Hello,
My name is Thalea and I am an international student from Germany. I am currently doing an internship at Norrestenbro. When I heard that the institution could be shut down I wanted to help and show why this place is important for me and for children. First of all, this place gives many students – not only me – the opportunity to experience a kindergarden. The special part of this one is the fact that the older kids go out into nature nearly every day. In my opinion that is very important for their personal development and can also help children with special needs. Further, being in a forest kindergarden often is the only way children come into contact with nature, especially when you live in a city like Aarhus. Being there provides getting to know the outdoors in various ways and contributes to the children’s knowledge.
Because I am from a foreign country it is great to see how such an institution works. In Germany we also have nature and forest kindergardens but they work a bit different than here. It is just so interesting to see how the children can play freely in nature. I think that this gives the children also a better understanding of why we have to protect nature and how to respectfully act when you are outdoors.
I am thankful for the insights Norrestenbro gives me on how to interact with children and giving them a safe environment to develop themselves. It is great to see how they organize their kindergarden in a way that not only children of the same age are in one group together but that children of different age groups meet throughout the day. That is good for the small children because they can learn from the older ones and the older ones can learn different social skills through that like patience and empathy.
Norrestenbro’s concept in my opinion is special and provides so many positive experiences for children. It would be sad if that would have to be given up.
Thank you for reading.
Thalea Leyendecker