What happens when you mix science and burried treasure of sorts? Well you get geocaching. It's a great way to get your kids outside with a prize at the end of their great hunt. Haven't heard of it? Here's how it works:
Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online to help others seek out the treasure spots near them.
Anyone can make a cach and go online to assign it GPS coordinates. It's a blast hiking around with your family, or making a point to stop while driving on a road trip to see what other's have sealed up. You'll find caches in weather resistant boxes tucked away in crooks of trees, nestled in rocks or sometimes even buried like real treasure.
Inside you'll find toys, poems, snacks, trinkets or handmade objects to take home with you from your find. In return you leave something of equal value behind so the caches never run empty. If your family is resistant to taking a hike without purpose, give them treasure to find and we promise it will be a whole new ballgame.
HELPFUL GEOCACHING LINKS
• Official geocaching website
• Great geocaching tips from REI
• Geocaching on Wikipedia
• Apisphere Geomate Jr. Geocaching Handheld GPS: for $69.99 from Target
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We've done this with our kids for the past year and a half (though winter slowed us down here in Canada) and they love it. They are now 5 and 3 and we call it treasure-hunting. It's just another fun thing to do outdoors with the family.
Geocaching is really fun! I have a five and eight year old and it's been priceless in terms of teaching my kids how to read maps, orient themselves with a compass, decipher codes, etc. We just use my phone plus the $10 groundspeak app -- only app I ever paid for, but worth it!
I've gone on many geocache trips with family and friends; it's a great way to bridge different generations to enjoy walks and hikes, exploring and learning a new area, and practicing our deductive skills. Finding that cache is exhilarating; it's like finding buried treasure. So much fun!