Geocaching With Kids

Caching in Pacific Spirit Park in Vancouver

Anthony and I have been geocaching since Aidan was 2 years old. Quinlan has goecached all his life. It is something that gets us out in all weather and has us exploring places we would never have found on our own. Of our almost 800 finds since we started, at least 700 of those have been with the kids.

Aidan finding a cache. He is about 3 in this picture.

So, what is geocaching you ask? Simply put, geocaching is a world wide treasure hunt that uses GPS technology to find a cache. A cache can be as simple as a small container with a log, or as unique as a fake rock. Some caches only have a log ( a place to write your caching name and date) or they can have a lot of trade-ables (little toys etc.) and some have trackable items.

The Floyd Family posing after finding 24 caches in two days. Quinlan was about 10 months old.

We started geocaching with a GPS and an account at geocaching.com. With the advent of smart phones it is much easier to get started, just get yourself the geocaching.com app and see what you can find. If this is your first time, start with caches that have lower difficulty ratings. When we first started out with our boys we would do only 1 to 1.5 difficulties and 1-2 terrain. If you have a child in a stroller stick to the 1 terrain so that you are not frustrated.

Caching with a stroller. This was the first summer we cached.

A good way to get started is to check your geocaching app around playgrounds. I swear that almost every playground in the Lower Mainland has at least a few caches close by. When Aidan was younger we would trade off a playground cache with a few woods caches.

For more information on getting a geocaching account started, how to choose a GPS, how to navigate geocaching.com check out geocaching-101.