Today we have a quick but fun cache design for kids. This plan was brought up in a previous post, but without build details. This ended up being a prize for a kid at a recent event in my area.
Needed Supplies
A fake insect
A nano
Weatherproof paint
Weatherproof glue or epoxy
Drill or dremmel
Once you have the supplies, figure out how you want to place the nano into the insect. In this example, an Ant was used. You'll need to drill a hole to fit a nano. Drill it deep enough to fit the nano but allow room to grip and unscrew the lid. Using a weatherproof glue or epoxy (something that can handle cold temps and possible moisture), apply a small amount of glue to the inside of the hole. Then push the bottom of the nano in and get it set in place. Allow time for the glue to dry.
There you go. A quick, easy cache build. Find a good place to put it and enjoy the logs.
I am trying to stick to a bi-weekly posting on this site. Last weekend found me away from home from Saturday through Tuesday, and I forgot. So here is a quick post featuring an online friend of mine, ErikaJean. Erika has put together a rather interesting blog that combines several of her various interests, including geocaching. It's obvious to anyone reading her blog that the keyboard loves her. But today, we focus on a YouTube video she put together that definitely fits into the Creative Caches site. It's called Interactive Geocaching, but there's just one problem. There's no actual cache to find.
If you are a fan of computer games, you've probably played a game inspired by Myst. Myst was an graphic adventure game released in 1993, most notable for it's "Choose Your Own Adventure" like method of story telling. You were in control of how you played the game, with the ability to explore at your own free will. You clicked on a spot in the game and it would either move you in that direction, or you interacted with something in the game world.
Erika has created a YouTube video that plays out just like Myst. The collection of videos give you the opportunity to try and find a geocache from the comfort of your computer. Now while none of our readers will be able to claim a find from the video, I have an idea for how to turn this into an actual cache.
Required Materials
A micro or small geocache, ready to go
A video camera
A computer
Find a decent location to place a geocache. For this cache, a good location will have a variety of possible hiding spots nearby. If the spot you choose has a limited amount of spots to look for that size container, you should probably choose another location. This is important for the overall design of this cache. Once you've hidden the container, step back a bit and survey your surroundings. Find a good spot to start and mark that location, both in your mind and on your GPSr. We'll call it Waypoint A. It might be a good idea to physically mark the site with something so you remember where you started.
Now, pick a collection of different items within your view: bushes, trees, man-made structures, etc. You want a good collection of a least 10 different items. Try to make the items viable hiding locations for your container (this works best if you are using a micro or small container). Shoot a short introduction video of the scene with you speaking in the background. If your camera has the option, make sure to stop each time you shoot a scene so you have easy reference points for later editing.
Once you've shot the intro, begin shooting video of you walking towards the various objects you noted earlier. If your hand comes into view as you move things about in a fake search for a cache container then don't worry about it. Play it up a bit. Add commentary as you film. After you film the various objects, pick a couple of random points that may seem like obviously unlike locations, but film them anyway. It will provide more options for viewers.
Once you're done filming, and you have both the starting coords for the video and the final location's coords, head on home and go through the process of editing. You'll need a collection of short videos encompassing all of the random points people might choose, including the correct location. Edit them however you want, but in the clip that leads to the actual cache, post the coordinates for Waypoint A into the end of the video. This way, when people find the correct location in the video, they will get the coordinates for the video's starting location. Once they arrive on scene, they should see a view just like the video. They already know where the final is located at, so the find will be easy from that point on.
Now all you need to do is upload the videos. YouTube provides an easy, free option for doing so. Once they are uploaded, you'll need to add linked notes to the video. YouTube calls them "annotations" and they can be added by going to "My Videos" after logging in, finding the starting video, and clicking on "Annotations". When you do this, make sure you have a second tab open so you can get the URL's for each video. Pick the point in the starting video where you want to give people the option to pick their choices. Pause the video there and add a notation. Spread the annotation out over one of the areas people can choose, switch it to the "Notes" type (you can use "Speech Bubble" or "Spotlight" if you want), then click on the chain link icon to create an Annotation Link. This is where you paste the URL for the video that explores that particular spot. You'll have to be organized at this point so that all of the annotations link to the proper videos. Once done, you'll have a video much like Erika's.
