Geocaching with Your Kids or Your Classroom!
Don’t know what geocaching is? Make sure you read my post about it! You can find geocaching supplies here!
Geocaching is really easy to keep up with if it’s just adults, but what about when you involve little kids? My husband cannot have a Christmas party in his classroom this year because he has several children who’s “religious affiliation” prevents them from celebrating anything Christmas-related. Instead this year he will be taking his class around campus to geocache.
Check out some of these geocaches he bought! A geocache is a box or container of some sort that has been hidden in order for others to find it. Usually one will hide their geocache container, then mark the latitude & longtitude coordinates online. In order to find these coordinates in reality you need a GPS. But there are so many ways that you can treasure hunt with your children without a GPS. You can hide things and write up clues, or a treasure map. My husband will be using our GPS with his classroom to teach the children about mapping coordinates and to open them to the idea of geocaching!
Geocaches come in ALL shapes and sizes. Sometimes it’s an ammo can, sometimes it’s a tupperware container. The above picture shows 4 different geocaching containers that my husband bought for his classroom to use. The bottom right as shown is a magnetic key holder! It has just enough room in it to slip in a small paper log book. The metal plate above it is a magnetic wall plate cover. It’s a tricky geocache- because who would think of trying to pull a metal plate off of the wall? There is a place in the back of it to slip a paper log book in a baggie so it doesn’t get wet. The larger black container beneath it is called a “micro”. It is a very tiny geocache the only room for the smallest rolled up paper as a log. And the tiny black speck next to it is called a “nano”. This is the tiniest of tiniest geocaches, and has an itty bitty tiny piece of paper for a log!
Here’s a super close up of the nano- imagine finding this out in the middle of the woods- or in a parking lot? It’s ridiculous!
And here’s the back of the magnetic wall place cover.
Caching with kids can be SO much fun, but it can also be frustrating too. I know we could move a lot faster without the kids! One thing that works for us is to find the geocaches along the busy roads in parking lots & things. The kids can stay in the car, one of us jumps out to search for the cache, then we bring it back to the car for the kids to see. If you’re going along nature trails and hiking, little ones can go in a stroller depending on the terrain. We have used a baby carrier when our little man was smaller. Make sure the kids have long pants on for sure since you will be hiking through the brush to get to many of the caches. We’ve made that mistake before and all come home with cuts on our legs. Make sure they are wearing closed toe shoes so sticks don’t get in their shoes. Bring mosquito repellent & watch for ticks. Let the kids have their own bag of toys that they can trade in the geocaching containers! And we always make sure the kids have snacks & water in case they get hungry!
Geocaching makes for a cheap date night too! Several times we have had a babysitter watch the kiddos so that we can go geocaching- just hubby & I!