Tag_July_2012

A Kids-Eye View of the PalouseA Kids-Eye View of the PalouseA Kids-Eye View of the Palouse

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COVER STORY | PAGE 3

Discover Geocaching!

A Kid’s-Eye View of the Palouse | Tag2 | Wednesday, July 25, 2012 | MOSCOWPULLMAN DAILY NEWS

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Tag | A Kid’s-Eye View of the Palouse MOSCOWPULLMAN DAILY NEWS | Wednesday, July 25, 2012 | 3

Judy Sobeloff | Unplugged

Two words, folks: Inconsistent rewards. Yep. I remember learning in a psy-chology class I took back in a previ-

ous century that inconsistent rewards produce the strongest motivation.

In other words, students or children who are given a prize (a grade, a sticker, a toy) each time they perform a given task become less motivated to do so than students or children who are only sometimes rewarded. Motiva-

tion tends to remain higher if the rewards come unpredictably.

Having now tried geocaching approximate-ly eight times in the last month with my kids with a two out of eight success rate, I can say with conviction that the above theory seems to hold with kids and geocaching, at least with my kids, ages 8 and 10. They remained gung-ho throughout the disappointing nonfinds, and when, at our sixth site, they found the cache immediately, that in itself was disappointing: too easy!

I had wanted to try geocaching for many years, back in the frontier days before cell phones with downloadable GPS apps (Global Positioning Satellite applications), but never did, not wanting to spend the money for a GPS. I learned a couple of years back that one could download a free GPS app onto a smart phone and do geocaching that way — which, I think, would be great — but I lacked said smart phone and so did not.

But I digress. Reader, if you have not al-ready geocached, with or without your young ‘uns or someone else’s, get out there! Don’t be discouraged by our measly found-to-not-found ratio. And when you read logs written by previous seekers proclaiming, “Found the cache easily, within a few minutes,” just note that the person writing that typically

has about 1,237 previous finds — and if you stick with geocaching, after a couple decades or so, so will you!

If you don’t already own a GPS or a cell phone with a GPS app, you probably have friends who do, willing to lend you theirs. (Since we started geocaching in June, my electronics-deprived kids have downloaded a free GPS app onto the cell phones of virtually every unsuspecting visitor who came within their reach.) If you have friends who hunt, whether for elk/deer, huckleberries/mush-rooms, or driving destinations, you probably have friends who own and might offer to lend you their GPS. (Thanks, Bob, Britt, and Anne!)

But the main thing you need to do is to go to the Web site geocaching.com, where you can access the coordinates for a bazil-lion cache sites. One friend assured me that with access to this site, you would not need a GPS, but that proved not to be the case, as demonstrated by our fruitless scouring of Jim Lyle Rotary Park in Moscow, armed only with the deciphered clue “cell phone box.” At geocaching.com, you’ll first need to create a free account with a user name, in order to gain access to the coordinates of the various cache sites. (Normally, having to set up an ac-count is a deal-breaker for me — but in this case it’s worth it!)

One misconception I had was that geo-caching could only be done far from home, in remote wilderness locations accessible only by epic feats of parachute jumping. That would have been dandy in itself, but as Chris Caudill first informed me, it turns out there are many caches hidden conveniently right here in town — pretty much most places you might want to take your kids anyway. In addition to Rotary Park, we, for example, visited sites near the Hamilton-Lowe Aquat-ics Center (two “did not finds”), on the bike path between Good Samaritan and Moun-tain View Park, Hordemann Pond, Berman Creekside Park, and the UI Public Television Station. And there are many, many more! Granted, I wasn’t tempted by sites described

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WITH GEOCACHING, SOMETIMES THE JOURNEY IS THE REWARD

CACHE THEM IF YOU CAN


as being in someone’s yard with a chained-up barking dog, but with so many sites in primo public locations, it seems the fallout of poten-tially not finding the cache is mitigated by the fun of being at the park or pool or wherever — and thus less of a big deal.

Geocaching.com also has videos and tips to help you get started, but the whole process seems to me to be relatively self-explana-tory. (Pay no attention to our success rate, though.) After registering on the site, you choose your preferred area by typing in a zip code or name of a location.) The information given on about each cache on geocaching.com delineates the difficulty, terrain, and size of the cache, among other aspects.