Yes, it's an easy find for anyone who completes the video. But it will also be a fun find. Due to the nature of the design, it should probably be listed as a puzzle cache. This means that even cachers who don't like puzzles would be hard pressed to complain about this. And if they automatically ignore puzzles without even looking at them, this is a shining example of why that practice can backfire. This is also a kid friendly cache design that any geocachers with kids in your area will enjoy.
Enjoy,
TripCyclone
PS: And a thanks to ErikaJean for letting me highlight her video. The starting video is below:
It's Christmas Eve. Dinner's cooking, people are wrapping gifts. It's SNOWING down here in Dallas. I've been busy the last few weeks as first semester ended at work, but I haven't stopped looking for interesting cache ideas. Tonight, I bring you another easy puzzle like last time. What's different is that this is a hands-on, multi-stage, puzzle cache.
Here's the supply list:
Two cache containers
Logsheet
Permanent Marker
Rubik's Cube
That's right. I said Rubik's Cube. Some of you might be able to see where this is going already. When getting supplies, make sure one of the cache containers is large enough to fit the Rubik's Cube. Also, when you get the Rubik's Cube, it has to be solved first (brand new ones usually come solved in the package). Everything else can be done in the field.
The first thing you are going to need to do is figure out where you want the FINAL cache to be at. Do this however you want and get the coordinates for the location. Place the final and let's go find a spot for the first stage.
Once you find a spot to place the first stage, let's get out the coordinates for the final, the marker, and the solved Rubik's Cube. Pick two sides of the cube, any two sides. Break up the coordinates into the Latitude and Longitude (N/S & E/W). Now write one digit from the Latitude into each square of one of the sides, going from left to right, top to bottom. Imagine the 3x3 grid as Lines 1, 2, & 3. Here's an example of how to write it:
Line 1: N 1 2
Line 2: 3 4 .
Line 3: 5 6 7
There are just enough spots for the full coordinates. Put the Longitude on another side, and drop the W or E if your degrees are three digits. Most people will realize that is longitude anyway.
Now scramble up the Rubik's Cube THOROUGHLY. Take a few minutes to really get it random. Then, drop it into the cache container. You might want to add a small note explaining that the finder has to solve the cube to figure out the coordinates for the final (unless they are good at solving a Rubik's Cube, most people will solve the coordinates by solving it one side at a time). Now hide the container.
Easy to set up, relatively easy to solve. And it's a fun one for kids too, if you kids like these kinds of toys.
Sometimes, having a creative geocache isn't about how well you can hide it or what the geocacher has to go through to find the geocache, but about the site itself. You can hide an ammo can out in plain view and people will still talk about how cool it was. It takes the right frame of mind when designing it. Slick 50 had that frame of mind when she placed her second geocache. The geocache is called Charlie Brown
Let's take a quick look at the supplies needed for Charlie Brown before we examine how it was built.
Ammo can
Swag
Logbook
Christmas Ornaments
Wait.
That has to be wrong.
Christmas Ornaments?
Well, surprisingly enough, THAT is where the creative part came in. But before we move on, let's hop into a Delorean and go back to 1965.
In 1965, a small Christmas special was aired and became a quick hit. It was called "A Charlie Brown Christmas", and it quickly became a classic. One of the main plot points of the film was a tiny, decrepit, baby tree that Charlie Brown picks to use as the tree for the school play. The tree looks bad, and when decorated, it looks like a dinky little tree with those colorful ball ornaments. I still remember watching this movie as a kid. I'm sure many of you remember watching this when it aired each year. Time to leave 1965. Punching in time coordinates for late November, 2007.
