Every day on a discovery tour in the forest

Created: 02/26/2022, 11:00 am

You don't necessarily need playground equipment for seesaw, as the caterpillar group proves.

The branches of a fallen tree are also completely sufficient: the girls and boys obviously enjoy them.

© Markus Ostermaier

Playing in the middle of nature: Visiting the caterpillar group of the Buch kindergarten

Buch am Buchrain

– “Tuck, tuck, tuck the train, who wants to go on holiday with us?” seven kindergarten children from Buch am Buchrain sing together.

The mood is good, they happily seesaw up and down.

However, the girls and boys are not in a playground, but are sitting on the branches of a fallen tree.

A typical sign that the children do not attend the main kindergarten in the town center, but the nature group in the north-eastern outskirts.

There are almost no classic toys here, instead the forest and nature play a much more important role.

We visited the group of caterpillars on a typical winter morning.

Let's start with the morning circle

The nature group, which opened in September 2020, currently has 13 members.

Some of them are already spending their second year of daycare there.

Between 7.45 a.m. and 8.30 a.m. the three to six-year-olds are brought by their parents from the forest road to the caterpillar group area.

This consists of a meadow with two trailers, storage, toilet and a kind of campfire place.

At 8.45 a.m. the educators Daniel Auer (41) and Raphael Jaschko (30) gather with the children for the morning circle.

Current topics are discussed there.

Today it is, fittingly, the daily newspaper.

With a copy of the Erdinger/Dorfener Anzeiger, the educators prepare “their caterpillars” for the visit of the press.

After the snack in the construction trailer, we are expected with great curiosity.

Before going on a discovery tour in the forest, two children are allowed to count.

13, everyone there, let's go.

It's a mild but windy winter day with some sun and plus temperatures.

The path through the forest is quite muddy due to the wet weather of the previous days.

While the adults choose their steps consciously, the children are much more relaxed on the dirty route - certainly also because of the rain and mud clothes that everyone is wearing.

“Our track is a bit Amazon-like.

They really enjoy this rough terrain,” says Auer.

The children tell their educators Daniel Auer (back, center) and Raphael Jaschko (front) their daily summary of how they enjoyed the day in their traditional closing circle.

Then we clean up together before the first parents arrive.

© Markus Ostermaier

In between, a boy rubbing his eye while whining draws attention to himself.

But the all-clear is quickly given: after just a few steps, the pain is completely forgotten.

Auer is reassured and confirms his experience: "You might think at first that it's a bit dangerous here because of the many branches.

But we've only had two minor injuries so far."

After a few minutes of walking, the caterpillars stop at a familiar spot in the forest.

The children enthusiastically begin to break up into small groups.

After a few months, they are allowed to move about independently, but they still have to remain within sight, explains Auer.

Different places in the area get their own names from the caterpillar group.

A sawed-off tree trunk is known to everyone as a "leaping tree".

It has to be the right clothes

You can tell the children are enjoying their trip.

Four-year-old Daniel is keen to show us a waterhole where dams have recently been built.

Branches act as temporary clothes racks for the jackets.

Animal tracks in the mud are compared with photos from a book.

"Definitely a deer," Dana is convinced.

In the meantime, another girl's hair is beautified with fir branches.

Choosing the right clothing is crucial for everyday life in the nature group.

“There is a prejudice that you don't go out when the weather is bad.

The children learn that differently here,” explains wilderness educator Jaschko.

In very cold or wet weather, the construction trailer also offers good temporary protection.

According to Auer, the storm has only been twice so strong that the group stayed in the kindergarten from the start.

Four-year-old Daniel says that he likes the day-care center even more in winter than in summer because of the snow.

He and his six-year-old sister Sarah both got to know the home kindergarten and the crèche.

But they like it better in the nature group.

Sarah's friend, five-year-old Leni, sees it that way too.

The free play is in the foreground

"Free spins is our priority, and every day is different," explains Auer.

Even if everyday life takes place mainly outdoors, the caterpillar group does not lack the classic daycare program.

Early musical education or preschool lessons take place in the same way - just outside.

Great developmental steps can be observed in the children as a result of spending time in nature – greatly improved motor skills, balance, orientation and endurance.

The group of caterpillars likes it so much in the forest that at around 11.30 a.m. many of them don't even want to go back to the site trailer.

Once there, the group gathers for the final circle, and everyone can say or show what they liked best today.

Then we clean up together before the first parents arrive.

The caterpillar group currently offers space for a maximum of 15 people.

There are already some inquiries for the next daycare year.

An expansion of the capacities is not planned at the moment, but support in the educator team is urgently needed.

Jaschko and Auer can understand the trend towards forest kindergartens very well.

The latter appreciates the conditions in Buch so much that his two daughters also visit the caterpillar group.

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Markus