On Easter Sunday, my husband brought out this new little "gadget" he has been wanting to try! Introducing...... the
geomatejr. Who knew this little gadget would bring so much adventure to our Easter Sunday?! You can order one of these green little "machines"
here . I also found out that there are free apps for your phone that will do the same thing. Love that!!!!
I am so excited to tell you all about this little activity! If I would have known how much fun our family would have had with this, we would have done it a long time ago. The kids were enthralled with the "treasure hunt" aspect of the whole thing. I was loving all the exercise we were getting. The kids were enjoying the hunt so much that they didn't complain about all the walking! My husband liked being out in nature and exploring our local park in this way. Usually, we go to feed the ducks, play on the playground and then head home. Today, we were exploring the park in a whole new way!
Okay, let me tell you about our time geocaching and give you some pointers that I wish we had on our first trip out. The first thing you need to do is head to
geocaching.com and look up your local area parks. This website will tell you if there are "treasures" hidden in your local park. Next, pack a little "geocaching pouch" to take along with you. You should have a pencil (or something to write with), your
geomate.jr (or your phone with the app), little trinkets to leave in the "treasures" you find (you will see below why I say this) and also pack a garbage sack to pick up all the trash you will find along your geocaching route. What a great way to teach the kids about cleaning up the earth! Make sure you are dressed in comfortable shoes and clothes because you will be walking a lot. Now, head to your local park and start searching! Once you get to the park, the geomatejr will tell you which direction to go in and how many feet you have to reach the "treasure". When we got to our first location, we didn't know what we were looking for, but once we found our first "treasure" it was easier to locate them. YOU HAVE TO LOOK CAREFULLY because they are all different - I missed a lot of them. They blend very well with the surroundings. You will see in the pictures below what I mean and how you could easily miss them. Some of the treasures had little notebooks and pencils inside them and others had little trinkets in them (this is where it would be nice to bring your own trinket to replace the one you took for the next person traveling on that geocaching route).
I thought this would be a great activity to do if you were camping! What a great way to change up the camping scene and explore where you are! Below you will see some pictures from our little adventure today. I would highly suggest doing this with your family. It is something different and has many good benefits: bonding with your family, exercise, cleaning up your park, adventure, enjoying outside and nature and so much more! Just plain family fun!
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| This is the gadget that guided us on our "treasure hunting adventure"! |
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| Our geocaching future was so bright, we had to wear shades! |
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| I was FREEZING, but enjoying the fun! |
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| The geocachingjr was great for the kids to use. Very easy to read and navigate! |
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| This is how it looks in action. We are heading to our first "treasure". |
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| Our first treasure was hidden inside a tree. It really blends in so you have to look hard! |
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| This one had a piece of paper and pencil in it to write your name on. |
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| Gabrielle is writing her name on our first find. |
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| The next one was hidden up in a tree. It was kind of high so the kids had a hard time spotting it. This one looked different than the last one so you have to keep your eyes peeled! |
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| Landen was able to get it down. |
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| See how different it looks from the last one we found. |
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| There were little trinkets in this treasure. |
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One of the last ones we found was under some bleachers. This was the hardest one to locate! It looks like it is part of the bleachers! This one also had a little notebook with pencil in it to write your name and date.
All in all, this was a great day and a new and different activity for our family. We are excited to go geocaching through the other parks in our area!
On a side note, we did find out that you can set up your own "treasure" spot to maintain and hide for "geocachers" to find! You can find out more information at geocaching.com.
I would love to hear if your family has tried geocaching!
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Earth Day is fast approaching and I think it is a perfect time to challenge yourself and you family to be more "earth friendly". On the way to school today, I opened up a discussion with my kids about Earth Day to hear what they had to say. My daughter said "It is the day we celebrate Earth's birthday!" (too cute). We talked a little about conserving energy and other ways we can help protect our earth. My son said, "I think we should keep all lights off and no TV for the entire day on Earth Day!" I said, "Wow, do you think you can do it?" His reply was, "I am up for the challenge". 
