GPS based games to get the kids off their butts

I wrote last week about the challenges of getting my kids off the sofa and out into the great outdoors, so when my friend told me about Geocaching I thought it was a great idea. I’d heard a little about GPS based games mainly through the Pokémon Go craze that hit the headlines last year. As I faced into a weekend alone with the kids I thought it was time I checked these games out.

Pokemon Go

I started with Pokémon Go. In essence it’s an App that you download to your phone. After signing up you use your phone to find Pokémon in your surrounding. The kids loved it. Using the app you view you scan your house/garden/park on camera mode. Suddenly you will find little Pokémon characters hiding in the most unexpected of places. Once you spot them the trick is to capture them by throwing a ball of food at them. It’s easy to use and so much fun for the littlies, the laughter at finding a Pokémon in our fruit bowl or one hiding in the bottom of the pool was uproarious.

However, there was soon trouble in paradise. After we had caught about 10 Pokémon no more were to be found, even when we drove out in the car. In addition we were told we needed to visit a Pokestop (a virtual shop) to buy more food balls, but none were to be found. We live in a semi rural part of Kenya and it seems that Pokémon Go isn’t set up for this area. and so the game became useless. Such a huge shame. It was fun though, so if you want to find out more about the game check out this link. And if you find a Pokestop or some more Pokémon do let me know.

Geocaching

Undeterred I headed over the to the Geocaching App. Cited as the world’s biggest treasure hunt, the premise is straightforward. All over the world people have been hiding Geocaches. They log these caches on to an app and our job is to find them.

So what is a cache? Well at its simplest it’s a tiny container with a logbook, which you sign to prove you have found the cache. The caches can contain anything; toys, gifts, trinkets, the idea is that if you take something you also leave something behind.

To my delight I found out there were geocaches all over Nairobi. In Karen there are loads in Ololua Forest, Ngong Forest and near the Giraffe Centre. Inspired and excited the kids and I decided to head out to Ololua to seek out the 8 caches that were there and find ourselves some treasure.

Geocaching in Ololua Forest

The App shows you where the caches are and you navigate via a real time GPS map, a compass and any additional instructions. Once there you are often given a clue as to where to hunt for the cache. Our first cache was hidden high up in a tree in the middle of the forest. We were all super excited as we signed our names and registered our success via the app. Sadly no little trinket in this one although we have left something behind for those who come next.

Again though we were stumped as the game progressed. We found 3 other Geocache sites

but at all of them couldn’t find the caches. I suspect that the long rains probably uncovered a few from their hiding places or perhaps we just weren’t very adept at finding the hidden boxes. The kids were a little disappointed after two hours of treasure hunting with no treasure and so we headed home for milkshakes.

Happy days

In my opinion the day was a success. All three children were out the house tramping around the forest for over 2 hours and thoroughly exhausted by the time they got home. This is a great activity for kids and families and I’m so happy to see that it’s something that has gathered pace in Nairobi too. I am fully determined to make this work and make the treasure hunt part of our family walks. It’s so much easier to walk in the woods with excited and eager children rather than dragging them around moaning. The key is to make sure the caches are there and that they have a little something exciting inside them too. This is perhaps were we all could help.

Fixing and replacing the caches

It has such potential, this game, to get the kids on a walk with minimal moaning. In fact, I think I’m going to go and restore some the missing caches myself. If everyone else does the same then we Nairobian’s have a really fun activity for the kids to do on the summer holidays. We brought, little Lego figures, small bits of kids jewellery and some rubbers and pencils to leave behind the in the caches. The kids would be thrilled to treasure hunt these. It’s also pretty easy to create a new cache on the App, we could have them all over Nairobi. What larks!

Finally, in the coming weeks the app is launching a special Hidden Creatures game. I’ve no real idea what it entails other than hunting for fairies, monsters etc. perhaps it’s a Geocache version of the Pokemon game. It sounds fun… if you are interested then here is a link.