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Caching with kids
Geocaching families; great experience, life-long memories.
Hi! My name is Lacey Bishop, aka Lacey38655, my cache team is myself, husband Sniper Chicken (Scott) and our 5 year-old daughter Littlebit01 (Katie).
Scott and I started caching in August 2006 and once we had several finds under our belt we felt it was time to start caching as a family. Geocaching alone works for some people; geocaching with kids is the only way some of us can cache! Since then my husband and I have only cached a very few times without Littlebit tagging along.
1700 finds later, with Littlebit having found over 1,000 of her own, in 5 states, and having completed the MS County Challenge, MS Delorme Challenge and the MS Alphabet Challenge, I feel I can pass on some advice to other parents who want to cache with their children!
Snacks, Games, Pen, Paper and Patience are the most important things to remember when caching with kids. Everything else, in my opinion, comes second.
I want to start off telling you about our caching day; how we do it and grab x number of caches.
The day before an outing we pre-plan where we are going, see what the weather looks like and what we will need to take with us. Determining the area where we will be caching results in running a Pocket Query and creating a map of ‘to do’ caches.
We pack the following items into the car the night before:
Cooler with drinks (ice goes in the next day)
Snack foods
Extra clothes for three people
Hiking Stick
First Aid kit
Toys
Automotive tool box because we never know what our car is going to do.
Geocache tool box, never know when you need to replace a log
Geocache trade items
Travel Bug and Geocoin bag
Flashlights
Multi-tool
DC/AC Power inverter
Notebook for logging finds
Camera
Extra batteries
Battery charger
DVD player and movies
Pens
Sunglasses
Bug spray
Hydration backpack
Baby wipes
Sting Ease
Cell phones
2 way radio
Extra geocache containers
Rope
Binoculars
Duct tape
Puzzle cache information
List of geocachers phone numbers
GPS data transfer cable
Compass
Pillow and blanket (sometimes)
If we are staying overnight then an overnight bag will be packed
1 husband
1 wife
1 child
That pretty much sums up packing the car.
The Cache Day - We wake up around 6a.m. Lets say we are headed to Memphis, TN. We will have a 2-hour drive to get there. Littlebit is wide awake and rambling in the backseat. “Mom can we listen to this on the radio?” “Not now Katie, in a bit, I’m talking to daddy”. We will have to stop in Batesville, MS for breakfast, then off we go, eating on the way. Don’t you love drive throughs? Katie is still in the back seat rambling away. I turn around and try to get her interested in caching. Again, she is only 5, and looks at me like I am nuts. Soon I get her settled in for the ride, playing with a toy or watching a DVD. I get the laptop out and up and running. Sniper is a pretty quiet kind of guy, so I am rattling on and on with excitement about the different types of caches we are going to find. Katie chimes in that she is going to be FTF on all of them.
Micros - normally when we get to a micro that is only going to take a short time to find, we don’t allow Katie to get out of the car. So on an 8-hour cache run, we have to make several stops to grab larger caches so we can all get out to stretch our legs.
Large caches - here you get to stretch legs, holler at the kids to stay close by, teach them about the surrounding wildlife, watch as your child picks up a leaf and says “Mom! This is the coolest looking leaf I have ever found, can we bring it home with us?” Then when you get to the cache site, we as parents are only wanting to sign the log, but my daughter wants to dump everything out, take 10 minutes deciding what she wants, then 10 more minutes deciding what she wants to leave… the whole time I am hopping on one leg; we got to go and get all the caches that are out there waiting! But remember you got to be patient, it is about the adventure.
Parks - parks are parents friends. Also very wise to bring a caching partner with you. One of you stays back and lets the child get out all of that pent-up energy from being cooped up in the car, while the other goes and finds the cache. You get the luxury of swapping jobs at the next park. Who said we were too old to go down that curvy slide? Also, having a child with you at a park looks less suspicious then being there looking through the bushes alone.
