Into the woods with 150 “squirrels“

The game of life

On 30th October , 4th and 5th November 2009 pupils from forms 2,3 and 4 of the “Freie Waldorfschule Evinghausen” went to the woods with regional forester, Helga Scholz, and played squirrel – in the real sense of the word. They had lots of fun hiding chestnuts, beech nuts and acorns in the ground while trying to escape being caught by hawks, wild cats, pine and stone martens (played by the parents). After that the children had to try to find all the nuts they had hidden. Unfortunately the “predators” were still hungry and more than half of the children were “eaten up”.

The consequences

The chances of surviving in the natural world are not much better. The remaining children failed to find all the nuts again and as squirrels some of the children would have starved during a severe winter. One comment after the game was “Good thing we’re children and not squirrels!” But what happens to the nuts which aren’t found again? Next year there could be little chestnut and oak trees growing in the beech woods where the children played.

Sustainability and learning through nature

It was exactly this natural phenomenon which the children wanted to imitate in order to do something good for the stability and sustainability of the woods around their school. Motivated by what they had learned from the squirrel game they gathered beech nuts and acorns. After a big picnic the children got to work using planting sticks which they had whittled themselves. The nuts were sown in spruce stands, especially in places where hurricane Kyrill or where bark beetles had left gaps behind.

Now we hope little beech and oak trees will grow there and give the depleted forest more stability and ecological diversity. Thank you to all the children and parents who helped – despite the bad weather!

An excellent day’s work for the sustainability of our forests and for everyone’s own future.

We certainly endorse that! There can hardly be a simpler and more effective way than the Squirrel Forest Campaign to give children an understanding of sustainability. With very little explanation they can literally grasp how a forest works and how important it is for us and the world around us.

Many thanks to regional forester, Helga Scholz, for a successful event and for her report!