“Beginner” caches are highlighted in green, which may help with your selection. The whereabouts of many of the sites will be obvious simply from their name (e.g., “F ‘N Mountain View,” “Lowe Hamilton,” etc. When you click on the name of a site, you get coordinates and driving directions, and, if you hope to maximize your chances of find-ing the thing, you’ll decipher the accompa-nying clue, which is fun for kids to do, and not too hard. (Typical clues are something straightforward, like “under ivy and leaves” or something more obscure, like “think like a yellow alligator,” whatever that means.)

You can also read comments left by previous seekers. For example, if the most recent posters couldn’t find the cache, it

may be that it has been washed away or unwittingly removed. (In our case, with our nonfinds, we were never sure whether we just weren’t using our geo-senses keenly enough, or whether “muggles” had stumbled upon the cache without knowing what it was, perhaps earlier that very day, and scooped up the whole thing.)

While we primarily chose sites which were rated easy to find, and printed out the details at home to bring with us, I came to realize that paradoxically the very easiness of these caches might make them harder to find. Berkley Walker, a graduate student at WSU who has done geocaching in national parks and forests, says of in-town caches, “If one

kid climbs up a tree in a park and finds it, then that geocache can disappear.” He is, however, two for two for his searches in Pullman, having found two caches along River Walk.

When you go search for a cache, make sure to bring with you some little prizes of your own, because when you find the cache you can leave one of your prizes behind and

swap it for something hidden there — very fun!

Thinking of the excitement of uncovering the container of loot, I was trying to encour-age some of my neighbors to try geocaching, but they seemed to think it would be unin-teresting or too frustrating for their younger children. I respectfully disagree — what toddler or preschooler (or person of any age) wouldn’t love to look for treasure hidden in the park? I was, however, unnerved by my neighbor’s mentioning that one of his rela-tives, a man in his ‘70s, had died geocaching, having fallen off a steep road backwards and hitting his head.

While we didn’t encounter any physical risks here in town, I think that for older kids, like mine, the challenge is in some sense part of the fun. Because being able to find the cache apparently takes some skill-build-ing (learning where and how to look), the caches we found were the larger ones, small lunchbox size, and we never found any of the “micro” ones.

After our first outing, my eight-year-old got so excited about this whole process that he hid a glue bottle in our backyard multiple times and gave us coordinates and clues to decode to help us find it. Cool!

Also cool was the way, at least with the GPS method we used, that the kids needed to use math to figure out which way to walk and how far. This would not be the case, I imagine, with more advanced GPS devices.

As my 10-year-old daughter says, “Just get out there and do it! It’s really fun—and even if you don’t find the cache, as long as you find one at some point somewhere, it’s totally worth it!” The great news from this is, I gather, kids like to be challenged and don’t need to be spoon-fed. Ah, inconsistent rewards ... So like real life!

Judy Sobeloff is a writer and teaching artist living in Moscow. Look for her column, “Unplugged,” in future issues of Tag.

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Summer vacation often starts with high expectations. Children are excited about the prospect of fun days

outdoors playing with friends, while parents anxiously await relaxing months without the responsibilities of school and extracurricular clubs. But once summer vacation arrives and the first few days have passed, parents often find that the litany of cheers and giggles transform into a chorus of “I’m bored.”

Many parents pore over ideas that will keep their children busy throughout the summer. Many activities that come to mind tend to be expensive, so if cutting costs is a priority, parents might need to think outside the box to come up with entertaining ideas that won’t break the bank.

Camp

Summer camp is a popular way for kids to spend their summers, but many camps are expensive.The American Camp Association has found that overnight camps can cost any-where from $325 to $780 a week. Day camp fees may be $100 to $275 per week. Parents

who send their children to camp for an entire season might pay anywhere from $3,000 to $9,000 for the seven- to nine-week program.

Parents looking for an alternative to costly camps should consider local programs that offer summer activities. Libraries, schools and childcare centers may have programs that run the length of summer and are consider-ably less expensive than more formal camps. A YMCA or even a swim club may also put together activities. Parents whose children attend afterschool sporting classes, such as karate or soccer, may find that the organiza-tions offer a camp or summer program.

Day Trips

If a parent is off for the summer, then day trips may be a possibility. Schedule a few day trips to different locations that the kids are excited to see. Newspapers routinely print “Go See It” or “Just Go” listings that highlight local events. The family can gather around the table and decide which outings would be interesting and then mark them on the calendar. Some parents purchase season passes to amusement parks and take the kids several times over the summer. In either case,

bring snacks and lunch from home when pos-sible to keep costs in check.

