I've learned;

Carry snacks, drinks and a spare change of cloths for the boys (the kid carrier has a huge pocket).

If you are using a trek pole and water bladder in your pack, they are going to want one.

When safe to do so, let them walk the trails for a bit.

If you spot the cache first, give them hints or pointers to let them find and retrieve it.

 

Small--> Large caches are treasures

Micros and nanos are adult caches

 

As others have mentioned, bring plenty of swag.

 

Our oldest attended his first event at 2 weeks old.

Our youngest co-hosted his first event at 3 weeks old.

Edited October 18, 2012 by Mike & Jess

[+blackhorse221]

I've even sought out a couple caches on my own beforehand and stocked it with some swag for my kids to find on a later trip. They stay much more interested if I can promise them they'll like "the next one." I get to log a couple numbers and then the kids get to treasure hunt.

[+ayrbrain]

Our 11yr old granddaughter came in handy the other month when we were down visiting She likes to geocache and as soon as i read out the hint when we took her into town for try a couple caches, she said "bell entry". (Hint) and was at the cache before we had chance to comment And when we have read logs online of something along the lines of "our 3 year old found it" there is never a 3 year old about when you are struggling to find a cache

[+SKAMS]

Our kids are 6, 8 and 9.

Caching runs well if the tours are prepared and the area is somewhat "entertaining".

 

But:

Stealth mode is impossible. Any cache location where muggles are around (this may also be caches in the forest along often used paths) are not suited for our kids. If you have to be silent or wait some minutes until the muggles are out of sight it gets critical at least.

 

Also difficult cache hides which take longer then 5 minutes to find can be a problem.

[+BBWolf+3Pigs]

But:

Stealth mode is impossible. Any cache location where muggles are around (this may also be caches in the forest along often used paths) are not suited for our kids. If you have to be silent or wait some minutes until the muggles are out of sight it gets critical at least.

 

Depending on the hide and location, having a couple of kids running around is perfect cover for finding the cache. No one is going to bother/question what a parent and kids are doing when the kids are zipping around acting like kids.

 

[edit for typos]

Edited October 22, 2012 by BBWolf+3Pigs

[+simpler1773]

My daughter is 7. Her favorite thing to do when we are out caching is take pictures. We got her a camera and she's thrilled to be snapping pics of caterpillars, flowers, leaves, me, etc. Quite entertaining for her

[+Alkhalikoi]

Great idea on the foreign bills... thanks for that!

I carry foreign coins to use as trade items. I ask friends who travel abroad to bring me back their pocket change, and sometimes I buy them by the pound from a local coin shop.

 

I have a baggie with foreign coins that I use for trade items as well. When I travel I always "keep the change" though in some countries coins are rarely used any more as they have little value. When I get home I toss a couple coins of each value into my sons coin collection box and the rest go in the baggie for trade. I'm actually started to get a little low. I need to go traveling again. There are a lot of coin collecting web sites where one can buy foreign coins in bulk but so far I haven't done that yet. I've also seen one of those $100 billion Zimbabwe dollar bills while I was in Tanzania.

 

When I was in Korea, I saw four rolls of Korean "pennies" (10 won coins) in the change drawer of the hotel check-in desk. He was happy to give me one, as he explained they weren't worth much ($0.008 or so) and rarely used in circulation but he was confused about why I wanted to buy four rolls of them! But those lasted me for months as good swag and only cost me a couple of USD!

Edited October 23, 2012 by Alkhalikoi