Der Waldkindergarten (forest kindergarten)

It's a bitterly cold morning in January. The temperature is -6 degrees celsius according to my weather app. There is a thick layer of snow and ice on the pavement. The people out on the streets are all bundled up and walking purposefully towards their goals (tram stop, underground station, school, office). It is simply too cold to chat and linger outdoors. But as I leave my son's nursery I can't help noticing the bus parked on the corner opposite and the parents waving at their children.  

Just like any other morning, the bus will drive a group of three-to-five-year-olds and their teachers into the forest, where they will have breakfast, sing and play for three hours before being driven back to their warm kindergarten. These children attend a Waldkindergarten (forest kindergarten). The idea is that although the children grow up in a city, the forest is their playground and every morning their parents drop them off by the bus, which will drive them for half an hour outside the city into the forest, whatever the weather. Even when the temperature is several degrees below freezing. Obviously there are a number of advantages: the forest is a wonderful playground, the air is clean and pure and the children are free to run around, play, observe and learn about nature and the changing of the seasons. 

This concept is great in the spring, in the summer and even in the autumn. But in the winter? In Berlin? I know I'm missing the point here, but I'd rather be warm indoors than brave the cold Berlin winter for three hours every morning!