Posts Tagged ‘treasure hunt’

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Geocaching – High Tech Treasure Hunt!

July 26th, 2007

Recommended Website
Geocaching For Kids

A big thank you to ClickSchooling members Annette Hall and Tammy Bailey who recommended today’s website and topic – Geocaching!

Geocaching (pronounced “geo-cashing”) is a navigation game and treasure hunt for GPS users. What’s GPS? It’s a Global Positioning System or radio navigation device that allows people to determine their exact location (on land, sea, or air) anywhere in the world.

Players use their GPS device to participate in a “cache hunt.” What’s a cache? It’s a place where some kind of treasure (in this case, a small toy or trinket or collectible) is hidden. The cache is usually stored in a waterproof container along with a logbook.

Geocaching organizations set up caches in indoor and outdoor locations worldwide and then post the waypoints to the location on the Internet. Players input the location coordinates into their GPS receiver and follow the directions to find the cache. Because people are very creative when it comes to placing a cache, it can be more challenging then it sounds to find one. Geocaching is so popular that there are now hundreds of thousands of caches in countries worldwide.

The twist with this modern-day treasure hunt, is that when you find the cache, you don’t necessarily keep what you find. Sometimes you simply enter the fact that you found the treasure in the logbook stored in the cache. Sometimes you are instructed to replace the treasure you find with another treasure. Then, you place the treasure you found in another cache. Each time a player takes or places a treasure in a cache, they make a note of it in the logbook. That way, future visitors to the cache can see who else has been there before them.

Geocaching is a fun and educational family activity. At today’s website, you will find detailed information about one family’s experiences with geocaching. They provide all of the basic info, some leads to fun cache locations, and ideas for how to integrate the study of geography, nature, culture, and history into geocaching. Their website directs you to the most popular website on the topic of geocaching where you will find everything you need to know to get started on your own geocaching adventures. Here’s the url:

Geocaching – The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site

By the way, “Home Education Magazine” ran an interesting by Lori
Diehl about her family’s geocaching experiences. You can read it here:

Geocaching – High-tech Treasure Hunting

Some of you may notice the similarity of geocaching to letterboxing.
Letterboxing doesn’t require the use of a GPS device. So for those of you who would like a more low-tech version of a modern day treasure hunt visit this letterboxing site that we featured in September of 2006 on ClickSchooling:

Letterboxing.org

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Eat Smart, Play Hard!

March 10th, 2007

Recommended Website:
USDA’s Eat Smart, Play Hard!
 Kids’ Page

Age Range: 6-11

The United States Department of Agriculture features this website for
children to learn about healthy nutrition and the importance of exercise.

When you get to the site, you will see a colorful drawing of a town center.
Click on the buildings to find activities, worksheets, games, and other
helpful information. Your host, Power Panther (the mascot of good nutrition
and exercise) will guide you throughout the site. Here are some of the
highlights you will find:

  • Town Library: Power Panther tells stories of his own experiences, in order
    to encourage children to get off the couch and into the playground. For
    online viewing, you may like to select the individual cartoon panels.
    Questions follow each story, to ensure comprehension and retention. Here you
    will also find clip art, activity sheets, and even food experiments. Note:
    the “MyPyramid for Kids” link goes to the TeamNutrition website, where you
    can download some lessons and also order a CD with a game on it; all of this
    is also available for free on the MyPyramid website referenced further down.

  • Theater: Power Up Moves – Dance along with Power Panther :)
  • Fitness Center: Printable activity sheets (also available in Spanish)
  • Power Tunes: Get up and move to these rock songs. Lyrics and sheet music
    are also provided.

  • Post Office: Printable Power Panther themed greeting cards and posters.

  • Eat Smart Grill: Recipes you can try at home!
  • Fun Times Arcade: This is where you will find the MyPyramid Blast Off Game
    (and if you go to this game you will also find links to the lessons
    referenced earlier, along with some visually pleasing presentations about
    food choices, serving sizes, recommended daily allowance, and so forth.)
    Under “Games” you will find an interactive gardening game, where you try to
    keep the garden well watered and free of pests and weeds. (This one is
    challenging!) This section also features online mazes and scrambled word
    puzzles. “Links to other fun stuff” leads to a website especially designed
    to help girls keep their bones strong.