Kid Swap

Chances are many of your neighbors are also facing the same difficulties as they try to find ways for kids to spend their summer afternoons. Parents can get together and set up a schedule for entertaining the kids. For example, one parent is responsible for the whole lot one day, while the next day another parent takes a turn. This gives parents the opportunity to take a break from parental responsibilities and enjoy some quiet time. And for the children, time spent in a pool, watching movies, playing video games, or rid-ing bikes is often more enjoyable with friends in tow.

Fun Projects

Children often want to feel useful, and

may enjoy the responsibility of some easy tasks in and around the house — so long as the tasks are fun. Washing the car with a hose and a bucket of sudsy water is a fun way to cool off during the hot summer days and get a chore done. While parents should not expect a perfect job, they can rest assured that the kids will have at least an hour of fun in the sun and water.

Set aside a patch of the yard that children can turn into their own personal gardens. Encourage digging in this area and provide seeds or seedling plants as well as kid-sized gardening tools. Each day the kids can check on the progress of their gardens.

Some home-improvement and craft stores sponsor free learning activities for children. They can be held in the morning or after-noon and will teach interesting skills that can be put to use again at home.

Summer vacations are soon to arrive, and parents can be armed with a list of enjoyable — yet inexpensive — ways to keep kids busy.

HOW TO KEEP KIDS ENTERTAINED ALL SUMMER LONG


Zimbabwe! How many of your children have ever looked for this southern African country on a map

or a globe? The name of this landlocked country is based on a Shona name for a ruined stone city whose remains are now a World Heritage Site.

Harare, the capital, is 9574.5 miles from Moscow. If you stretch a string from Mos-cow to the bottom of Africa, you will find Zimbabwe just above South Africa.

Bringing this part of the world to the Palouse on Aug. 2-5, with something for everyone, Zimfest 2012 offers various activities to transport you and your family to a distant place. And it all will happen on the University of Idaho campus and at Moscow’s Ghormley Park.

Families can be part of an international community and experience the music of Zimbabwe throughout the weekend. Thirty-five great bands will be performing in the free park concerts and the ticketed evening concerts in the SUB Ballroom.

The Palouse Clearwater Environmental Institute is sponsoring a perfect preliminary event for your children on Thursday, July 26, at 10 a.m. Join Tendai Muparutsa, mu-sician, teacher and the father of two teenag-ers in Harare, in a children’s story session at PCEI, 1040 Rodeo Drive in Moscow. He will share stories, songs and games from Zimbabwe.

You can start your Zimfest experience by bringing a blanket or chairs to Ghormley Park to enjoy free outdoor concerts and an African marketplace daily. Seventeen bands are scheduled to play from approximately noon to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Dancing in any form and clapping to the

highly rhythmic music are greatly encour-aged.

The African Marketplace will be selling arts and crafts, children’s toys, African clothing and fabrics, musical instruments, CDs and DVDs. Young children will enjoy activities hosted by the Moscow High School Environmental Club.

Taste an authentic Zimbabwean meal Sunday in the SUB at 5 p.m. before you go to the last evening concert and finish the night dancing, swaying, clapping and per-haps even singing with your new friends.

Opportunities for further exploration are available. Over 100 multi-generational workshops in Zimbabwean music, dance, games and culture will be on the UI cam-pus in the nearby LLC, Wallace Complex, Theophilous Tower or outside on the lawn. Most workshops are designated at a begin-ner level with about 14 listed as children’s or teen material.

For those of you whose children are involved in some of the local marimba bands, they could take any of the beginning workshops. Marimba bands may be found in several of our elementary schools from Garfield-Palouse and Moscow to Lewis-ton, Clarkston and Cottonwood with the Gar-Pal music students building their own marimba.

Registration for workshops and tickets for the evening concerts and the Zimba-bwean meal will be in the lobby of the UI Living & Learning Community (LLC). Visit http://2012.zimfest.org for more information.

Advertisers in Tag were encouraged to submit articles for publication. This is one of those submissions.

Zimfest 2012 promises to be celebration for whole family

Young revelers enjoy music at Zimfest, which returns to Moscow Aug. 2-5.

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