Slick 50, a geocacher in the Dallas, TX area, was looking to place her second geocache. With the desire to place a Christmas cache, and hearing about an idea from another Dallas geocacher by the name of Caveman2040, she began thinking of a name. Charlie Brown. Once the name came about, the rest of the design suddenly became clear. She looked for the scraggiest tree she could find that was hidden from view of muggles, and went to work. Placed in a park along Lewisville Lake in North Dallas, the cache is just a little ways off of the main trail. When you get close, you have to bushwhack just a bit to get around some large trees, but once you do, you'll be greated by this:
Now, looking at the photo just doesn't really give the same impression. This is partially a result of when the photo was taken. This was taken in January, when many trees are missing their leaves. As a result of this, much of the background blends in and makes it hard to see the tree in question. Let's just say that as soon as I came around the nearby trees and saw this one, I just about died in laughter. It was a great display and totally fits with the above film. This is a perfect example of how the name of a geocache can be just as valuable as the cache itself. I'm not sure it would have had the same impression if it had been named anything other than Charlie Brown.
Decorating this tree was nothing more than putting up the ornaments. But Slick 50 went the extra step and attached some fake holly to the top of the ammo can, which is in plain site at the base of this tiny, three foot tall tree. Punching in time coordinates for present day 2009.
I'm not really sure anything else needs to be said about how this was set up. It's a pretty simple hide. But above many of the geocaches I've found, this definitely demonstrates how the site itself can make a geocache not only creative, but memorable. Since I found this, I've frequently referenced it when talking about memorable geocaches. The only downside of this cache is that it doesn't get visited enough. I'm amazed that in the almost two years since it was placed (November 2007), it has only been found 19 times. That number should be higher.
By the way, Slick 50 has a few other holiday themed caches in the North Dallas area: Halloween, Easter, and Valentine's Day. I guess I have a few others to go after next time I'm in Dallas.
Here's one more view of the cache:
TripCyclone
PS: A thanks to Slick 50 for letting me write about her geocache Charlie Brown.
Creative Caches & Containers isn't just about the containers. It's about how the caches are done too. This next design is more about how the cache is done instead of how the container is built. And the best part...it's a great design for kids.
Puzzle caches can often be the bane of many geocachers. Some are easy, many are hard. The difficulty is usually dependant on the geocacher. If you like puzzles and do them regularly enough, you'll learn some tricks and can often see things others may not. Despite how puzzle caches are defined in one category, there are different types of puzzle caches of varying degrees. The automatic lumping of all puzzle caches into an ignore list often results in overlooking puzzles that can be both easy and fun to do. If you really want to hear my thoughts on this one, check out my post about puzzle caches called Ahhh...the Dreaded Mystery Cache, where you can find my own list of the different types of puzzles out there. Today's idea is a great example of what can be overlooked by ignoring puzzles.
Before explaining the idea, let's look at the materials list:
1- small or regular sized cache container
1- cache container of any desired size (since this is a kid friendly cache, aim for this one to hold some swag)
1- ziploc baggie, or a small tupperware container (must fit into the first cache container listed above)
1- 50 piece puzzle, small (preferably one small enough that the finished puzzle is smaller than the side of an ammo can).
1- log sheet or log book
Random swag (if desired)
1 sharpie
Now, it's important to point out what I wrote in parenthesis and why. Today's design is meant to involve two stages. Because of this, it's important that the first container in the list is at least a small container. It's actually better if you can use an ammo can, and you'll see why soon. The second container is whatever you want. But if you want to aim for this to be a kid friendly cache (read on), don't use micro's or nano's. The ziploc baggie or small tupperware mentioned is for holding the pieces of the puzzle. For the puzzle, go to a toy story or a toy department and look for small puzzles. For the one I have, the box is about the size of a thick deck of cards and when put together, can easily fit on the large side of an ammo can.
Now for the design. Before you can truly make this puzzle, you need to have found where you want to place the final cache and have collected the coordinates for that location. If designing with kids in mind, try to pick a place that parents will feel comfortable taking kids. The side of a cliff overhanging a creek or stream is probably not a good spot.
