Jump to content

Geocaching With School-age Kids


Recommended Posts

We are new to this and have 3 kids, 5, 3, and 6 months. The 5 and 3 year olds get very excited when I tell them we are going on a "treasure hunt". They think this is the greatest thing ever and want to hold the "map" so they know where to go. It is a great activity to get out and do together as a family and have some fun.

Link to comment

I have just started geocaching here in Greece. From the outset I knew I had to take my daughter (age 11) with me, and I was right! We took the subway downtown to look for caches in the Athens National Garden (formerly Royal Garden) and on the way I explained to her what "coordinates" are, and then asked her to read them off for me to enter into the GPSr. Just imagine the look on the other passengers' faces seeing a 11 year old girl reading "north 38 degrees 58 minutes 461, east 23 degrees 44 minutes 200". Priceless!

It was a treasure hunt for her; I wasn't interested in taking anything from the caches, but she was, and took some coins. She even left one of her hair bands in exchange! And as previous posters mentioned, she was great cover, looking under benches for film canisters attached with magnets. Now she wants to find a cache with a TB and to create a cache of our own to put the TB in. She was busy this weekend and I was itching to go hunting alone, but I'm saving it for her. Great family fun!

Link to comment

My 4 and 5 year olds go with me on 99% of my outings. In order to go out and do a more difficult one without them, I had to wait until I had a day off work when they were in school. I told them that night...I don't know if they've really forgivin me yet. :o

 

My wife and our two kids cache together regularly. It has entwined itself into every corner of our life! It doesn't matter where we are going, we check out GC.com to find the nearest caches!

 

They've both gotten pretty good with the GPS. We also have a new puppy (merry christmas). Whom they've nicknamed GeoDog. (I'm sure he's not the only one!). Then my daughter (5) says "we don't need to name HIM geodog, we just need to build a robot dog with a GPSr built in and it can find the caches"

 

What do you say to a 5 y/o that's smarter than you?

 

15453f7f-8424-4997-a7b0-a150288e59ff.jpg

 

DC

Edited by DuncanClan
Link to comment
I'm the geocacher in the family, I have to drag along the rest of the family to many cache hunts. I'm 16.

I was waiting for someone to mention that. Some school-age kids are the main cachers (I'm 14). Some of the kids who are 5 or 6 now might want to get an account now for when they're older, as it might be an incentive to keep caching as a teen. They can also set up caches themselves, which is interesting when you don't have any money and can't just go to the store.

Link to comment

Our girls would never forgive us if we went caching without them. Geokid #1 is 6, and Geokid #2 is 2. We do short treks with them, and long treks. Though I must admit, that packing the 2 year old on my back is getting a little harder as she is nearing 40lbs. They love the traders, and the hunt. They love it all! A great way to get them out of doors, and enjoying the environment.

:D

Link to comment
Are there other Geocaching families out there? My kids love it

 

My son is 8, and is the other half of Birdsong-n-Bud. I'm Big B, he's Little B. He LOVES it. He likes to go for the treasures (think McToys). I like to go for the walks with him!

 

Recently, when he wanted to go play over a friend's house instead of Geocaching, panic set in. I bought 2 extra GPSr's on Ebay, and now all 3 of us (me, little B, and his friend) each get to carry one and "dash to the cache."

 

When we place caches, Little B always has to be "supervisor and chief site approver." He has launched most of our Travel Bugs, and chooses the TB's we take with us on our next journey.

 

Recently, we did our first night cache, and he didn't want to go home after we found the cache!

 

279059a2-be76-424b-b144-c2af1f920502.jpg

 

Little B has found more caches than I have (could it be because he's closer to ground level? lol). His friends now think this is the ultimate place to visit because we go on "spy missions."

Link to comment

I always cache with my kids, Anoushka 8 and Zeppie 5. They both love it. :huh: If going for a walk is suggested the level of moaning is unreal, but suggest going geocaching, and they're both there with wellingtons and the backpack of goodies fighting over who has a turn with one of the GPSrs. The wife comes along ocasionally and we sometimes cache with another family too.

Link to comment

great to read about all the families that are doing things together

 

my whole intent coming into this craze was for a family activity

I have an 8-year-old daughter.

My girlfriend has a 6-year-old son, and a 3-year old daughter.

The two older ones have enjoyed hiking so far. The youngest would rather be carried.

I look forward to vacachening all over southern Utah when the weather gets nicer.

Link to comment

The boys ( 12 & 14 ) got paint ball guns for Christmas and wanted, begged us to take them :D paintballing. My husband got a GPS for Christmas and we wanted to go out GCing... compromise :D ... we went shooting first and then we all went out GCing... At first the boys acted like they were bored :huh: , then when we actually got out there and started hunting they really got into it. The boys absolutely love the thrill of the :D "Treasure Hunt"... in fact my husband and I went out while the boys were in school today and they got a little ;) upset because they couldn't go with us. I think now it is going to be a weekend event combining the two. ;)

Link to comment

My eight year old is willing to tackle almost any climb that I can go on.

 

67c37469-f7d3-42c9-b707-ad75acc2c6bb.jpg

On top of Table Top Mountain.

 

Here are the 5 year old and eight year old.

8ff9fc9c-a708-4797-9e41-42dadc08e484.jpg

Image cropped because it was a puzzle cache.

 

3643e57f-20fb-49d2-8bda-6379cf3544bc.jpg

They both climbed Cave Mountain with me.

 

162b2fe3-70c8-4108-a7e1-163196923e3a.jpg

Son made it to the top of Blackett's ridge

 

Yes, I could go on, but your bored already.. :D

 

Can you tell we love to hike? ..

 

Keep on caching.

Edited by ShadowAce
Link to comment

When I find time to go caching, I will usually get the GPS and PDA loaded up, print a map or two, then distract the kids from their TV/Gameboy/Legos/Polly Pocket, etc long enough to see if they would like to go along. About a fourth of the time, my daughter (8 yrs) will go, and about half the time, my son goes (11 yrs). They both enjoy finding the cache, they just don't always go for the bushwacking, or the long walks. The wife has yet to go with us, she always has 'too much to do, and no time". I use it as an opportunity to get out with the kids, talk with them, and teach them about the outdoors and the world around them. They both like to use the GPS and find the cache, and my son likes to use the PDA, so I just follow behind and keep them safe. Of course, everytime we go out camping, or out with the Boy Scouts, my son and I plan to cache where we camp, or along the way, so by nature he gets more involved than my daughter does.

 

Man! Makes me want to go snag them out of school and go caching now! :(

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...