“My legs are tired, I can't walk anymore”.

“I'm hungry. Can I have a snack?”

“Are we nearly there yet?”

Words or perhaps you could call them “whines” that any parent will be familiar with.

But, how do you make going out for a walk with the children fun? How can they appreciate the beauty of the autumn leaves or the sun reflecting off an azure sea, or just the fun of exploring a muddy stream? How do you convince them that walking is exciting?

Well, it turns out someone; in fact many thousands of people have already spent millions of hours making that walk much more fun already. Secret treasure has already been hidden and it's just waiting for you to find it.

You will need a mobile phone or a sat nav, but if you have these then they will only serve to enhance your time outside as your children will be able to use technology whilst they walk.

Geochaching is the new “Big Thing” in our house. Except that we are not in our house as much as we used to be, because my child who liked being stuck indoors playing video games is now keen to get out and about.

There are over 72000 hidden stashes, geocaches, of treasure in the UK alone. Worldwide there are well over a million. And they are everywhere. You don't know it yet but I bet there are many within a mile of your house. Each of these has been logged on a website and you can download the coordinates to your sat nav or mobile phone and it will lead you to them. And your children will love finding what is hidden.

Thanks to the network of global positioning satellites most of us have access to our exact location anywhere on the face of the earth and that's how it works. You just keep walking until you get to the logged location.

But whilst the kids may think it's about the technology helping them to find the treasure they won't notice how far they have walked and how beneficial the fresh air and exercise has been for them.

Because, although without the technology it wouldn't be possible, it's not really about that.

It's all about the simple pleasure of going on a hunt for hidden treasure. The prize will only be something small, and you will have to leave something in exchange when you take it out, but the sense of achievement will outweigh anything else. Not just theirs at finding something hidden months before, but yours because going out for a walk just became more enjoyable. Geocaching, a brilliant walk made better!

Find out more at Geocaching.com

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