School Geocaching: Find the Cache by Coordinates

Teams of four get GPS coordinates for boxes hidden around school grounds; each box holds a cooperative fitness challenge and the coordinates for the next one. Students learn to navigate by coordinates and share roles within a team.

How to play

1. Explain latitude and longitude and how to enter coordinates in a maps app; each team assigns the roles of navigator, lookout, timekeeper and challenge leader (5 min).
2. Each team gets a different first coordinate so teams don't crowd the same box (1 min).
3. Search: when a team finds a box, they complete its challenge (30 jump rope jumps in sync, a 45-second group plank, an out-and-back relay) and copy the next coordinate; roles rotate at every box (18 min).
4. Back at base, each team draws its route on a shared map and says which box was hardest to find and why: building shadow, GPS error, misreading the coordinates (6 min).

Rules

• Boxes are always at ground level and in plain sight: no climbing and no entering closed areas.
• The team always moves together.
• Close each box and leave it in the same place for the next team.
• When you hear the signal, everyone returns to the start.

Variations

Adaptations

• Wheelchair user: their chain of boxes is in areas reachable on firm paths.
• Hearing impairment: written challenges and a visual return signal with a flag.
• Autism: a fixed box order and a card showing the role rotation.

Learning goals

• Locate points using geographic coordinates.
• Cooperate by taking on different roles in a team.
• Combine navigation and physical activity in a familiar setting.

Equipment for a class of 25

• tablets or phones: 7
• small boxes: 10
• worksheets: 7

Teacher tip

Record the coordinates with a phone similar to the students' and hide boxes in the open, since next to buildings the error can exceed 10 meters (30 feet). Stagger team start times so they don't bunch up.

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