When you’re geocaching, you’re essentially hunting for treasure - called a ‘cache’. It could be a simple list of people that have found the cache before you, a cache of small toys and trinkets that are hidden for you to find, trade and replace with small trinkets of your own, or something to open, find and leave where it is, without taking anything at all.
As with everything, the fun of the geocache is in the hunt. That’s how we chose to spend our time outside this weekend spending time to #rediscover nature, after watching this alarming video that demonstrates just how in danger our kids are of losing the connection that we had as children with nature.
Geocaching Tips for Families
Start close by. Download the Geocache app and click on ‘find nearby’. There are upwards of 60 caches to find in our neighborhood that are ready for us to find. This way, you can start exploring with the kids right where you live, or send them to explore and search for one to develop their direction and searching skills. Starting close by is going to help keep the attention of little kids.
Download the app. The app is well worth the $11 price tag. We’ve even searched for geocaches while we’ve travelled, and spent the day exploring some of the places we may not have otherwise found. Through the app you can check off caches you’ve found, view hints and even has the capability to direct you to the coordinates using the GPS in your iPhone.
Look closely. The first three times we had gone to search for a cache, we didn’t find a thing. Remember, the containers are camoflauged well in most cases, and often are small. Search hard and use the hints, or choose easy caches, if you’re searching with little kids or are new to searching. Skip the micro-caches, those are tiny and can be frustrating for little kids to find.
Bring your own pen. A lot of the time, the caches are too small to hold a pen, and you can’t track or sign that you’ve been there. Bring your own, or Sharpie Fine-tip to sign in. The kids love that!
Don’t forget small trinkets. Olivia loves leaving coins from places that we’ve been in the caches, small toys like Shopkins and other tiny toys that her and Violet find around the house. We’ve left gift cards with small values for local places, BOGO admission passes and tiny riddles or fortunes. If you’re going to take something from the cache, leave something behind.
Signing into the app today, we were excited that there was a brand new cache in our neighbourhood - and it was close by, within 500m. We decided that it would be our first stop as we started on our walk outside to explore one of our favorite places, the Urban forest. The kids love searching for the paths in the Urban forest that have been made by other bigger kids making forts. It made getting out this weekend easy.
Did you take part in #rediscovernature Day? There’s still time! If you’ve signed up, RSVPd and pledged to spend an hour outside, you can win a trip to banff for the weekend as long as you share before September 30, 2015. Visit www.takemeoutside.ca for all of the details.