Kid Friendly Caches

[Timberline Echoes]

Jim and I discussed this last night and would find if very difficult to decide if any of our caches would get the label…KFC or whatever you come up with. We do not see how that can be decided. What age? Most of you know we take an adult handicapped guy with us.. for those who have met ET you know his sight is messed up so his perception is off. We have taken him on some pretty difficult terrains. Either way a KFC label would not have helped much in deciding to take him along or not. Many are rated so randomly that we usually have to show up to figure out if he can do it, sometimes he just can’t and other times he can, depends on the amount of bushwhacking and what kind of things there are to bushwahck through. Of course trails are usually best for him but sometimes ruts, puddles and hills can be a challenge. So in using a KFC label what is being decided, by whom that is not already noted in the cache info?

Just my thoughts… which aren’t worth too much.
Mrs. TE

[-cheeto-]

I have 3 children. A 5 yr old girl. An 8 yr old girl. A 9 (almost 10) yr old boy.

My caching experiences with all 3 has taught me the following about geocaching and kids. Perhaps this will help with the topic at hand.

– None of them like finding magnetic key holders.
– None of them like looking for caches at the end of dead-end roads.
– None of them like hiking/walking longer than about a mile. However, if the hike is broken up you may get away with a bit more.
– None of them like to find large volumes or go on all day cache trips. One find is all it takes to make their day 🙂
– All of them love trading items. Even if it is a McDonalds toy, they sometimes trade for those too! (we always pitch them but it’s a day’s worth of fun anyway)
– All of them love caching in parks where there are playgrounds available.

It’s that simple. No keyholders, no dead ends, no 2 mile hikes, room for trade, and bonus if there’s a playground nearby.

Children of different ages and boy vs girl have different interests and what makes the experience “fun” for them is different but that’s the case with us “older kids” as well.

At the spirit of this is not the acronym and it’s not about debating what each person thinks is “Kid Friendly”. It’s more about going back to the roots of Geocaching (at least from what I hear as I was not a geocacher back then!). Placing findable containers in interesting spots with items in them to trade. That seems to be the most kid friendly type of cache of all! And most importantly to Hemi’s idea, letting the cache hunter know that the cache you just placed (out of the hundreds available in the area) is one that you think a family would like to go hunt. If you want to add some educational content to the listing or to the experience as a whole, even better!

The “kid friendly” attribute icon is used and abused as is the “available in winter icon” and many other attributes. If the cache owner goes out of their way to say “Bring your whole family” and “the kids will love this cache” it makes it that much more likely to draw in cachers. Rather than just an attribute icon driving my latest PQ download.

The great thing about Hemi’s idea here is that we as a group of cache placers belonging to the WGA could all present information in a uniform way. A common bit of text letting the cacher know that “your family will enjoy this experience” and that statement is based on all of our input into what the general population of kid cachers and cacher family’s enjoy.

I am divided on the Acronym in the Name but I truely beleive that adding some standard text, a recognizable Icon, and some eductional content to some of my caches is an excellent idea.

And I will finish with a bit of a story…
This past weekend, Sagasu placed a whole bunch of new “Family Friendly/Kid Friendly” traditional caches around the Fox Valley area. I planned an entire morning with my son finding some of those. It was great. No dnf’s, we traded items, he got 2 state quarters for his collection that he did not have. In the Winter, 20 degrees and we were able to get out and have fun. I can tell you that from now on he will ask if the kinds of caches I plan on finding are like these one’s were or not. It will take much more planning to surpass that experience and keep him interested but if I would survey some caches and look here it says KFC or Kid Friendly or something, anything, I would probably plan on a visit.

[Mister Greenthumb]

@-cheeto- wrote:

It’s that simple. No keyholders, no dead ends, no 2 mile hikes, room for trade, and bonus if there’s a playground nearby.

I added the KFC notation to a dozen of my hides. I’m happy to say that they meet your criteria. I have 3 grandchildren (6, 9 & 11) and used them as a model for deciding. I have 3 puzzle caches that require using the playground to solve. One does have a magnet for the final, but anything else would get muggled there. Eric’s Birthday Cache is a tub of party toys. I have a 1/4 mile easy multi with a fishing tackle box at the end at a millpond that also has frogs. There are two Emma’s Girlie Girl caches that only have girl items and typical boys items are not allowed. All of these caches are in parks or along park trails. If anyone ever wants a guided tour of these fun KFC caches let me know. Theyare all within 2 miles of my house in Sussex.

