Free or Low-Cost Outdoor Ideas for Children #2: Geocaching

In many of my posts about our family walks, you might have seen me talking about finding Geocaches or sharing photos of my lads holding little plastic containers. If you’re interested in taking it up yourself, or wondering if Geocaching is child friendly, then look no further, here’s everything you need to know about geocaching with children!

What is Geocaching and How Does it Work?

Geocaching is a world wide treasure hunt using GPS coordinates to find ‘treasure’, known as ‘caches’. ‘Hiders’ hide little weatherproof containers of varying sizes and log their location using GPS coordinates, which can be accessed by ‘finders’ on the Geocaching website or using their app. By using these coordinates, and reading the clues (or ‘hint’) from the app, finders can try to find these caches. These caches are usually cleverly hidden and provide a little challenge for those trying to find them! Look low, look high, be imaginative and try to think where you would hide something!

How to Start Geocaching

You can use the Geocaching website to log finds but for the most user friendly experience, I would recommend that you download their App (which is free). Whether you use the website or the app, you can easily load a map near you, which will point out all the Geocaches available in that area.

Is Geocaching child friendly?

Geocaching is a brilliant activity to do with children of all ages. Whilst a grown up might take control of the app and take the lead into getting to the initial spot of where the cache is hidden for younger children, older children may wish to take the lead in the search instead! Once you’ve arrived at the spot, the children will thoroughly enjoy the search, and will love the anticipation of seeing what’s inside each cache. We particularly love ‘child friendly’ caches, like this one we found along the Shropshire Union canal!

What are Caches?

Caches are the names given to the containers that can hold a variety of contents. At the very least, there should be a log book to date and sign (always carry a pen and/or pencil as some caches are too small to include one!) Caches come in various sizes: the smallest one we’ve found so far was about half the size of an old photographic film canister (we’ve found film canisters too!), and the largest one was much like a lunch box!

As well as a log book, a lot of caches also contain little low value trinkets that you can swap (such as keyrings, cracker type toys, or maybe a foreign coin!) or Trackables (a token with a code, which can be moved between caches, and usually has a ‘mission’ – the first Trackable we found had a mission to get to the Amazon jungle!)

How do I Log Geocaches?

As mentioned above, you need to log each find on the caches physical log book, but you also need to log it on the Geocaching site or app too. Download the app and sign up for a (free) basic account to start logging. Here you can upload a photo of your finds if you want, leave a little message, or update with a status of the cache for the cache owner – such as letting them know if the log book is full, or if the cache is damaged. You can log ‘Found it’, ‘Didn’t find it’ or just leave a note. Found caches will turn from their original icon into a yellow smiley face, and those not found will turn into a blue sad face. Don’t worry, you can revisit them and try again!

Some of the most common cache types and icons are shown below, but to see a list of all of them, head over to the official Geocaching website here!

Where can I Geocache?

You can Geocache anywhere! This is a game that’s played worldwide, so even if you’re on holiday in a different country with your family, chances are there are still caches nearby for you to find! Most geocaches are placed along public footpaths and popular walking locations, some are easily accessible and some will require a bit of a trek! You can also get ‘drive up caches’, known as a ‘cache and dash’, which are on roadsides and can turn any road trip into a bit more of an adventure! According to the Geocaching official website, there are millions of caches to find in over 190 countries!

Is Geocaching Free?

For the most part – Yes! We only use the free version and we have had lots of fun finding Geocaches!

The easiest geocaches are free to find and log in the app and show up as green icons, but harder or more complex caches are greyed out and are for subscribers only. However, fun tip, if you log in via the website, you can find information about, and log, the greyed out caches too! 

If you don’t want to have to log into the website, you can ‘Go Premium’ (subscribe) which will allow you access to all the available caches in the app.

Are you ready to start Geocaching?

It’s fun, it’s free, it can be done anywhere and it’s absolutely perfect to do with children! It gets the whole family outside, now that’s got to be a good thing!

If you’re now ready to go Geocaching with children, let me know how you get on!

Got any questions? Just ask me below!

Get out there and have fun!