Caching With Kids

[+amytincan]

I read the article in Today's Cacher about the mom and daughter team. I have had that experience myself if not more intense. (like times 5)

 

Excitement is an understatement. We were at a cache yesterday that was rated a 4.5 in difficulty due to high muggle traffic and was supposed to be hard to find. Well, we gave it a try. I looked at something and thought, no thats not it. But my 7YO DS picks it up (imagine my horror! I was trying to keep the environment pristine) and says MOM THERES NO WIRES HANGING OUT THE BOTTOM. oh my goodness I thought he broke it. but I took it from him and rattled it--saw a toy soldier inside, and snuck off to the car.

 

meanwhile, he's screaming I FOUND IT I FOUND IT! the kid tends to be intense.

 

Another thing they do is they seem to be able to block areas for looking, and they find it. Out of my finds, I've only found about half.. the kids find the rest.

 

anyway, they love caching but they are distracting and I worry about them tromping in areas they shouldn't, climbing on stuff and running into the street.

 

whats a mom to do? I really like the ones at parks just because the kids are playing and not tromping around.

 

and then THEY ALL WANT TO TRADE. goodness its awful.

[+NannyOgg]

Glad I am not the only one caching with a bunch of kids :-) Yes, mine usual do find the cache before me too. And yes, they all want to trade, and sometimes there can be intense fight about one highly coveted price.

 

But hey, we are having fun, and sometimes it tires them out enough to go to sleep about five minutes earlier at night

 

Karen with her seven caching kiddos

[WH]

I have 2 kids and I allow them to take one item each from any cache we find. If there's nothing in the cache that they want, I allow them to select an item from my bag of trade goodies.

[+Spiritnip]

I take my 6 year old son caching a lot. He does impede the line of sight and he definitely finds them faster. But his eyes are better than mine and he's lower to the ground so he's got the advantage. Besides, if I find more than 2 in a row, he starts wanting to go home. He always trades up though. There will be all kinds of good loot in the box and he'll decide he wants some water logged strip of stickers with some missing. I wish I was that easy to please

[+nfa]

Hi,

 

I've taken my 2 year old son caching a number of times, and he loves it. I have to go for easier terrain caches when he's along, but the challenge is more than made up for by hunting and making sure that he doesn't wander off or hurt hmself at the same time.

 

I still remember the look on his face the first time we found a cache in the woods, it must have been very similar to mine...this box of treasure is just lying here in the woods...how cool!!!

 

He like little cars best, but will also trade for mctoys on occasion.

 

nfa-jamie

[+tls11823]

When I first brought up caching to the kids, I was worried about pushing it down their throats because it was something that I thought sounded like fun. With ages 19, 12, and 6, it's hard to find something they all like. Amazingly, Geocaching is one of those rare things.

 

My youngest is the most into it, but his brothers will come along from time to time. This past weekend I crawled out of bed to hear, "Hey dad - you're finally awake! Ready to go Geocaching?"

 

We've found some great local (and not-so-local) hiking trails that we would have never discovered. What a great excuse to enjoy a walk in the woods. Even when we have a DNF, we get some time outdoors, away from video games and TV for a few hours.

 

I feel very lucky to have this bonding experience. My parents are also thrilled that I can do something so cool with my kids. They and my aunt supply us with all kinds of goodies to put into caches - things that I know we'd love to find, so hopefully others will, too. Something tells me that a Christmas present this year will be a big box filled with trade-up items.

 

It was easily worth the initial investment in a GPSR!

[+graveyard mom]

I am new to this, and was worried my 5(almost 6)yr old dd wouldn't be interested but we went out for the first time last weekend and she was thrilled! We only found three caches, and I found them all, but the hunt and traipsing around is what she loved. She can't wait to go again next weekend. Of course, I am trying to pick out ones that are located in parks(so we can stop at the playground before we leave), and fairly easy, but I love having something to do together with her on the weekends now that she has started school.

[+mrodfamily]

I've been caching for about three months now, and since the first week I've been telling my girls (4, ,6, and 8) about my experiences. I took the three of them with to find a cache hidden by kids for kids. They seemed to really enjoy that first trip, but hve since become somewhat disinterested. I don't want to force it on them, so I ask them the day before a caching weekend if they would like to go with me, and I usually get a "maybe" or just a plain old "no". Although my youngest usually has a "yes" for me. I told her about a cache I found in a small cave on the side of hill, now she thinks that all the caches are hidden in caves. I guess if it keeps her interested and hangin out with Daddy that's okay.