[Sagasu]

Some very interesting comments and questions have been shared here on the idea of a uniform designation for so-called kid-friendly caches, more than I considered when I placed six new traditional caches in the greater Menasha/Appleton area this past week and did so with both kids and adults in mind. The singular thrust of my effort was to provide some new caches that were traditionals and not puzzles, though my fifteen year old son does enjoy and like some puzzles and was an equal partner in creating our most difficult cache, a 5/5 puzzle that still has not been solved or found.

What I had in mind was to offer some new caches that would not take a lot of time to solve or find, be easy enough to get to without a long trek, though a few of them had some fun medium-terrain challenges, and that I could comfortably add the kid-friendly attribute so many of the cachers who I know in the area could seek them and take their kids to enjoy the chase together. I also included something entertaining about each of these caches, either the location, the design (like the two pocket caches) or the contents, most of them having swag that has been treasured by kids, and their parents, like my favorite blue light-sticks, golden dollar coins for the first kid-to-find, new and recent commemorative state quarters (which at least a couple kids were thrilled to claim to fill a spot in their quarter books), new plastic animals, miniature kaleidoscopes, and other items that I carry in my swag bag that have had positive feedback on over time, both from kids and their parents. Not to leave the folks out, there were also several jeep travel bugs that seem to have been eaten alive already by the equally eager parents and other cachers.

It didn’t take a lot of time to put these together, and just a bit more to find decent locations, but the reward for me was definitely the logs of the finders and their reports on the fun they and their kids had with the new caches.

On a more practical note, I use the kid-friendly attribute when it seems like a cache might be interesting to some kids, not all, as they are each different and may get some enjoyment out of different things. I try to maintain caches that take people to interesting places, are fun to find in some way by what the container is or where it is placed, and have something inside that may interest kids or their parents, whether cool swag or neat trackables. I also try to check up on the health of my caches as often as I can to remove unwanted kid’s meal toys (my pet peeve), and other tattered or broken swag. If the cache contents have something to do with it being friendly, and it hasn’t been treated in a friendly way, I try to fix it so the cache remains worth finding.

For me, that is at the heart of the issue, not some uniform criteria or designation at the time a cache is placed, but how finders and the owner treat a cache to keep it fun to find. Unfortunately, that sometimes takes more work than the design, the good swag or trackables put in at start-up, and the time to find a good spot to make the hide. Caches other than those intended to be only a log for claiming a find, sometimes on a difficult puzzle for which the reward is mostly succeeding at solving it and being able to find and sign that log, need to be kept fun by the finders, or, if not, by the owner.

It’s sometimes disappointing to see caches plundered by finders who take the good stuff and leave a less finder-friendly cache, whether for kids or adults, or to replace or move a cache that was muggled due to lack of discretion with regard to stealth or failure to leave a cache as well concealed as found, as if all that counts is making that find. But, since I love finding good caches, I also like to read good logs, and try to insure that there is a reason for a good log. We all need to treat caches like our own, and trade fairly if contents are part of the fun, to keep caches friendly for everyone.

[Team Hemisphere Dancer]

The debate on this idea has brought a lot of attention to this idea. At times I think it is a bit over thought, but at least it is being thought of. As Cheeto has stated early in this thread. “Do it if you want otherwise have no part in it.” I don’t mean to sound short by saying that but the same theme comes up when the debate over puzzles, micro’s or whatever the current trend is at. There are some here that are strong towards this Idea, some are on the fence. Nobody is forcing anyone to designate all of their caches. It was just an idea. Now I am going to place some KFC’s for all the cacher kids out there. If you want in on this you are welcome. If not then you decide what is right for your team to do.

Here is a bit of a descriptor that I was thinking might be good on the cache pages.

KFC is a designation that stands for Kid Friendly Cache. (not to be confused with a popular chicken place) It is a movement to keep the young ones wanting to stay active in geocaching. Kids love to trade so having a cache of decent trading size is a must. Also kids minds are like sponges wanting to soak up all the information that they can fit in their heads. With that in mind, please leave a little bit of knowledge for them to learn about the environment they are walking in. Look at it as a living classroom. Topics can be of any variety such as Nature, Geology, or History.

Here are also some for the “requirements” for the designation. I purposely left off the hike distance because I like to get them walking and to eliminate that would be too restrictive. Besides there are a lot of neat stuff to show the kids while walking through the woods.

1. Must be of regular or large in size.
2. Kid type swag.
3. Must have a short lesson describing something in the theme of the cache written to no more than a 6th grade level.

One last thing. My heart is not set on the whole “Chicken” thing. If someone has a better acronym then by all means post it. I had one but the reviewers didn’t think it was Kid friendly.LOL

Hemi

[seldom|seen]

@Team Hemisphere Dancer wrote:

Also kids minds are like sponges wanting to soak up all the information that they can fit in their heads. With that in mind, please leave a little bit of knowledge for them to learn about the environment they are walking in. Look at it as a living classroom. Topics can be of any variety such as Nature, Geology, or History.

