Geocaching for Families

Geocaching is a great way for families to have fun together. Not only is it an inexpensive adventure it is also an ideal way to bring real world application into the study of geography. For those unfamiliar with the activity, it is kind of like an advanced form of treasure hunting. Typically people will hide items in a location and mark it on one of the geocaching websites with the GPS location for other people to find. Who doesn’t love a good treasure hunt, right?

If your area doesn’t have an active geocaching group parents can always hide the treasure themselves. Speaking of treasure, it really can be anything that is stored in a waterproof container and includes a log (if used by people other than the family) so the progress of other trackers can be kept. If parents are planting the geocache they can use a GPS locator or they can use longitude and latitude and a map so the children learn to use mapping skills.

I wish I had thought to use this tool when I was teaching seventh grade geography, I’m sure the children would have enjoyed it and my mapping lessons would have been infinitely more enjoyable. As it is, I’m looking forward to being able to geocaching with my son and husband in a few years. Geography lesson and fun all rolled into one, you can’t beat that.

Photo Credit: Perpetual Plum

July 6th, 2009 by birdievogel | Posted in Uncategorized | (0)