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Go Outside! Benefits…
• Resurrecting Free Play in Young Children: Looking Beyond Fitness and Fatness to Attention, Affiliation and Affect
• Health benefits from outdoor play are only one aspect…
• Cognitive benefits from play in nature, including creativity, problem-solving, focus and self-discipline.
• Social benefits include cooperation, flexibility, and self-awareness.
• Emotional benefits include stress reduction, reduced aggression and increased happiness
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Go Outside! Critical for development…
• Nature and Childhood Development
• Play in nature, particularly during the critical period of middle childhood, appears to be an especially important time for developing the capacities for creativity, problem-solving, and emotional and intellectual development
• Direct experiences with nature [are becoming] less and less available to children
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Go Outside! Better Test Scores…
• Effects of Outdoor Education Programs for Children in California
• Focused on at-risk youth, 56% of whom reported never having spent time in a natural setting, compared impact on students who experienced the outdoor education program versus those who had not. Major findings:
• 27% increase in measured mastery of science concepts;
• enhanced cooperation and conflict resolution skills;
• gains in self-esteem;
• gains in positive environmental behavior; and
• gains in problem-solving, motivation to learn, and classroom behavior@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Go Outside! Reduce ADHD…
• Could exposure to everyday green spaces help treat ADHD? Evidence from children's play settings
• Children who regularly play in green settings (Big Trees & Grass and Open Grass) have milder ADHD symptoms than children who play in built outdoor and indoor settings
• Children with attention deficits concentrate better after walk in the park
• Children concentrated better after walking in a park, and the effect of walking in a park on concentration helped close the gap between children with ADHD and those without; that the effect was similar to that of two common types of ADHD medication
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Go Outside! Buffer from Stress…
• Nearby Nature: A Buffer of Life Stress Among Rural Children
• Even a view of nature—green plants and vistas—helps reduce stress among highly stressed children
• The more plants, green views and access to natural play areas, the more positive the results!
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Go Outside! Save the Earth!
• Learning to Love the Natural World Enough to Protect It
• Positive, direct experience in the out-of-doors and being taken outdoors by someone close to the child—a parent, grand parent, or other trusted guardian—are the two most significant contributing factors [to individuals choosing to take action to benefit the environment when they are adults]
• www.childrenandnature.org/research/volumes/C16/16/
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
How children lost the right to roam in four generations
• When George Thomas was eight he walked everywhere. It was 1926 and his parents were unable to afford the fare for a tram, let alone the cost of a bike and he regularly walked six miles to his favourite fishing haunt without adult supervision.
• Fast forward to 2007 and Mr. Thomas's eight-year-old great-grandson Edward enjoys none of that freedom. He is driven the few minutes to school, is taken by car to a safe place to ride his bike and can roam no more than 300 yards from home.
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
How children lost the right to roam in four generations
• The report's author, Dr William Bird, the health adviser to Natural England and the organiser of a conference on nature and health, believes children's long-term mental health is at risk. He has compiled evidence that people are healthier and better adjusted if they get out into the countryside, parks or gardens.
• "Studies have shown that people deprived of contact with nature were at greater risk of depression and anxiety. Children are getting less and less unsupervised time in the natural environment."
• Dailymail.co.uk/news/article-462091/How-children-lost-right-roam-generations.html
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
The problem: We need…
• An outdoor activity
• As mentally stimulating as a computer game
• Can be done anywhere, in any outdoor environment
• Kids can participate in alone or with parents or companions (and is interesting to all!)
• Can be done regularly
• Widens kids’ outdoor range
• Encourages time in and observation of nature
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Geocaching is…
• “A worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure“
• Something for all ages and physical abilities
• As easy or hard as you make it
• Wherever you are!
• Over 2.1 million geocaches and over 5 million geocachers worldwide as of August 2013!
• Geocaching starts where our families are—at home on the computer or tablet—and moves outdoors!
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Geocaching is…
• Individual, family or group activity, and you can often bring the geo-dog!
• Outdoors in City, Suburbs, or Rural areas
• Parks, historical locations, geologic features, hidden secrets
• Map-reading skills, GPS tracking
• Search and observation skills
• Solve puzzle caches (at home or “site” puzzles)
• Meet others of all ages at Geocaching Events
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Inside “cave” with geocache, Wissahickon Park, Philadelphia (under the Indian Statue!)
Geocache view in South Hadley, Massachusetts, near Mount Holyoke College campus
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Visit Geocaching.com
• Sign up for free account (Premium account available)
• Watch “getting started” videos
• Locate caches on geocaching.com, then find outside!
• Log your finds
• Track geocoins and travel bugs
• Log your trackables
• Place your own caches!
