Sustainable daycare in Darmstadt

One of Darmstadt's oldest forest kindergartens, founded in 2001 as a parent initiative. The children spend the day outdoors in the forest — playing at the secret hideout, the mud kitchen or on the group's own woodland plot. Three heated construction trailers provide space for morning drawing and lunch in winter. It takes 20 children aged three to six, affectionately called ‚forest ants‘.

A nature-focused kindergarten in Darmstadt-Arheilgen, founded in 1990 as a parent initiative. 20 children aged two to six experience nature's yearly cycle — with daily outdoor time, communal gardening and forest days, accompanied every two weeks by a nature and wilderness educator. The group is housed in a bright residential house that was given over to the association. The food is wholefood, organic, vegetarian and largely sugar-free.

A parent-run kindergarten group for 15 children aged 2.5 to 6, housed in an old apartment near the Herrngarten. The parents take turns cooking the organic lunch, following a menu drawn up with a nutritionist. Every Thursday the group goes into the forest, once a month accompanied by a forest educator.

A day-care centre in Darmstadt-Kranichstein, run by the association Menschenskinder – Werkstatt für Familienkultur. It cares for 60 children in four groups. Meals are vegetarian, made from organic ingredients and freshly prepared each day — and the children join in the cooking once a week. The outdoor grounds have raised beds, fruit trees, a nibbling garden and a willow tepee.

A parent-run crèche for children aged one to three, with a maximum of eleven children in the group. Lunch arrives fresh each day from the local association Menschenskinder — organic, wholefood, vegetarian and sugar-free. The interior, too, is chosen with ecological, low-pollutant materials in mind: paints, toys and cleaning products are deliberately non-toxic.

A nature kindergarten on the Eberstadt orchard meadows in the south of Darmstadt, run by a parent initiative. The children spend their time among old fruit trees, meadows and grazing animals — in a landscape that a non-profit association maintains through care and grazing with sheep. Here, experiencing nature is not a programme item but everyday life itself.

A nature kindergarten in the middle of the Prinz-Emil-Garten in Bessungen, run by Nachbarschaftsheim Darmstadt — a community-oriented association rooted in the district since 1947. In the neighbourhood garden, 20 children aged three to seven find a place to build, play and explore: with raised beds, mud corners, a construction trailer and a workshop of their own. Experiencing nature is part of everyday life, set within one of the city's most beautiful parks.

Darmstadt's oldest forest kindergarten, founded in 1998 as a parent initiative and in operation since 1999. The children experience the forest every day and in all weather, through the changing seasons. Besides the forest sites, there is a large garden and a lunchtime care service. The association's express purpose is to bring children closer to nature and a responsible relationship with it.