[McKenzie Clan]

We also cache with the kids...on the short hikes anyway. Long ones I go solo.

 

At the beginning we had a hard time containing their excitement from giving it all away.

 

After a while we decided that when outside we don't use the word "geocache"... it simply referred to "you know what" probably another Harry Potter reference "you know who" ....

 

We found by doing that it reminds them that it is important to keep the "big secret"

 

My only worry is one of the kids when asked at school what they did on the week-end will reply "we did you know what".. and when pressed what "you know what is" will say "can't tell its a secret" and we end up in the pricipals office.

 

Scott

[+Cache Rabbits]

I have three girls ages 7, 11, 14. They werent real thriled at first about the idea of this geocaching thing.

 

After a couple of finds the big thing to say now is, "Dad" are we going geocaching today?

 

My wife is not the out doors type at all. But she has gotten into it as well. She specifically enjoys the multicache. In fact the first regualr cache we did she was like, "Is that it?"

 

Great family activity and some great storys to tell as well.

[+Team Snoopy]

We go with my two boys (6 & 4) and they usually love it! We stick to hikes that are less than a mile from the parking. Although longer than 1/2 mile, the 4 year old gets tired on the way back and dh ends up carrying him on his shoulders. When it is just me and the boys, we stick to short (.30) ones. They love finding catipillars, mushrooms, talking to cows, finding 10 point bucks, bever trees and searching for the cache. We call it treasure hunting, cause that's what they consider it Some days I'll get a NO, but I drag them in the car anyway and when we get there, they'll be all for finding it. We're getting both of them a small compas for their stockings, since they love to use my GPS. They both have walking sticks too, so that's a cool thing for them! It's a great experience for them and I think they will really treasure it for their lifetime!!

[+Charles Street Gang]

Since we like geocaching so much we try and make it fun for our 6yo. She helps me pick out treasures at the store, put them in small plastic bags and pack them in the backpack. She always take lots of snacks in her backpack. We try and turn the outings into mini nature talks...we found 2 animal skulls this weekend and the looked them up on the internet. If we approach a cache and think we know a likely spot we send her in to look for it. She has her days when she doesn't want to go and we just tell her its mom and dad's turn to pick the activity and throw her in the car. She in now excited about finding 100!

[+terri and billy]

I haven't taken my kids yet. They range in age from 27 to 19 but they sure have heard about this new hobby mom and dad have. If I took all the kids with their kids, there would be about 14 people and that's a bit much. However, I did introduce my best friend to geo-caching. She thought it was cool and knew her daughter would love it. So, we planned to get together with daughter for a hike around St Mary's Lake and do 12 caches on the way. The daughter is 12 and the hike without going off the path is around 7 miles. We looked for the first one and she was a little unsure about her mom and her mom's crazy friend. After we found the travel bug motel and let her swap a travel bug, (We had her make one prior to leaving.) she was ready to find more. I showed her how to use the GPS and let her go. She found almost half the caches! Now, I'm suppose to teach her Girl Scout troop and mom is talking about buying their own GPS for Christmas. And over Christmas, I'm grabbing this new young geo-cacher to help with my older grandkids so we can introduce them to this great hobby too.

 

Terri

[+Mudinyeri]

My four year-old son is my main caching buddy. Although he's not great at finding caches yet, we have a blast. We've also taken a couple neighbor kids. With the exception of a brief falling out over an item both my son and one of the other boys wanted, it's been a positive experience and we've introduced a couple families to 'caching.

 

When we go 'caching, my son is hilarious. Whether we have a friend along or not, he recites our caching rules:

1. Don't get caught

2. Only trade one item

Read me the "hints," Dad! (His "hints" are just the text of the cache listing. We don't look at the real Hint unless we're closing in on the end of the four year-old attention span and haven't found the cache.)

3. Always trade up

4. Sign the log book

5. Etc., etc.

 

Like most four year-olds, I only had to say these things once and he's now an "expert" on the rules of 'caching. He's computer literate so if any of the forums need a moderator ... well the whole typing thing is a bit of a challenge.

Edited November 22, 2004 by Mudinyeri

[+BKT]

I'm a single mom with two girls, 2 and 6 years old, so I mainly cache with them, or by myself. My two year old can now pronounce "goecaching" and "GPS" perfectly! They love to go, althought they won't look for micros, and the 6 year old won't hike more that half a mile. I can still carry the 2 year old a couple miles in the backpack, but it's hard to duck under tress and look in the bushes once I get to the cache location. The 6 year old is getting to be quite a pro- she's the first to spot likely hiding places, like bridges and hollow trees. They know all the trade rules, and I have to say to all those people complaining about McToys - they LOVE McToys. In fact, B found a green plastic horse today, whose eyes light up when you press a button on his head, and she insisted that it's just what she's been wanting (for weeks! months!), and hasn't put it down since. If we just find a cache full of signature cards and useful hiking things, we throw in extra kid stuff.

