Geo Caching

I'll be honest, I always thought geo caching was kind of silly. Recently I was asked by a few different people if I've ever done it with the kids. This morning I was trying to think of something fun to do with the kids so I looked it up. My 7 year old daughter and I watched a video about it at www.geocaching.com and we were hooked.







I plugged in my address wondering if there was a cache somewhere near my house and discovered the closest one was literally only hundreds of feet from my door step. The girls and I grabbed my GPS and started our search.

After a few minutes of playing around in a large open space looking under rocks we found our prize. Our faces filled with smiles and we laughed with excitement. But this was just the beginning.

The girls begged and begged me to help them find another one. We visited two nearby parks where we saw birds, squirrels, mushrooms, flowers, and enjoyed some sunshine and fresh air while our search continued. All in all, we had a wonderful morning together outdoors and we had a blast searching for the caches. Believe me this is an awesome way to entertain your children while spending time outside.




Visit the Official Geo caching Website where you can learn the rules and get some helpful tips on geocaching. You can sign up for a free membership to find caches in your oun area and then you can let the search begin.





All you need is a GPS or Phone with GPS Capabilities and a desire for excitement. However, I would suggest you begin with an easy one as some are pretty well hidden and can be frustrating for children.

A Desire to Explore

I believe that it is extremely important for children to develop their own desire to explore. While I strongly believe in the Leave No Trace philosophy, I also believe that if you are in the right area it is important to leave the trail and just explore.

When we camp as a family the girls always beg for special time exploring with dad. They love to leave mom back at camp and head out where dad will encourage them to (safely) push themselves and improve their confidence and rock climbing skills.

Together we find new things, discuss the rock formations, work on climbing harder and harder rocks, and usually see more wildlife than if we just stayed at camp or on the trails.

I also usually 'pretend' to be lost at some point and test the girls sense of direction. The thrill and excitement of being lost and having to find our way back to camp is the best part. It is a great time to introduce route finding skills such as looking where the sun is in the sky.

I always have fun on these little exploring sessions but when I hear them tell mom the stories when we get back to camp and then hear them tell the story to their friends when we get home, I know it was a blast for them too. I love that they beg to go explore nature again.

A Place of Their Own

Whenever we go camping as a family we always bring a small kids tent just for play time. We have a small tent that the girls can use as their own little space. They can read books, play games, pretend its their own home or anything else they can think of. Obviously we encourage the kids to play outside in nature but at some point on each trip they just need a little space all on their own to do their own thing.

They've never even asked to sleep in it but they always want to bring it along. It is small, light weight, and has filled many hours of playtime around the campsite. I encourage you to find ways to help your children create their own space when camping in the wilderness.

May Day!

One great way to get your kids outside and having fun is to take part in seasonal celebrations. It is important to teach the kids about the seasons and to do activities tied to each season.

Today is May Day. We took advantage of a local living history farm called Timberlane Farms Museum's May Day Celebration. The kids had a blast feeding chickens, seeing a baby cow that was born the day before, taking part in a farm wide scavenger hunt, and of course dancing around the May Pole.

The prize for completing the scavenger hunt was a bag full of plastic flowers which we made into May Day Crowns.

I hope you are getting outside and enjoying the spring weather.

Earth Day!

Earth Day is a favorite in our household. We look forward to celebrating the Earth together as a family and we do many things all month with our business to help promote this special day. In previous years we have planted trees, worked on nature crafts, and celebrated in the park with friends.

It is wonderful that we can all take a moment and think about what we can do to help ease our stress on the planet and start conversations about reducing waste, working on renewable energies, and cleaning our rivers and streams.

Let's all remember that none of this effort is ever going to do any good unless we can get our children to buy into the idea of living green. No matter how much effort we put into Earth Day nothing will get better until the future generations make the decision to progressively move our society to live sustainably. The only way to do that is to teach the children to love nature. If they truly feel the connection they will preserve it to share with their children.

So please talk to your children about Earth Day. Make it fun, enjoyable, and educational. Teaching your children well is the single largest contribution you can have in truly honoring Mother Earth.

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." ~Native American Proverb

National Parks Week

It is National Parks Week and what a great time to get your children outside and exploring in our nations 394 National Parks. You can visit any National Park from April 16th to 24th FREE of Admission.

The park system has protected many amazing pieces of property and it is important that the children can see these natural wonders. So get out there and explore your local parks or make a trip to see something new. It will be a trip your children will never forget.

We are lucky to live near Rocky Mountain National Park where our family explores many times each year. We visited Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park about two weeks ago and have planned our annual trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park in June.

Please share your favorite National Park in the comments. Now get out there and experience it.

Children in Nature: Make it a Game

About a week ago we arrived in Moab, UT after about 7 hours in the car. The sun was setting and I had a tent to set up, a fire to build, dinner to cook, and some relaxing of my own to do. My two daughters had spent all day trying their best to be good in the car but the excitement of a 3 day camping trip was more than they could handle.

As I worked on setting up the tent and unpacking the car the girls kept asking me to do things with them. I was happy that they were excited about the trip but I just couldn't give them the attention at that moment. Just as I was about to get angry at them for not understanding the work I had to do, I stopped and helped them think of a game.

There were two large rocks side by side. I took a break from working and said, "watch this". I ran around the the two rocks making a figure 8. Then I asked the girls if they could do it faster than I did. Suddenly those two boring rocks that they hadn't noticed was now a game. They took turns running around and around the rocks seeing who could do it faster. Then they tried skipping around them. Then walking backwards, galloping, scissor steps, baby steps, and walking with waggling their arms.

Soon the tent was up, the car was unpacked, and the fire was burning. The games expanded and changed each night but a quick minute of my time was enough to get their imaginations started and the games never stopped.