Back in the car, more micros and more rambling in the backseat, boredom has kicked in. Time to be creative. Paper airplanes, paperclip people, I Spy, Scavenger Hunt, singing to the music on the radio, Who can spot the most red cars, these are just a few things we do as we pass the time until we get out to stretch our legs again.
Restaurants - I am sure the people at restaurants look at us like we have landed from another planet. The three if us… exhausted, dirty, tired and hungry, wandering in and trying not to pass out in their fine establishment. Then I have wired my child up on all the unhealthy junk food, and now she is talking louder then normal, and bouncing in her chair. (sorry everyone, we are on a mission). After lunch we are geocaching zombies. With bellies full we are dragging to each cache. Tired from all the excitement and rising so early, we try to grab as many more as is possible while slowly working our way south towards the Mississippi state line.
Headed home - we talk about all that we saw that day, things we had learned and done. I really feel good when my daughter talks about how she was able to find the geocache when Mommy and Daddy couldn’t find it. (She had run ahead of us and went straight to the spot). Also I get sappy thinking about how she tries to use the GPS and says “We got to go this way”, which is always the wrong way. We talk about how she wants her own hiking stick, not a stick in the woods that she has to leave behind every time.
Bedtime - we are all exhausted. Katie looks at me and says” Mommy, thanks for taking me to all those cool places today. I hope that all the other geocachers like the stuff we left behind”. Then she says “How many FTF’s did I get today?” I tell her 35 and she says “Woohoo man I had fun!”
What I really want to convey to other parents out there thinking about taking up geocaching is… DO IT!
The memories that I have, the memories that we are creating, are something to hold very close. My daughter is 5 years old and has already been to every county in the state of MS and to Memphis so many times she tells us where caches are. Think about all the exercise you and your children are getting, instead of being at home sitting in front of the TV or playing video games. You are teaching them so many different things by being outdoors. Nature, health, interaction between parent and child, family togetherness, scavenger hunting, orienteering, hiking, wildlife, these are just a few things I can think of.
There are always stressful times when geocaching with kids, but at the end of the day, laying in bed, having found x number of caches, and thinking back, you remember the excitement on your child’s face when they found the TREASURE.
Scott and I started caching in August 2006 and once we had several finds under our belt we felt it was time to start caching as a family. Geocaching alone works for some people; geocaching with kids is the only way some of us can cache! Since then my husband and I have only cached a very few times without Littlebit tagging along.
1700 finds later, with Littlebit having found over 1,000 of her own, in 5 states, and having completed the MS County Challenge, MS Delorme Challenge and the MS Alphabet Challenge, I feel I can pass on some advice to other parents who want to cache with their children!
Snacks, Games, Pen, Paper and Patience are the most important things to remember when caching with kids. Everything else, in my opinion, comes second.
I want to start off telling you about our caching day; how we do it and grab x number of caches.
The day before an outing we pre-plan where we are going, see what the weather looks like and what we will need to take with us. Determining the area where we will be caching results in running a Pocket Query and creating a map of ‘to do’ caches.
We pack the following items into the car the night before:
Cooler with drinks (ice goes in the next day)
Snack foods
Extra clothes for three people
Hiking Stick
First Aid kit
Toys
Automotive tool box because we never know what our car is going to do.
Geocache tool box, never know when you need to replace a log
Geocache trade items
Travel Bug and Geocoin bag
Flashlights
Multi-tool
DC/AC Power inverter
Notebook for logging finds
Camera
Extra batteries
Battery charger
DVD player and movies
Pens
Sunglasses
Bug spray
Hydration backpack
Baby wipes
Sting Ease
Cell phones
2 way radio
Extra geocache containers
Rope
Binoculars
Duct tape
Puzzle cache information
List of geocachers phone numbers
GPS data transfer cable
Compass
Pillow and blanket (sometimes)
If we are staying overnight then an overnight bag will be packed
1 husband
1 wife
1 child
That pretty much sums up packing the car.