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Cache types…
Traditional Cache Earth Cache
Multi Cache Letterbox Hybrid Cache
Mystery (Puzzle) Cache WhereIGo Cache
Event/ Mega Event Cache Webcam Cache
CITO Event Cache (Cache In, Trash Out)
Virtual Cache
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
What does a cache look like?
• Micro (and Nano)
• Small prescription bottle, film canister, magnetic key holder (MKH), Nano
• Small
• Sandwich-size Lock-n-Lock, plastic mayo, pickle or peanut butter jar
• Regular
• Ammo can, large Lock-n-Lock, wholesale-club-size plastic jar
• Large
• Construction job box, full-size barrel
• Unknown
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Raiders of the Lost Cache! Mt. Gretna Pennsylvania
December 22, 2012… We’re Still Here!
The Giant's Kettles of Bulls Bridge, Earthcache, Kent Connecticut
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Geocaching Tools
• Computer at home: Geocaching.com
• GPS or Smartphone to use outdoors
• Smartphone app Geocaching.com (iPhone or Android) or C:Geo (Android)
• Or use Google maps
• Pen to sign the log
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Optional Geocaching Tools
• Log removal tool (tweezers)
• Wet wipes / sunscreen / hat / bug repellent / orange vest
• Travel Bugs or Geocoins (Trackables)
• SWAG / Trade items
• Trash Bags for CITO
• Replacement log sheets
• Ready to place cache containers
• Camera!
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
View near cache, St. Louis Missouri
Ammo can cache in Yellow Springs, Pennsylvania View from cache in
the old cell phone parking lot, PHL
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Trackables: Geocoins and Travel Bugs
• Coin or tag with unique number
• Trackable on Geocaching.com
• Move others’ trackables or start your own!
• Track progress on map…
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Spiky and his new friends, the Girlies!
Spiky caching in Arizona…
Spiky at Chincoteague Island, with his new friend Crabs…
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Hoagies’ Gifted: Geocaching 101
• Geocaching 101: How to find your first cache
• Signing up at Geocaching.com
• Selecting your first cache
• Find it & Log it
• Trackables
• Buying a GPS or Using your Smartphone
• Acronyms and Terms
• Geocaching 102: More fun with Geocaching!
• Geocaching 103: Using Premium Membership Features…
• HoagiesGifted.org/geocaching101.htm
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Where could it be?
• Attached to something metal: guardrail, lamp post
• (Most) Lamp post skirts lift up!
• Under a pile of sticks or stones
• In plain sight… camouflage!
• In a knot hole, stump or drilled into a fat twig
• Difficulty and Terrain matter (D/T on cache listing)
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
What’s inside a cache?
• The LOG!
• Pen/pencil (if you’re lucky, it writes)
• SWAG (take some, leave some if possible)
• Trackable items (don’t take one unless you’re going to move it along)
• Local information (park maps, historical info, etc.)
• Hints for other caches!
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Puzzle Caches?
• Sudoku, Word Search, Simple substitution cipher
• Clues hidden in pictures, morphing photos, YouTube videos
• Cut and assemble 20-sided “die” for clues
• Clues hidden in a series of other caches
• Links or clues hidden in source code of ?cache web page
• Answers found in Wikipedia or Google
• Site puzzles – you must visit site to find clues!
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Other Outdoor Activities
• Letterboxing Letterboxing.org
• Follow clues from a starting point (no GPS or Smartphone)
• Exchange stamps
• Some overlap with Geocaching
• High-Pointing Highpointers.org
• Visit the highest point in each of the 50 states
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Other Outdoor Activities
• Benchmarking
• Visit National Geodetic Survey (NGS) locations
• Geocaching.com/mark
• Waymarking Waymarking.com
• Visit interesting locations around the globe
• Degree Confluence Project Confluence.org
• Visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Resources
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching
• The Box That Watch Found (Boxcar Children)
• Get Out!: 150 Easy Ways for Kids & Grown-Ups to Get Into Nature and Build a Greener Future
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Bring to presentation…
• GPS, smartphone
• Pen, flashlight
• Containers: Ammo can, Lock-n-lock, film canister, MKH, bison tube, nano, electrical plate, bolt, thermometer
• Replacement logs, SWAG, CITO bag
• Travel bugs and geocoins
• Load local geo-map, puzzle caches in browser
• (optional) Walking stick
@2013 Carolyn Kottmeyer
Puzzles Caches… (thanks to StampMyArt)
• Midnight Train – clues in picture www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC42T57
• Burning Down the House – clues in morphing video? Source code?www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC42FD8
• NBR Icosahedron – cut-and-construct Icosahedronwww.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC42Y4D
• Sudoku of Suburbia – solve Sudoku puzzlewww.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC3ACG5
• No Sugar Tonight in My Coffee – lengths of original song releaseswww.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC42KVB