  • Travel: Among other things, this section has a printable Grocery Store
    Treasure Hunt you can take with you next time you go shopping!

  • Farmer’s Market: Under “Other Fun Stuff” you can play the “Agventure Game”
    or make your own fruit and vegetable diary.

  • House: Don’t miss the house in the foreground, where you will find tips for
    families, help for growing your own vegetable garden, printable worksheets,
    and more!

  • Playground: Last but not least, if you click on the kids playing in the
    foreground, you will get suggestions for activities and games you can do to
    stay healthy (these require getting up from the computer).

Enjoy!

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Tricky Math Puzzles Galore & More!

January 22nd, 2007

Recommended Website:

The Problem Site

Caution: The games on this site are so engrossing, you may want to set a
timer to keep from neglecting other responsibilities! Some of the most
fascinating puzzles and games provide a handy link for bookmarking your
place so that you can return later. :)

This site offers educational games, puzzles, and problem solving quests. Use
the menu bar at the top of the home page to access:

  • Math Games – Use simple math facts, fraction reductions, and logic to solve
    the math puzzles. Younger children will enjoy the “Adders” game, which is a
    variable-speed, math facts practice game. Most of the games in this section
    are good for building and cementing fairly basic math and problem solving
    skills.

In addition to the fun and challenging math puzzles, you will also find:

  • Word Games – Enjoy word scrambles, crossword puzzles with a twist, hangman
    and more. For a real vocabulary challenge, play “One of These Things” — and
    guess which of the mostly obscure words (in a list of five) does *not*
    appear in the dictionary! It’s harder than it sounds! :)
  • Daily – A selection of math and vocabulary-building problems that change on
    a daily basis — another good reason to bookmark this site. Note: The last
    link in this section says “Quote Puzzler.” It takes you to a separate
    website with even more daily math and vocabulary puzzles and requires a
    subscription. (It’s free for limited access, and also has a free trial
    period.)
  • Miscellaneous – This section offers a variety of educational activities.
    The Treasure Hunt is a particularly challenging quest that requires
    registration. It’s free (a valid email address is required, along with
    parental permission for participants under the age of 13). Then, solve all
    seven puzzles to win a prize! Also try the beginner programming tips, and
    don’t miss the link that says, “Please Don’t Visit This Site” for a humorous
    discussion of pitfalls to avoid when designing a web page. :)
  • Problem Pages – Here you will find four sections: brain teasers (lateral
    thinking puzzles), high school math, calculus, and the Maine Association of
    Math Leagues (this one is for students in Maine, but available to everyone.)
    In each section, one problem is posted each week or month, and registered
    users can compete to be first to answer correctly. If there is no current
    problem in your section of interest when you visit, you can always look at
    previous problems and solutions in the archives. Note: Although subscription
    is free, each section of this site will give you a different password for
    logging in. You might want to try to keep track of which password is for
    which part of the site. Think of it as a fun intellectual challenge. :)

Enjoy! And don’t forget to set that timer! :)

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Language Arts and More with Letterboxing!

September 27th, 2006

Recommended Website:
Letterboxing.org/

Fun for the whole family!

A big THANK YOU goes out to list member Julie Gittins who recommended today’s site when she wrote, “Try out Letterboxing.org! It’s a great site to get you hooked on some fun family adventures. My kids love the secretive spy aspect to the clues and the hikes.”

I had never heard of “letterboxing” as an activity — but it sure sounds like fun. :) It reminds me of a mix between orienteering and a treasure hunt. A “Letterboxer” (the name for a player) hides a weatherproof box in a place that is accessible to the general public (like a park). Inside the box is a log book, a rubber stamp (hand-made is preferred), and an ink pad. Once the box is hidden, the Letterboxer posts clues to finding the box online at today’s website. Finders follow the clues and locate the letterbox. They open it, make an imprint of the letterbox’s stamp on their personal log book, and leave an imprint of their personal stamp on the letterbox’s logbook. That’s all there is to it!

According to today’s website, there are about 20,000 letterboxes hidden in North America alone. Letterboxing started in England in 1854 and you can read about the history of this “sport” when you get to the site. It caught on in the US in 1998 after an article about it was published in “Smithsonian” magazine.

