Geocaching: Outdoor Fun for Kids and Parents, Too!

Kids Activity Blog

Set out on a new adventure today – Geocaching! It’s kind of like Letterboxing which we’ve done for a while except instead of having only clues to help you find the hidden treasures, you use a GPS system to locate the coordinates.

You can go online at www.geocaching.com to find coordinates for geocaches hidden in your area. You can find ones that required a bit of a hike or ones that are more easily accessible. Then you go out with your GPS (or an app for your smart phone) and try to find them.

 

They aren’t always easy to find. They are usually very small containers camouflaged and are well hidden in a tree or under a log so that other people just passing by are not likely to disturb them. Once you find the geocache, there is a log inside that you write your name and date that you found it. Sometimes there is a little trinket inside!

You can take the trinket if you replace it with an equally interesting trinket. When you get back home, you go online and record your findings so that the owner and others can keep up with whether or not the geocache is still there and the condition it is in.

Lots of people in our area have placed geocaches.

We learned all about geocaching online and picked out one to search for. The coordinates took us to a local park.

Geocaching

This is it. It’s just a little yellow container hidden deep in a bush. Very hard to see if you don’t know what you’re looking for!

geocache container

We were excited to open this geocache and find a foreign coin. Remember to bring some trinkets along to replace the one you take. We’ve used happy meal toys, small army men, and even  little tokens we’ve found in other geocaches!

geocache trinket

We like geocaching because we love being outside and have fun spending time exploring. It can get frustrating when you can’t find the geocache though, and please watch out for snakes!

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Geocaching: Outdoor Fun for Kids and Parents, Too! From The Kids Activities Blog