Geocaching homemade

Around the world there are millions of geocaches and many people looking for them. Some people not only search, but hide caches themselves. If you want to get creative with the family itself, here we explain how.

Not only the search for a cache is great fun. You can also hide caches yourself and come up with riddles and clues. There are hardly any limits to creativity and you don’t need much for it. Developing your own scavenger hunt is suitable for children from about eight years old. Depending on the age and interest of the child, geocaching can be linked to educational and learning content – also called educaching. In this way, knowledge is combined with fun and games. Your own does not have to be officially listed on a geocaching platform, but can also be created just for friends and family. It can lead to a treasure, a surprise and/or a riddle. It can be a single cache or a multi-part cache (multi-cache), where different stations are walked.

From the idea to your own cache

The first step is to find a topic. Content with a local connection – e.g. exciting places in your own city – is a good idea. However, topics such as the environment and forests or historical events can also be covered. It is important that it is appropriate for your child’s interests and age. Your child may also have ideas of his or her own that he or she would like to implement.

Once the topic is found, research is done to find interesting things. The smartphone camera can be used to capture possible hiding places. Then it’s on to thinking up puzzles and tasks. In a multi-cache, the stations must be placed in order and hidden at the locations. Make a note of the GPS coordinates of the hiding places. If you want to play the scavenger hunt, you will only receive the coordinates of the first station at the start. During the search, each newly discovered cache then contains the coordinates for the next track.

For your own geocache you will need the following:

• Tins or containers for clues, puzzles, and items as appropriate.
• GPS device or smartphone with GPS turned on (coordinates can also be searched using a map app such as Google Maps ).
• if necessary, camera or smartphone to photograph hiding places in advance
• Paper and pen
• A notebook (log book)
• Cards for hints and tips
• Possibly small prizes for the last cache (treasure chest)

Geo- and Educaches can also be designed multimedia-based with the help of the app Actionbound. More about Educaching can be found here.