Activities for Children

Start » Intercultural Education » Activities for Children

Evaluation of the poll "activities for children in intercultural gardens"

The basis for all children activities: The garden grounds
The foundation for all children activities, is given by the developing social field and the being with same-aged companions, in the gardens. In many projects the children have their own patch and in others, this is planned to be established. The general going is: "The children are there and they participate". The Intercultural Gardens in Marburg offered the kids a patch at the edge of the garden, in which, "to everybody's surprise, boys in the age of 12/13 got extremely involved. The girls have now appeared and want to join". Due to the location and extension of the grounds, the gardens in Marburg are developing into an adventure playground, in which children are offered an important natural space.

Own areas for children:
In the majority of gardens the children (and teenagers) have their own areas for playing such as sandpits, swings or a table-tennis board - and of course the "children's patch". In the Colourful Gardens of Leipzig, a re-designed construction trailer serves as a "play trailer". "The children appreciate this very much because they have their own little kingdom." The ZAK in the district Neuperlach in Munich has a play-hut. A variety of children activities take place there, this includes a workshop for wood as well as drawing and handicrafts.

Courses and seminars for children:
There is an extensive offer of courses and seminars for children. Here is an overview of activities included:

In the International Gardens of Göttingen cooking, drawing, literacy and swim courses regularly take place. A highlight of their program is the holiday course "from children for children – children's games from all over the world" as well as the summer camp with teenagers from all over the world, that take place once a year, since 2001.
In the Colourful Gardens of Leipzig open readings and free painting is offered (regularly and organised by volunteers). Goal: Increasing the children's concentration: "By painting, what is heard is visualised and deepened. Sometimes famous authors also come for a reading."
Munich's Garden of Cultures, organises the bread backing course "children from different nations bake bread according to Turkish recipes". The kneading, forming, making the filling and putting the dough into the oven, gives the children a chance to make a substantial experience with a basic food. They also get the chance to see how the vegetables, which are included in the fillings, grow and ripen in the garden.
Computer, painting, dance (hip hop and rap) and theatre workshops as well as joint cooking and eating, garden groups, children cinema and a variety of environmental educating programs (environmental week collecting garbage and foliage) take place in the Resident Gardens of ZAK, in Neuperlach, Munich. Goal: to create a framework, in which the relationship to the environment can be explored as well as recognising nature as space for self-development and self-awareness; to promote a conscious handling with oneself, ones health and ones own possibilities for a better living; the integration of different ethnic groups; a mutual approach to shared values concerning environment and nature.
Various courses for children such as homework assistance, computer and literacy courses are offered in the 'Women's Garden in Kassel'.
Composting and soil treatment courses as well as courses about herbs and vegetables (in form of a bilingual rally) are offered in "NaneLimonKabagu" in Bremen.

Festivities and celebration:
An important element of the children activities, in all intercultural gardens, are the different festivities and celebrations. The spectrum stretches from summer party's, which include the children's wishes and desires (e.g. a clown and juggler performance, in the 'Perivoli Garden in Berlin-Neuköln'), to birthday party's, which are celebrated in the garden, up to first-day-at-school celebrations (Colourful Gardens in Leipzig).

Cooperation with other institutions:
Various gardens are in cooperation with nearby kindergardens or schools. Upon other elements, the foundation of the cooperation is a joint garden (for learning). In Dessau, vocational schools are involved in the planning and realisation of various activities. Together with the participants of the "Agora of learning in Dessau", children and teenagers from all types of schools visit the gardens and decide on a topic, for example "customs and traditions, oriental children's dance, religion, the role of plants in the kitchen, culinary".

Activities beyond the garden grounds:
The activities for children and teenagers have no spatial boundaries. Hiking and excursions to the countryside also take place. These trips help getting to know the surrounding better. Furthermore, they aim at teaching the children more about organic agriculture. The participants in Göttingen organise sporadic hiking tours (for example to collect ramson in spring) and in the multicultural gardens in Dessau, a lot of mothers come with there children join the excursions: They "use the opportunity, to get out of the daily routine and to exchange there thoughts. In this way, the education and life styles of the women are discussed. They talk about religion, cooking or medicinal plants . During these excursions, they get to know theses plants. At the same time they are in discussion with other participants."

Ideas for future children activities, from various garden projects
The following ideas for future children activities where contributed by the gardens:

The Intercultural Garden of Bremen is considering putting together, a Turkish-Germane song and game collection. They want to offer these to kindergardens and schools.
The International Gardens of Göttingen are planning to organise city excursions, with other intercultural gardens, in order to give children and teenagers the chance to see and learn about the cities monuments, museums and theatres.
The One-World-Garden of Bovenden has the joint idea of letting children, cultivate and the sell the garden fruits, at the local market. Another idea concerns the cultivation and practical use of dye plants. A third idea aims at giving children the opportunity to design the decoration of public celebrations, using the flower stock of the intercultural garden.
The initiative "Perivoli – our garden" has a variety of ideas such as classifying plants, intergenerational conveyance of games and dances as well as drawing plants and using these paintings for an exhibition.

The Agora of Learning in Dessau wants to offer computer courses as well as implementing the idea "children and teenagers form football teams". Also planned are educational weekends about "green professions" as well as movie portraits about the life and the reality of teenagers, in Oranienbaum and the Wörlitzer Winkel. The producers are the teenagers themselves. In this way they learn about the medium film, from the producers point of view, get access to a way of communicating their own perspective and are able to deal with their everyday reality