Geocaching Teaches Kids What?

[brainandbraun]

Very interesting input! Thanks!

Our kids are still pretty little and we are working very hard on learning how to be discrete. They do make us cache slowly, but they are the ones that point out the little flowers and the different shaped leaves. They always show up with “a flower for mama”, which is so sweet. And how to walk carefully so as to not crush plants (not to mention make a cacher’s trail). They also are the ones who point out to our family members that ‘a cache is over there’ and the details of finding it. 😀

Hopefully we will have some of those other memories and lessons learned mentioned before to add to this list. Here’s to No More Fires in Seattle! 😉

[baileyhk]

OPS – you should publish that!!! Amazing – it really goes to show how much it teaches us and nothing can take away from those experiences that your family and others have had. I love the fact that it teaches people to “think outside the box”, to persevere, to admire and respect places previously unvisited, to work together and to problem solve. My whole family has been to places and done things we would never have done but for geocaching giving us a reason to go there. I cannot sing the educational praises of caching enough and believe me I do it on a regular basis… my goal is to get people out and about, as someone said, whatever the weather, being active, exploring their environment and putting what they are learning into real life situations. Quite possibly the best hobby/ sport I have ever come across!

[GetMeOutdoors]

Thanks from us too, OPS. You’ve said what many of us are unable to put to words 🙂 What I think my kids will learn (ages 2 and 3) from geocaching is that video games and television (while fun) are no match for the awesomeness of the outdoors and God’s creation. And Geocaching is a great way to explore that and the human experience by visiting historic places and seeing the past left there for us.

[zuma]

Great post OPS. I nominate it for Post Of The Month.

zuma

[Lostby7]

@zuma wrote:

Great post OPS. I nominate it for Post Of The Month.

zuma

And then some…I think I will make it required reading for my kids….

[seldom|seen]

@Lostby7 wrote:

@zuma wrote:

Great post OPS. I nominate it for Post Of The Month.

zuma

And then some…I think I will make it required reading for my kids….

Something needs to happen to that. Letters to the editor, a column in local or regional outdoors magazines, a news spot… That is about the most thought out expression of the value of geocaching whether you have kids in tow or not. Don’t forget that all of those experiences left their marks on their parents as well!

At the very least, it needs to finds it’s way into a “sticky” post on the top of a new forum of some sort with a title “What I learned today while geocaching”

Exceptional log and I guarantee I’ll be sharing it and re-reading it myself many times over.

[One Paddle Short]

Just back from four days of camping with a big group of 16 year-old girls at Hartman Creek State park. It was interesting to get a group of that many teenagers into the “woods”. It’s not my kind of camping but for some of the girls this was a hard-core trip (they’d never slept in tents). They wandered off and did a couple of the closest caches to the campground, but we had them pretty busy with canoes/ kayaks, cooking and cleaning up after cooking, swimming at Whispering Pines, etc.

But, it was sad how so many of them had no outdoor experiences at all. Some of them would edge up to the campfire and throw wood in from four-five feet away because they were so afraid of the fire. They had no idea how to exit/ enter a canoe nor how to paddle and steer. Some had never seen a dutch oven. Some had never cooked with a pie iron. There were questions, questions, and more questions.

Time in the outdoors is valuable time for kids. Geocaching is one way to get them out there. We can’t expect these kids to respect and value the out of doors if they have no experience there.

Glad you folks enjoyed my post.

[furfool]

@seldom|seen wrote:

@Lostby7 wrote:

@zuma wrote:

Great post OPS. I nominate it for Post Of The Month.

zuma

And then some…I think I will make it required reading for my kids….

Something needs to happen to that. Letters to the editor, a column in local or regional outdoors magazines, a news spot… That is about the most thought out expression of the value of geocaching whether you have kids in tow or not. Don’t forget that all of those experiences left their marks on their parents as well!

At the very least, it needs to finds it’s way into a “sticky” post on the top of a new forum of some sort with a title “What I learned today while geocaching”

Exceptional log and I guarantee I’ll be sharing it and re-reading it myself many times over.

I have to agree with S|S on this one. I think when someone asks me why I like to cache, I’ll just have to give them a link.

[LOSTMomof2]

@jerrys dad wrote:

It has taught Jerry to notice his environment. And by that I mean the little things while do a search. Like in a park there is more than just a playground and sandbox. It also taught him the world consists of more than what he sees, as there is always another cache to be found.

I would agree about noticing the little things. It has taught my 5 year old and 2 year old to notice historical markers(even though neither can read yet).

Thanks OPS for sharing all of your memories with us and for putting together your bookmark list. It made me think of all the places we have been with our boys so far and the places we hope to take them to.

[furfool]

I just did a quick browse of the on-line geocaching magazine. There was a section asking what you have learned while caching. I think it would make a great place for you to send your post from above, OPS, if interested. I think a lot of cachers outside of our “home” would find it particularly interesting. Just a thought.

[One Paddle Short]

Thanks. When I wrote it that morning I was aiming it mostly at Wisconsin geocachers- but I could rewrite it a little. If I find some time to do so I will.

[odysseyuwrf]

@Trekkin’ and Birdin’ wrote:

If folks don’t mind, I’d love to use the final list y’all come up with, as I’ll be doing a session at the state teacher’s convention this October on geocaching.
I’m thinking more from the angle of “no child left indoors” and placed based education, but it could make for a fun opener.

A Geocache session at WEAC? That sounds awesome. I will certainly be on the look out for that session. Thanks!

[Trekkin and Birdin]

Well, don’t hold your breath on that geocache session. I wrote back to the guy and haven’t heard a thing since. I’d asked for specifics they’d need and promised a write-up, emailed with sweech about working on it together and….nada.

I did get a great email from the author of the coffee table book I mentioned in another thread, though. I’d written my appreciation for her work and perspective, and she had just returned from a conference on environmental ed, where she’d presented. So…..the notion is clearly out there that geocaching is a way to connect our plugged in generation with the bigger world beyond the screen.

[Author]

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