Once you have the coordinates, now you can begin making the cache. First, open up and put the puzzle together. If using an ammo can for the first stage, put it together on the side of the ammo can. This will help you visualize how geocachers will do the cache out in the field. Once you have it put together, carefully pick it up and flip it over. I used a small cutting board to slide it off the surface I was working on and flip it over all in one piece. Here is an example of where you should be at this point:
Now for the part where you turn this into a puzzle. In large letters, use the sharpie to write a message on the back of the puzzle. You can include what the geocacher is looking for, but make sure to include the final coordinates. Make sure to spread out your writing. You want as many pieces as possible to including writing. You can do this by using a single letter for each puzzle piece, or by writing across multiple pieces so that the letters are only visible when they are joined together. The more pieces with some form of writing on them the better. I've prepared a picture of what this might look like (disclaimer: the coordinates listed are false coordinates and do not belong to an actual geocache):
Once the writing dries (which shouldn't be more than a minute or two if using a sharpie), then go ahead and take apart the puzzle. Now, using a ziploc baggie or a small tupperware container (if your first stage is an ammo can), package up the collection of puzzle pieces. At this point, I would recommend typing up a small sheet to put into the container with the puzzle, containing instructions for the cache. For example:
Puzzle Instructions:
Welcome to _________ cache. To solve this puzzle, you will need to put together the following puzzle. The puzzle is small enough that you can use the ammo can as your surface. On the back of the puzzle are the coordinates to the final cache. Please make sure to be careful with the pieces and that all pieces get back into the puzzle so that the next geocacher can have the same experience. There are fifty pieces. If any pieces are missing, please notify the cache owner. Enjoy.
As you can see, this not onlyhelps let the cacher know how to get the final coordinates, but it is also a reminder to carefully put all puzzle pieces back. I'd recommend putting this in an easily visible spot, such as with the puzzle pieces.
At this point, your puzzle is ready to go. Just put the puzzle pieces' container inside whatever you are using for stage one. Get your final stage ready to go with the log book and whatever swag you want to use. Go out and place your final and find a nice spot somewhere else in the area for stage two. If designed for kids, try to not make cachers walk large distances, a half mile round trip is probably the maximum you want to make this...a quarter mile round trip is great for kids. Try to avoid making the kids go through heavy bushwhacking. If there's a trail nearby, even better. This might not work great for an urban environment, but parks, especially if it's a larger park that has trails and a playground is great for parents taking their kids geocaching. Get the coordinates for stage one and you are ready to go home and submit your cache.
Whether you want to explain how the cache works on the cache page or not is your own choice. You might want to try and at least mention that this is a kid friendly cache. If you want to put a reminder about being careful that all elements of stage one get back into the container, go ahead. Don't forget, this is a puzzle cache. Make sure you submit an additional waypoint for the final location for the reviewer, just make sure you select the option to keep it hidden from the public. Many puzzle caches will often state that the starting coordinates are bogus. You don't have to, but putting a note at the beginning of the description that informs cachers that the starting coordinates are NOT bogus might help those cachers who are a little bit more hesitant to go after puzzle caches. You can even add that it is an on site, kid friendly puzzle cache. Even experienced puzzle cache ignorers are likely to say "Hmmm...let's check this out".
There you go. You've just made a puzzle cache for kids. While many caches can be found by kids, going that extra step to make a cache specifically designed for kids will earn you a notch among those cachers that take their kids out with them. I should also point out that this design could also fit into the category of a multi-cache. I'd probably consider it a puzzle because you have to put together a puzzle to get the coordinates, instead of just having a piece of paper inside the first stage with the coordintes written on it.
I am currently working on using this design myself, but if any of you decide to put one of these out, let me know how it goes. Do you have another idea for a kid friendly cache? Scroll down to the bottom of this blog to see how you can send me your idea.
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