ÖkoKids – all seven Minihaus nurseries receive the award

Karl Friedrich Barthmann, Head of the Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection, presented the official certificates to Minihaus nursery managers, Project Manager Silvia Wick and Deputy Managing Director of Minihaus München, Jacqueline Gröger-Eckerl. In order to demonstrate their EcoKids commitment to the outside world, too, each nursery was given a ceramic sign with “ÖkoKids” on it, made in collaboration with an inclusivity workshop. Each nursery also received a voucher for a small-leaved lime tree, so there will be one to plant in each Minihaus München garden.

It was a particularly exciting day for Minihaus München children: they had been invited to perform two songs on stage as part of the celebrations. “We wrote an ÖkoKids song and practised it with the children especially for the occasion”, Silvia Wick, Ecokids Project Manager at Minihaus München, says proudly. The children received a bee soft toy and a little book to thank them for their performance.

Each of the seven Minihaus nurseries receiving an award implemented its own ÖkoKids project at nursery: one made a herb garden, one did a project about bees, another about “Louise the snail and her garden friends”. What all the projects have in common is that they have filled the children with permanent enthusiasm for the subjects of nature and environmental protection which they have passed on to their families. “The projects raise the awareness of parents, as well as their children” says Silvia Wick. They change the routine at Minihaus nurseries, too. As an example, the Minihaus nurseries have encouraged their suppliers to use less packaging, reducing waste on a day-to-day basis.

“Minihaus München will be sticking with this”, says Silvia Wick, “and beyond these specific projects, we will develop ideas for other things Minihaus can do to protect the environment.” As a result, even our youngest children learn to accept responsibility for the environment through play, so for Silvia Wick, it is a given that Minihaus nurseries will participate in the ÖkoKids project again in 2020.

“ÖkoKids KindertageseinRICHTUNG NACHHALTIGKEIT” [EcoKids Nursery for Sustainability] is a project launched in 2011 by the Landesbund für Vogelschutz in Bayern e.V. [Bavarian Regional Association for the Protection of Birds] with the support of the Bayrisches Staatsministerium für Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz [Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection]. The project aims to build up sustainable development skills in the early years sphere. (jh)