September 20th, 2018

Walderlebniszentrum Soonwald
​This week I was visiting a center where school groups (ages 8-11) come and stay on sight for three days. It is about 23 kilometers away from the hostel I am staying at this week.  Here the children stay in apartments that are really small bunk houses that serve a total of 12 children with an attached kitchenette and bathroom. There are about 20 of these apartments. But the location is massive.  The children hike in the woods and learn about the trees, moss and the animals in the area.  My interpreter (aka the only person who speaks English very well) was ill today and didn’t show.  But that was just an opportunity for me to learn more and more German.  I have to admit, the odd game of international password was a bit exhausting, (mostly for the poor guy who had to tour me around) but the facilities were amazing!  It reminds me of the good old days at Camp CHI.

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The Main Buildings
The main buildings on this property are over 200 years old and there are trees here that are over 300 years old.  The actual organization that has brought children here just celebrated their 10th anniversary.  The cafeteria is a newer building that has solar power and is very energy efficient.  Not to mention the food is very leker (delicious)!

OMG the VIEW!!!
This property, just like every property I visited in Germany was a public space.  There are several hundred acres that range from deeply wooded forests, to picturesque views like this.  In my head all I could think of was "The hills are alive, with the sound of music..." It's so beautiful and it is shared.  Anyone could walk through this facility and hike on the many trails.  It was a very weird concept, because in the USA (besides at a state park) most venues like this would be privately owned and any "outsiders" would be asked to leave. 

The Playground
On the property there was a massive playground that the children played on during their down time.  It had a theme of a black stork which is a bird that has a legend for this area.  Unfortunately, due to the language barrier,  I'm not sure the full story.  But again, families would also be here playing on the structures and mingling with the children.

Remnants from WWII 
As the property manager was showing me around we came across a hiker who had collected several shells left over from WWII. As most areas in Germany, this forest was heavy hit during the war.  Something I noticed is that there seems to be a constant presence of the shadows of WWII.  There are no symbols from the Third Reich in any public space that I visited, but the people, are very aware of their past and they don't pretend it didn't happen, and educate their children about the facts, with the hopes that something like that won't happen again.  Education and facts are key.

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​The Bauhause
The work room has a serious of set of power tools that the children can use.  Similar to the Waldkindergartens nature is important and most of the materials they use are found on the property.  However, unlike the Waldkindergartens, these are set lessons that they will repeat for each group that comes to the facility and are not part of a child centered approach to learning. 

Bird Houses
The students made bird houses.  First they were told of how certain birds are finding it difficult to find good safe places to make nests. To help the birds they were going to make bird houses.  The children were all issued six pieces of wood, cut to the exact size they needed to complete the project.  Then they were taught step by step how to create the bird house.  There was a lot of problem solving, because they had to figure out the best way to hold it to hammer the wood.  They used power tools and they had to figure out how to get the drill to work correctly.  They even helped work the drill press (with me) and use a wood burner to create a design or their name to individualize their structures.  Here’s the thing (hold onto your hat safety people) there was not a safety goggle in sight.  The girls’ hair was not tied back, there were saws, 6 wood burners and power tools all going on at the same time…. But not one injury.  The class of 27 children were all just fine and created a bunch a really great birdhouses. And let me tell you, they were very proud of what they had made.