Geocaching

Common Sense Media says

Treasure hunt = family fun but not for kids alone.

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Geocaching gallery

What parents need to know

Ease of play

Navigating to a geocache is easy. The app shows your current location connected to the treasure by a dotted line with directional arrows and distance measured in feet. As you get closer, keeping an eye on the arrows and feet left tell you whether you've passed the mark. Afterward, you can log your comments right from the field.

Violence
Not applicable
Sex
Not applicable
Language
Not applicable
Consumerism
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Drinking, drugs, & smoking
Not applicable
Privacy & safety

The app must access your location in order to provide directions to the geocaches, but this info is not shared with other users.

Geocaching requires traveling on foot or by vehicle to various locations to find items hidden by other participants. The app warns users of the inherent dangers.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this expensive but very cool GPS app makes it possible for the whole family to go geocaching, a high-tech treasure hunt game. Geocaches can be hidden in rough terrain, public locations and other unsafe places for children. Since you are going to locations known by others to be a location that will attract others, this app creates some inherent dangers of exposure to strangers. While this game might be okay for older teens by themselves -- if they are responsible -- a better route would be to always play this game with friends.

Parents say

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AGE
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Kids say

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What's it about?

In 2000, after civilian GPS accuracy improved, three friends who worked at a dot-com startup launched Geocaching.com. GEOCACHING is a hybrid of GEO, for geography, and caching, a term used to describe hiding hiking or camping provisions. Users hide secret trinkets and find items by entering an address, zip code, latitude and longitude, or other qualification, and use the app to determine the object's hiding place.

Is it any good?

QUALITY
 

This app brings geocaching to the mobile devices, making it unnecessary to buy a dedicated GPS device. The app taps directly into geocaching.com's database of more than 2 million locations, some within walking distance, and gives you everything you need to find treasures hidden by other enthusiasts. Search by your current location or specific address, and get hints, photos, and step-by-step navigation. All that's missing is a torch.

App details

Devices:iPhone, Android
Price:$9.99
Release date:March 29, 2010
Category:Navigation
Publisher:Groundspeak Inc.
Version:3.0.1

This review of Geocaching was written by

Carla Thornton

About our rating system

  • ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
  • PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
  • OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
  • NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids of any age.

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Quality

Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Learning ratings

  • Best: Really engaging, great learning approach.
  • Very Good: Engaging, good learning approach.
  • Good: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
  • Fair: Somewhat engaging, okay learning approach.
  • Not for Learning: Not recommended for learning.
  • Not for Kids: Not age-appropriate for kids; not recommended for learning.

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Educator and Parent of a 12 and 13 year old Written byMarlamama August 23, 2011
AGE
6
QUALITY
 

Great FAMILY fun. Enjoy WITH your kids, only.

This is great fun for the FAMILY! Do not let kids geocache alone! Our family has spent many happy hours tracking down caches, putting in new and exciting things to find, and helping send special "geo-tags" to other parts of the country. This app is helpful, but my husband still prefers to plan long treks by consulting the geocache website and plotting out an adventure.
What other families should know
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Great messages
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Teen, 13 years old Written bydr duck June 16, 2010
AGE
10
QUALITY
 

Family fun

I used to do this all the time
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Parent of a 6 and 9 year old Written byjulesfreak July 15, 2013
AGE
6
QUALITY
 

Great family fun

This is a great geocaching app, and geocaching is a fun family activity. It can simple or complicated as you choose, can get you outdoors and foster teamwork. But an adult should always be present with kids looking for a cache.
What other families should know
Great messages
Great role models
Safety and privacy concerns
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