To get started, you’ll need a trail name, a rubber stamp (home made preferred), pencil or pen, small sketch book, one or more ink pads, a simple compass, and clues. You can use the clues at today’s site to try and find letterboxes hidden in your region already — or you could hide your own letterbox and post clues on today’s site to enable others to try and find it.

When I looked in my region (the San Francisco Bay Area) I was surprised to find a Girl Scout troop had hidden a letterbox in a park less than 5 miles from my home!

When you get to the site, you’ll see a picture and a menu below it that includes:

  • Getting Started — This section contains all of the background information and the nuts and bolts on how to letterbox.
  • Clues — Click on a map of the U.S. to find a list of letterboxes that have been hidden in your area. Click on any letterbox name and a new page opens with clues to finding its location.
  • Kids — This section explains how to make your own rubber stamp. It also includes a fun, interactive letterboxing game. Don’t miss the photo album of kid letterboxers throughout the U.S.
  • FAQs — This section provides answers to many questions about letterboxing. If you are new to this activity — you will find it extremely helpful.

There are also links to other sites about letterboxing, a chat list for letterboxers, and more. The site also addresses safety concerns.

Whether you participate in this site’s forum or not, you can certainly create private letterboxing opportunities for just your family, friends, or homeschool support group. The possibilities are endless. Have fun!

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Online Resources for Medieval Studies

July 15th, 2004

Recommended Website:
The Labyrinth Project

List member Michael G., forwarded information about The Labyrinth Project that is sponsored by Georgetown University. Michael sent this description of the website:

“It provides free, organized access to electronic resources in medieval studies through a World Wide Web server at Georgetown University. The Labyrinth’s easy-to-use menus and links provide connections to databases, services, texts, and images on other servers around the world. The Labyrinth project is open-ended and is designed to grow and change with new developments in technology and in medieval studies. You can search for maps, audio, video, materials for children, primary texts, and more.”

When you get to the site you will see a menu of Medieval categories including Art, Alchemy, Armor, Feudalism, Math, Music, Medicine, etc. Click on any one and a new page opens with a menu of links to online resources about that topic. There are brief descriptions of what you will find if you click on the link.

CHALLENGE: Think of this as a treasure hunt. Patience is required as many of the links are dead — but when you find one that IS working — it’s a goldmine of information. I found lessons in Gregorian Chant, a recipe for lozenges or curd cheese pastries, codes of chivalry, heraldry and the meaning of a Coat of Arms, information on The Crusades, and more. Again, because so many of the links render error messages — to avoid frustrating your students, I would suggest parents visit the site in advance to locate some interesting places to use in your studies of Medieval times. Invest a little time in finding working links, and your efforts will be rewarded with good information.

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Treasure Hunt for Charles Dickens!

February 5th, 2003

Charles Dickens, English author of classic literature such as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, and Great Expectations was born on February 7th, 1812. In honor of his birthday on Friday, today’s site offers an Internet Treasure Hunt on Charles Dickens…

Recommended Website:
Hunt for Charles Dickens

This site presents a series of questions about the life, work, and times of Charles Dickens — and challenges the visitor to find the answers by visiting specific resources on the Internet. When you get to the site scroll down to the questions that you can print out. Then, scroll to the bottom of the screen to link to the sites where, with a little research, you will find the answers.

All of the links lead to David Perdue’s Charles Dickens Page — a comprehensive website that includes the biography of Dickens, information on all of his novels (including links to where you can read them online), character descriptions, a glossary of Dickens terminology, illustrations, a timeline and much, much more.

You will want to bookmark the site and return whenever you read a Dickens novel — as the site provides a veritable study guide on each one that provides keen insight into the plot and the characters.

Many of us were first introduced to Dickens through “A Christmas Carol” featuring the characters Ebenezer Scrooge and Tiny Tim. The site offers a thorough description of the Victorian Christmas celebration depicted in the novel, and explains Dickens’ influence on modern holiday traditions.

If you prefer, you can skip the Q&A treasure hunt and go right to this amazing Dickens site.

This treasure hunt activity and website are geared for middle school grades and up. Younger children, familiar with Dickens’ stories, may enjoy portions of the site with a little help from mom or dad.

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