Geocaching for children and as a family sport

Anyone who has children knows that they always want to experience something. They quickly get bored and then mum and dad are asked to come up with new ideas. Common activities in nature are the top priority and can be very varied. For example with an exciting geocaching tour. This is how the forest walk becomes an experience!

Is geocaching suitable for children?

Do you remember the good old scavenger hunt? With the help of chalk arrows, small scraps of fabric and a specially designed treasure map, the path to the goal was followed with great anticipation. Today it is still fun for young and old to go on a treasure hunt. However, modern GPS devices are now used for this and with the help of coordinates and sometimes with small puzzles you finally approach the cache – i.e. the place where the treasure or the secret storeroom is located. Many of them are really recommended for families. Even smaller children can discover simple hiding spots, such as between tree roots, on lampposts or behind fences. However, there are also hidden treasures whose search is associated with risks and can therefore become dangerous. Families are strongly discouraged from geocaching, for example, in old demolished houses, quarries or in rocky terrain. You should also pay attention to the weather. Apply lotion well when the sun is shining, don’t necessarily go into the mountains when it’s raining and, above all, get out of the terrain as quickly as possible in the event of a thunderstorm. (Tips on how to behave in thunderstorms )

In the beginning there is the hiding place

Of course, in order to find a treasure, it must first be hidden. This is done by the so-called owner, i.e. the owner of the treasure. He usually hides a small weatherproof plastic box and puts some odds and ends in there (e.g. figures from surprise eggs, small pendants, “gems”…) and a log book. Important: he must not damage nature when laying the cache. So spades, pickaxes and shovels are taboo. After he has determined the coordinates of the hiding place, he puts them on the Internet together with instructions. The instructions include, among other things, the approximate duration of the search, the structure of the terrain, the level of difficulty and suitability for families. By the way: Anyone can hide a treasure and, of course, anyone can look for it.

Let’s go search

The novice geocacher doesn’t have to worry about hiding a cache. For him, the only thing that counts is the search. After a suitable cache has been selected from the Internet, the family can now go off-road. To enter the coordinates found in the network, a smartphone with installed GPS software or your own GPS device is required. Furthermore, it is advisable to have small exchange objects in your luggage, because the finder can take an object from the hiding place and have to put another one back in. Geocaching is also an exciting pastime for children! They love the surprise when they reach their destination and open the can. What will be inside this time? The finder then makes an entry in the logbook and notes that on which day and at what time he lifted the cache. Finally, everything is stowed away again and hidden as you found it. Important: Please never hide the treasure anywhere else, otherwise the subsequent seekers will no longer have a chance of finding it using the given coordinates. Finally, you make a log entry on the Internet, but you should be careful not to reveal anything or not too much. Otherwise it will be much easier for the next cachers to find the geocache. Finally, you make a log entry on the Internet, but you should be careful not to reveal anything or not too much. Otherwise it will be much easier for the next cachers to find the geocache. Finally, you make a log entry on the Internet, but you should be careful not to reveal anything or not too much. Otherwise it will be much easier for the next cachers to find the geocache.

Cost of geocaching as a family sport

Geocaching has become a popular family hobby, especially in recent years. No wonder, because the search in the great outdoors is fun, brings exercise and a lot of excitement. And the costs for the equipment are also kept within reasonable limits. Your own smartphone is easily suitable for modern treasure hunts if the appropriate GPS software for geocaches has been installed on it. This can be downloaded for free or for little money. If you want, you can get a special GPS device especially for geocaching. Good specimens are available from as little as 80 euros, which work precisely and will give you many years of pleasure. If you want to get a feel for the topic of geocaching, you have the opportunity to rent a suitable GPS device from local outdoor outfitters for a small fee..

Geocaching equipment for children and adults:

As mentioned above, you need a smartphone with GPS software or a GPS device to find the hideout. To sign the logbook, you should have a ballpoint pen and also a waterproof felt-tip pen with you. And since you are often in nature when geocaching, appropriate clothing is of course necessary. That means you shouldn’t wear the very best jeans, your favorite T-shirt or high heels. Old clothes or outdoor clothing and sturdy shoes are an advantage here.

Types of geocaches

Geocaching suitable for children
Even preschool children can go in search of the treasure together with their parents. From elementary school age, they usually have the ability to operate the GPS device on their own. Parents should then keep more and more in the background and monitor the search from a distance. This gives the kids a feeling of independence and the joy is huge at the end when they have lifted the cache all by themselves. Imaginative names of the caches, such as “At the seven dwarfs” or “In the fairytale forest” as well as the use of a “children’s pictogram” in the cache description indicate that the respective search is also suitable for children. Parents will also find important information on child-friendliness in the ratings under the described caches. By the way: The teenagers, who are usually locked in their room, are always happy to be lured out of the house when a geocaching tour with the family is pending. But you can also go on the search alone with your friends.

Multicaches for teenagers, older children and families

There are tricky and exciting tasks to be solved in the multicache. Here you can only find out the coordinates of the first intermediate stage. Once there, more clues have to be found and often many a puzzle has to be solved. So the cache can be divided into several stages and especially the kids experience the search for the treasure as at least as exciting as actually finding it. Note: Multicaches usually require significantly more time than normal (traditional) caches. Very young children can quickly lose patience. If the offspring is older, they want higher requirements and then multicaches are just the right thing.