“The clan of the tree men…”

Three schools are taking part in the NQ project in the Potsdam region of Germany. A series of training sessions were held with several teachers from each school between fall ’23 and spring ’23. At the same time, plans were made for how the teachers could organize regular nature days with children in grades 1 to 5. This has already worked very well in two of the schools and we are currently working on solutions with the third. To make it easier to get started and for the teachers to experience what they have learned in the training courses, we have been accompanying them on numerous nature days with their classes since March ’24, planning and acting together.

And so it was this week’s nature day for a class at Stubenrauch School in Teltow:

“Ooga, ooga” it sounds from a bush. “Ooga, ooga” comes the answer from a hut and from the fork of a tree trunk. Fur-covered figures wave branches at each other, gesticulate wildly and communicate in a primitive language. They warn each other of a dragon approaching their camp through the undergrowth. An incredible metamorphosis has taken place: These hybrid creatures of trolls and Stone Age people that could have sprung from a fantasy story were just two hours ago pupils from a 5th grade class, trotting along the road behind their teachers Ann her colleague and the lone caseworker towards the forest, chatting about the latest computer games. How long do we have to stay in the forest? I heard one pupil ask. Three hours later, at the final round, the same girl said that the time was far too short, that this was the best day in a long time and that she would like the class to have another forest day soon. All her classmates agree with her.

What happened?
The class and their school are taking part in the NQ project alongside two other schools in the region. The teachers have completed several training courses with us. Thanks to the commitment of individual teachers and good communication between colleagues and with the school management, it has been possible to make forest days possible for the higher classes too. This class has already been to the forest twice this spring.

But it has not yet been enough to keep everyone’s enthusiasm alive until the next time. Some shout with a slight panic in their voices that the meadow at the edge of the forest is surely full of ticks. Others jump through the tall grass right at the start, full of the joy of discovery, marvel at grasshoppers and investigate a fox den. The swamp that has to be crossed on the way, which caused panic for many the first time, is now familiar to them. Undaunted, they balance on a log over a waterhole. At their destination, they have already set up a “classroom” last time by piling up a round wall of dead wood.

I ask the group what fantasy creatures could be living in this forest. A whole zoo of mythical creatures comes to mind, mostly inspired by computer games, films and comics. Using clay, moss and bark, we awaken the old oak tree men by sculpting a face from these materials on the trunk. They quickly forget that the clay is slippery and they get their hands really dirty. One boy works long and hard on the eyes of the tree spirit. I lend him my voice and he tells the children how the swamp trolls smuggled magic nuts past Prince Bodo Raffzahn’s henchmen here many hundreds of years ago – a story that they then act out themselves with great enthusiasm and physical effort in an outdoor game.

The children put on faux fur cloaks they had brought with them, which obviously made it even easier for them to put themselves in the fantasy roles. We adults lose the game, but receive praise from the children for being such good catchers.
The children’s game then takes on a life of its own. One boy has the idea of the Ooga-ooga clan.

He immediately has a number of followers who enrich the free game with their own ideas. There are healers who ask me which medicinal herbs they can use. Hammers and clubs are sawn out of dead wood, a hut is built, a lookout post is climbed on a tree. Soon almost the whole class is involved. Children who the class teacher tells me have severe behavioral problems at school cooperate with others, and several overweight children take on very active roles in the game.

From time to time, one of them lies down on the forest floor exhausted and closes his eyes to rest. The tree men is declared the sanctuary of the tribe.
Only a small group of girls don’t want to get involved in the role play and sit chatting in the forest classroom. We ask them what they would like to do: The swing from last time was great, one of them remembers. We give them a rope and throwing bag. Knots have to be learned, tried out and changed again and finally the four girls swing far out over a small abyss, pushing each other and negotiating who gets to swing for how long.
A great day, the children agree at the end. But is this the equivalent of a fifth grade education?

The two teachers and the individual case worker are sure it is and explain to me how valuable they think the day was for the pupils in their class. In agreement with many teachers who take part in our program, she explains to me how important social skills such as communication and cooperation are in order to create a good basis for learning content in the first place. However, many of the children in her class have considerable deficits in precisely these areas. It is obviously very difficult to promote these in the classroom and on the school grounds.

Competition and showing off dominate, in part to compensate for a rather negative self-image. Out here, the children cooperate much more, girls and boys play together as a matter of course, outsiders can take on central roles in the group with their knowledge of nature, for example, and the children perceive themselves as creative, competent and valued by others as play partners.
And quite incidentally, a number of valuable nature discoveries are also made on this day: several large hay plants are passed from hand to hand and examined, sorrel is tasted, soapwort is used to wash hands, giant umbrella mushrooms are identified and collected by one boy for dinner, the mycelium of mushrooms is discovered on a tree bark and explained by one child to the others, the circumference of the old oak tree is determined and nature connections are established and deepened in a variety of ways.

In the final round, one boy suggests that they could even meet here in the afternoon at their Ooga-ooga forest place and play – something they have never done before. We encourage them to do so. Hopefully the parents will support the idea instead of talking them out of it out of exaggerated fear! On the way back through the forest, one child sings “Last Christmas” and everyone joins in – in the middle of June. Probably a sign that they are happy and about to become a really good team. They continue singing on the street and at least put a smile on the faces of several passers-by on the way to school 🙂