[+C&C+COMPANY]

My main Caching pals are my 9yr &7yr old neice and nephew. When ever uncle Chris comes down to the house, they want to go "tresure" hunting. My nephew pics the cache were going to do, and usually when we go I give him a bag to pick up soda cans and bottles. The reason why I do this is 2 fold. 1. cito, 2. The little money he gets for the recyled bottles and cans go to a fund for cache items.

[sorchah]

I'm 12 and I basically plan out the day and then tell my dad (personal driver-haha) where we're going. He enjoys it, but I'm in charge. Fortunately, he's good with outdoor stuff (he's a forester).

[+wolves shepherd]

Intermittent rain, about 50 degrees, it's saturday.....

 

I'm bushwhacking with 3 of my 4 kids for a geocache. A few tears over some thornes but the payoff at the end of getting to TRADE STUFF just really trips their triggers.

 

I like the more "woodsy" caches as opposed to urbans so excitment isn't too much of an issue....especially on days like today!

[+Medic005]

I have a 4 y/o and a 2.5 y/o boys, who I take with me. They love the idea of a treasure hunt and are always excited when we find the hidden treasure.

 

It is a great experience to view the fun and joy through the eyes of a child.

[+graveyard mom]

A few tears over some thornes but the payoff at the end of getting to TRADE STUFF just really trips their triggers.

That is exactly it with my daughter!! It doesn't matter what is in the cache-it can be full of some real caca-but she will pick something out and put something good back! It is definitely a "treasure hunt" for her, no matter the "treasure"!

 

It's gotten to the point where she has hidden a film canister full of quarters in our yard, we marked the coords, and she gets daddy to look for it! She goes back out to check on it and pretends to hunt it even though our yard isn't very big and she knows right where it is!!

[+Sojourner5]

My sons and I first started Geocaching last year on Thanksgiving Day. We have not let up yet since. Of course they get bored with it after a while and can become adjitated. However, the fun thing is getting to barder with them a little bit. It goes something like this: If we do 3 more caches if you will take us to McD's? We agree that will be the plan and we go eat cheeseburgers and shakes.

 

I love taking the kids, because it does get them away from the house and mainly the tv. We get to see cool things like wildlife and trees and flowers. We talk about things in nature and space. I also look for areas every once in a while that will test their physical and mental abilities. Whether it is climbing over huge piles of rocks or traversing through heavy brush, (with me leading of course and helping them through), I look for ways to challenge them. It is fun to see them figure out obstacles and help each other along the way. I help by giving them encouragement and direction. I also like testing if they would put their trust in me. I remember one time we parked on the wrong side of this creek. Since it was getting dark, I decided that we would find a way around or over the creek instead of driving. The boys were not to fond of the adventure, but they will never forget the experience. At point in time during the "adventure" we were crossing a beaver dam and fell through, man was that water cold. We laughed about it after the tears of dread dried up.

 

I take my sons and daughter, (2 sons - 7 and 5, 1 daughter - 3) and we take a picinic lunch with us. It is just a good time. My wife likes it because the kids are out of hair for a while. We are starting to hide our own caches and they really like the process of putting one together and then hiding it.

 

My philosophy is that there is no greater joy than being with the little Sojo's and watching their little minds grow.

[+DuncanClan]

We are also new to GCing. My 4 and 5 year olds latched right on to it! Like most of the kids, they love the hunt and the treasure. They always trade up, and the whining is usually kept to a minimum until the 1.5 mile mark.

 

I wanted to share what my wife and I did for them on Halloween this year:

 

About 4 blocks from our house is a densly wooded area, where my wife had secretly set up a "spooky cache". Not part of GC.com, just "pretend". We went after dark, GPS in the 5 year old's hand, and began marching toward the woods.

 

My wife had stretched fake spider webs all around the cache (complete with spiders), fake bones laying about, and it was DARK.

 

It was an easy find for them. There were two clear containers (disposable plastic boxes...you know the ones), with glow sticks in them (lighted).

 

It was cool because the green glow sticks in the clear containers lit up a 10' area, lighting up the fake webs, trees, etc. SPOOKY!!!