The Cache Day - We wake up around 6a.m. Lets say we are headed to Memphis, TN. We will have a 2-hour drive to get there. Littlebit is wide awake and rambling in the backseat. “Mom can we listen to this on the radio?” “Not now Katie, in a bit, I’m talking to daddy”. We will have to stop in Batesville, MS for breakfast, then off we go, eating on the way. Don’t you love drive throughs? Katie is still in the back seat rambling away. I turn around and try to get her interested in caching. Again, she is only 5, and looks at me like I am nuts. Soon I get her settled in for the ride, playing with a toy or watching a DVD. I get the laptop out and up and running. Sniper is a pretty quiet kind of guy, so I am rattling on and on with excitement about the different types of caches we are going to find. Katie chimes in that she is going to be FTF on all of them.
Micros - normally when we get to a micro that is only going to take a short time to find, we don’t allow Katie to get out of the car. So on an 8-hour cache run, we have to make several stops to grab larger caches so we can all get out to stretch our legs.
Large caches - here you get to stretch legs, holler at the kids to stay close by, teach them about the surrounding wildlife, watch as your child picks up a leaf and says “Mom! This is the coolest looking leaf I have ever found, can we bring it home with us?” Then when you get to the cache site, we as parents are only wanting to sign the log, but my daughter wants to dump everything out, take 10 minutes deciding what she wants, then 10 more minutes deciding what she wants to leave… the whole time I am hopping on one leg; we got to go and get all the caches that are out there waiting! But remember you got to be patient, it is about the adventure.
Parks - parks are parents friends. Also very wise to bring a caching partner with you. One of you stays back and lets the child get out all of that pent-up energy from being cooped up in the car, while the other goes and finds the cache. You get the luxury of swapping jobs at the next park. Who said we were too old to go down that curvy slide? Also, having a child with you at a park looks less suspicious then being there looking through the bushes alone.
Back in the car, more micros and more rambling in the backseat, boredom has kicked in. Time to be creative. Paper airplanes, paperclip people, I Spy, Scavenger Hunt, singing to the music on the radio, Who can spot the most red cars, these are just a few things we do as we pass the time until we get out to stretch our legs again.
Restaurants - I am sure the people at restaurants look at us like we have landed from another planet. The three if us… exhausted, dirty, tired and hungry, wandering in and trying not to pass out in their fine establishment. Then I have wired my child up on all the unhealthy junk food, and now she is talking louder then normal, and bouncing in her chair. (sorry everyone, we are on a mission). After lunch we are geocaching zombies. With bellies full we are dragging to each cache. Tired from all the excitement and rising so early, we try to grab as many more as is possible while slowly working our way south towards the Mississippi state line.
Headed home - we talk about all that we saw that day, things we had learned and done. I really feel good when my daughter talks about how she was able to find the geocache when Mommy and Daddy couldn’t find it. (She had run ahead of us and went straight to the spot). Also I get sappy thinking about how she tries to use the GPS and says “We got to go this way”, which is always the wrong way. We talk about how she wants her own hiking stick, not a stick in the woods that she has to leave behind every time.
Bedtime - we are all exhausted. Katie looks at me and says” Mommy, thanks for taking me to all those cool places today. I hope that all the other geocachers like the stuff we left behind”. Then she says “How many FTF’s did I get today?” I tell her 35 and she says “Woohoo man I had fun!”
What I really want to convey to other parents out there thinking about taking up geocaching is… DO IT!
The memories that I have, the memories that we are creating, are something to hold very close. My daughter is 5 years old and has already been to every county in the state of MS and to Memphis so many times she tells us where caches are. Think about all the exercise you and your children are getting, instead of being at home sitting in front of the TV or playing video games. You are teaching them so many different things by being outdoors. Nature, health, interaction between parent and child, family togetherness, scavenger hunting, orienteering, hiking, wildlife, these are just a few things I can think of.
There are always stressful times when geocaching with kids, but at the end of the day, laying in bed, having found x number of caches, and thinking back, you remember the excitement on your child’s face when they found the TREASURE.