This is probably the bast part of the designation. I try to make everything I put about about something more than signing a log. But it is not always possible me to place a regular sized ammo can in, say, an Historic textile mill, where I certainly think kids would get a kick out of seeing a hundred year old machine chugging away. That’s an example of a cache that I have a “kid friendly” designation on, but doesn’t fall into your criteria.

My fear is that this designation will take on some merit with family cachers and out-of-town cachers, who will start pulling PQ’s to do just the KFC’s in teh Valley and miss caches like, Grapes of Wrath, Lutz Got Some Ice Off That, Pace Yourself, Again!, A Dam Tender Spot, Ahoy, I Zeeland, Postmarked | Faithful to my Master, Opti-mistic, Artisans of Appleton | For the Brunn of It, Big Sty Country, Matty told Hatty, For Immediate Release…, Boxed in a Corner, Consult the Oracle to name a few, and that list goes on.

All of those are fun for kids of any age to do, and many of them are specifically geared towards kids being involved. However, I’m not going to add the KFC designation to these caches (not just because they don’t fit the bill, but because I’m content with the Attribute) and I guess I will simply have to live with the consequences.

@Team Hemisphere Dancer wrote:

Here are also some for the “requirements” for the designation. I purposely left off the hike distance because I like to get them walking and to eliminate that would be too restrictive. Besides there are a lot of neat stuff to show the kids while walking through the woods.

1. Must be of regular or large in size.
2. Kid type swag.
3. Must have a short lesson describing something in the theme of the cache written to no more than a 6th grade level.

Happy to see this fairly open set of requirements, especially the leaving off the distance thing. I agree that taking kids for hikes should be considered a good thing.

@Team Hemisphere Dancer wrote:

One last thing. My heart is not set on the whole “Chicken” thing. If someone has a better acronym then by all means post it. I had one but the reviewers didn’t think it was Kid friendly.LOL

I hope you all realize that I was just playin wit cha in the logo I posted. I was seriously not intending for that to be considered!

[greyhounder]

@Team Hemisphere Dancer wrote:

One last thing. My heart is not set on the whole “Chicken” thing. If someone has a better acronym then by all means post it. I had one but the reviewers didn’t think it was Kid friendly.LOL

If it was the one you shared with me, very funny, but SO NOT kid friendly LOL 😆

Bec

[-cheeto-]

I have now modified one of my current caches to Recognize the new KFC designation and added some Educational content to the page. Check it out: GC13RN5 KFC – Rocket Slide.

New KFC caches will come later, but this is the direction I tend to take with the educational content. This page was written with my 9 year old son in mind.

For those of you that have already visited the cache location, this one represents what Kid Friendly is all about and the New cache page content is carried through to the location. And for you parents out there who have not visited keep in mind that if you bring your kids to this cache you will be stuck here for awhile 🙂

[TyeDyeSkyGuy]

The designation is a big thing for me. It should be an easy thing to remember and recognize, but should not make us the butt of so many jokes.

I think a simple KF (Kid Friendly) would do fine.

CF (child friendly)

or CFC (child friendly cache) if you want it to be a three letter acronym.

Or if you really want to draw attention to it, you could make it (NCIAC) No Chesters In Area Cache). Did I just write that? Too much coffee this morning I guess, and the backspace button is not responding. 😯 8) 😆

[-cheeto-]

No Chesters In Area Cache

hey, I resemble that remark…

[TyeDyeSkyGuy]

@-cheeto- wrote:

No Chesters In Area Cache

hey, I resemble that remark…

Thankfully, wrong kind of Chester. 😀

[marc_54140]

FFC – family friendly cache?

I actually like KFC. Who cares about the jokes!

[-cheeto-]

KFC has grown on me as well.

I have not heard the term “Chester” before and am not aware of the context of it’s use…

[Mister Greenthumb]

I added KFC to 12 of mine and a note saying Kid Friendly Cache. I like the idea and think it will help a lot when we travel to other parts of the state and have kids along. I like the KFC caches too even though I’ll be 61 in April. I carry a bag of trading items at all times and have gotten into the habit of stocking depleted caches where ever we go. We’re looking forward to caching in Appleton this year with the addition of KFC and the help of the Lonely Cache Game.

[Lostby7]

@-cheeto- wrote:

KFC has grown on me as well.

I have not heard the term “Chester” before and am not aware of the context of it’s use…

If it is used in the context I think it is I have a Chester about 6 houses down…and now my kids will have to walk past his house to get to middle school…but that is neither here nor there sorry for the thread derail…but to bring it back he lives about 500 feet from a geocache…

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