 

The caches contained some halloween themed surprises for them. They had a great time!

 

The truely exciting part was my daughter (5y/o) began screaming on the way out. Not the pretend...ooooh I'm scared stuff, the kind of crying that every parent knows..."that's a real one!"

 

We were lifting/bending to get under the webs, and she was frantic..."something bit me! Something bit me!" She was holding out her hand, and I searched all over her for the evidence...nothing. I began to search the area for what could have caused such a panic, and sure enough, there was a bat caught in the fake spider web. I searched her again for any bite marks, there were none. I still think that she just touched it and they spooked each other. She was okay, but now the bat is tangled in OUR web...our trash that we brought into it's environment.

 

Mom took the kids, and I stayed behind, freed the bat (yes, that was fun, but not nearly as dramatic as it sounds ) and cleaned up the halloween mess.

 

It turned out (thankfully) to be a great night! She talked about the bat for days. Mom dropped her off at school, and she couldn't wait to tell her teacher and friends that she had been bitten by a bat!

 

No moral, just another adventure with the kids...I wish everyone would take the time with their kids like the people on this board seem to. The world would be a better place for it.

 

DC

[+Finding Fraggle Rock]

Cree, the now 7 year old cacher of our team loves it. He has been doing this since he was only 5 years old. He has a blast. We take him out on caching trips where we will start at 6 AM and not end until 12 midnight or later. The only complaints we get is once he starts to get hungry, but after we feed him, he is ready to go some more.

 

He is a huge fan of Goldsnoop hides in Pennsylvania. I am sure a lot of people know about Goldsnoop hides, he is a devious sucker. Cree is usually the finder of these crazy micros and he adores Goldsnoop hides.

 

As for trading of items, he has learned that he does not need each and every McDOnalds toy that he comes across. He has become very good about leaving a cache without any of its trinkets. He is also very good about trading items. he will not take something without leaving something.

 

Cree should be contacted about any Goldsnoop hides that someone is having trouble with. I am working on having Goldsnoop create a collefe fund for Cree so that he can study the fine art of Micro HIdes and some engineering to help him carry on with Goldsnoop's traditions of craziness. Cough up the dough Goldsnoop!!!!

 

~FInding Fraggle Rock

[+momagna]

We love to "hunt". The kids are 7 & 10 and we have gone caching by hiking, 4X4, quads, dirtbikes, boats, dual-sports, ferry, bicycles and canoe.

 

The kids learn about coordinates and latitude/longitude, map reading, science, compass use, rock climbing, animal tracking and so many other things. Geocaching is like an outdoor school for everyone. Team work is stressed along with fair trades. I have introduced many people to the sport and all seem to enjoy it. My kids have become more aware of their abilities and are willing to try many new things. Even if it involves spiders.

 

My two are always "seeing" places to hide or look for new caches. (see "Rock Crusher" GCKCAC entirely found and hidden by a 9 year old).

We are planning on hiding more soon in another park. I would rather go with the kids than without them (see "Fear Factor" GC956B in California and yes, she crossed it on her choice NOT mine.)

Edited February 6, 2005 by momagna

[+Beta Test]

My cousins are very young and are very good about trading up or equal. I guess they were raised right.

[+Puddlemaster]

I generaly spend alot of time caching with Yogi Mamma N Geo Baby Jess.Jess has managed to find a couple of caches after mom and I have spend several minutes of searching.Once she grabed my GPS from my hand and tossed it into the bushes and it landed on top of the container.Another time I was leaning against a rock face for balance and she reached out and pulled a small rock out and there was the container behind it.

 

We have gotten to the point where if we are having trouble we let Jess loose.By the way the first find for Jess she was only 7 momths old.

[+Evil Chicken]

We've had some truly memorable experiences caching with our Chicklets (ages 12, 8 & 4) but this story has got to be one of our most memorable (even won us a virgin YJTB at an event this past summer!):

 

Here we are, the EC5, in the middle of Wharton State Forest. It's hot...really hot and humid...nearly 90 degrees! You can imagine the complaints already. What do the chicks do ?? (insert drum roll here) They sit in a den of ticks! Not the garden variety larger dog tick - oh no. The smaller deer ticks! Man, oh man, those things can move. After getting that taken care of, we cache down near a very still streamlet.

 

The kids REALLY want to swim, so we figure, "Why not?!" 2 girls jump in, the (at the time) 3yo dives in & is way over her head! So, with all electronic gear still attached (cell phone, Talkabout, digital camera, etc.) EC goes in to get her out (& slightly dampens [read: destroys] all of the equipment in the process).

 

A hiker comes up with his 2 very large & loud dogs. He informs me that his dogs just nosed up an aggressive (& lethal) timber rattler not far from here. Oh, great!

 

He leaves. We then notice a very odd thing...Our daughters are bleeding in several places from little bite marks & even stranger, they don't seem to notice it. A few nanoseconds later, EC convinces one of the 2 of the girls left in the water to get out. The middle child is resisting - she's not coming out, no way, no how! He finally had to tell her, "Honey, I think you're swimming with leeches!" Needless to say, she came flying out of the water at that!

 

Yes, folks, all of this occurred within a 1/2 hour period.

 

Scary thing is, when we got to the next cache site, they wanted to go back into the water. Go figure. The next morning, 2 of the kids each had a swollen area around her eyes (allergic reaction to something from the water?). ACK!!

 

Yep. That's the great thing about caching with the EC5, if there is a hard way to do something, we'll find a harder one. We laugh in the face of danger! We thrill to adventure & chaos!! [Disclaimer: No children were seriously harmed or injured during the making of the caching adventure]

 

Mother Hen of EC5

Edited February 16, 2005 by Evil Chicken

[+AftertheCache]

Although we don't have kids, we convinced some good friends of ours to go on their first geocaching adventure with their 6 week old son! We only did one that day--it was super hot in Pittsburgh!--but now they're hooked, too. Of course, that six week old will be turning 3 soon, and he loves to go find the "treasure." Funny how a lot of posters gravitated toward that word for the little ones!

Edited February 16, 2005 by AftertheCache

[markandlynn]

Other than the usuall everyone wants to swap problems we enjoy going with our kids a true family experience. Our most dramatic day out was this one and it was a DNF!!!

[+Camo-crazed]

I have now taught my 2 year old neice to say "geocache". She also can say "mctoy"

[Kyul_and_Carbon]

I cache with my 3 and 5 year old and yes - we look for the "treasure" but we must keep the "treasure" secret.....

 

I only pick out places I know they can have some run space with no threat of getting hurt - aside from the normal trip and bang the nose incidents.

 

They have a really good time doing it and the 5 year old about blows up with excitement when he makes the finds.

 

Only thing I have noticed is more people are migrating towards micro's because they are easier to hide and keep safe than a regular size cache - this cuts down on my hunts considerably as the micros hold no excitement for my kids. I try to plan 2 regulars and a micro - but by the time it comes time to hunt for a micro - they are very disinterested.

 

And I agree - whoever said mctoy's were a bad idea - SHAME *laughs*

[+MOphoto]

Team RatPack consists of myself and my 3 youngest children, ages 9,8, and 7. I do a little caching on my own, but by far the majority of my finds have been with the team. Along with the standard rules we have a team rule that the one that actually finds the cache gets first choice of trade items. This keeps the arguing to a minimum, and encourages each of them to hunt independantly. Normally my 9 yr old son carries the GPS and navigates for us, unless it's a particularly tough find and he gets confused. I do occasionally spot the cache first and then give hints, or just make a suggestion that one of them look "over there". We chose the team name together, and have come up with a logo, which I've printed off the computer and made team T-shirts for each of us.

 

They're only with me every other weekend. But if the weather's bad, or we can't go caching for some other reason, it's a major disappointment! Glad I found this pastime, and glad I have such a great team!

[Lt32]

I geocache with my son Paintballman14. He is 15 now and loves it. The main thing he wanted for Christmas was a GPS (which he got). It really gets us out together. My daughter, who is 11, sometimes tags along. Still working on getting the wife to go with us.

[+UdderChaos]

We geocache with our 5yo autistic boy & our 2yo boy and boy i tell you we earn every find we have the hard way.

 

But regardless of how hard it can be we always have fun and its worth the hassle

 

The kids love finding the boxes and the oldest one can take us back to any of the "boxes" WITHOUT a gps. Very handy

[+richandsteph]

I think it is great. We don't have kids but I have helped a couple of cachers with kids find their first cache (just right place and right time). It was great to see how excited they were and supprised that someone else was out in the woods doing this!

[+griffsmom]

I have now found 3 caches, 2 of which were with my 4 y/o son. He loves looking for the "treasure boxes" and has caught on to the concept of "cache in, trash out." Maybe too well--on our first find when I told him about being a good geocacher and picking up any trash we might find, he would see the smallest piece of paper and start yelling "I see trash!! I see trash!!" and then run to pick it up. It took us twice as long to get back to the car with our little trashmeister on the watch!