"Faster!" calls Elise as she pedals to kindergarten with her mom. "I mustn’t be late." "Don’t panic, we’ll be right on time. Promise!" her mom calls after her. But Elise pedals wildly: today her kindergarten group is going on a trip into the forest and she is very excited because in the forest the children will meet her dad. He is a forester and has promised to explain everything about the trees and the animals to the children.
When Elise arrives, the children in her group are gathering on the square in front of the kindergarten. "Good morning, children. Please form pairs, then we can leave in five minutes!" says educator Nina. Elise hops to the end of the line. Imke and Mali are standing in front of her. Matze and Felicitas are further up. Milla is already there too and is helping a little girl fasten her jacket. Someone tugs Elise’s sleeve. "May I walk with you?" asks Lilli, who has just arrived as well. "Sure!" replies Elise and takes Lilli’s hand.
The children walk with the educators Nina and Saskia to the bus stop. The ride to the edge of town is exciting because there is activity everywhere on the streets. They pass a construction site with large excavators and see an ambulance. Then they have already arrived and get off. Now the children only have a short walk left and soon they meet Elise’s dad, who is waiting for them at the forest edge.
"Hello children!" he greets the group. "Did you dress warmly? Warm jackets, boots and long trousers?" The children nod. "You know, when you spend a lot of time in the forest like I do, you need weatherproof clothing." "Are you in the forest all day then?" asks Felicitas. "No, I also work at our forestry office at a desk. There I have to write letters and reports, make lists and plans. That is part of being a forester, but of course that might not seem very exciting to you. I also spend quite a lot of time in the forest. Let’s start walking and I’ll tell you along the way what other tasks a forester has."
And off they go. The path leads through tall trees. "Prick up your ears," Nina says to the children. "Can you hear the birds singing?" The children listen. Suddenly another quite loud sound is heard. "Those are our forest workers who are felling some trees right now," explains Elise’s dad. "That is an important part of my job: I organize all forest work, for example which trees are felled and where new trees are planted. I also check whether the paths in the forest are in good condition. A healthy forest is important for our environment because the trees provide clean air." Soon the children can also see the forest workers. They are wearing protective clothing in bright colors.
The group walks a little further and then they reach a clearing. Here stands a small hut with benches and a table in the middle. "Time for the breakfast break!" says Saskia and helps the children open their backpacks. "Why are the trees felled?" asks Milla. "The wood from trees is an important raw material," explains Elise’s dad. "It is used as building material, but also for toys or for heating. Different kinds of trees grow here with us. There are conifers like spruces, pines and firs. In addition, beeches, oaks and a few birches grow in the forest here. The birches are easy to recognize because they have white-and-black bark. You can tell beeches by their grey bark. Right now in autumn the leaves are slightly reddish."
"When you’ve finished eating, you may look around the clearing and collect different leaves and twigs that lie on the ground. See what interesting things you can find," Nina tells the children. Immediately everyone rushes off. "Look, Elise," says Lilli, "over there are a few small birches, right?" "That’s right," she answers, "and that is an oak." Elise points to the tree next to it and picks a few acorns from the ground. "I especially like those little caps from the acorns. They are so smooth inside," she says to Lilli. They find other little caps too: the beech nuts have a soft fluff inside and are rough and somewhat shaggy on the outside.
A little later the children come back together and spread out their forest treasures. Matze and Felicitas collected huge branches and pulled them together to the picnic spot. The two are pretty dirty, but they are grinning from ear to ear. Milla, Mali and Imke found many different cones and twigs from conifer trees. Lilli and Elise show the acorns and beech nuts. "The fruits and seeds of the trees are important for the animals that live here in the forest," explains Elise’s dad. "I’ve even once seen a fox," Elise tells them. "But that was when Dad and I were out in the forest early in the morning." "That’s right!" says her dad. "Foxes, but also wild boars, roe deer and deer are shy animals that you can only observe when it is very quiet in the forest. Smaller forest inhabitants like badgers, martens, mice and wild rabbits are also rarely seen. But I’ll show you a wild rabbit burrow on the way back." Imke and Lilli are delighted because they both especially like rabbits. "If you keep your eyes open you might even see a squirrel. And of course there are birds and lots of insects here: beetles, ants, spiders and many more."
The group heads back. And indeed they first pass a large anthill and then the wild rabbit burrow. The earth in front of the hole in the ground is all churned up and if you look very closely you can see small paw prints. At least that’s what Imke and Lilli think. "Nonsense!" says Matze. "I don’t see any prints there. You’d see dinosaur prints, but not those of such small rabbits." "Shh, look up there!" Elise’s dad suddenly whispers and points upward with his hand. The children lift their heads and see a squirrel with a bushy tail running along a long branch. It hops to the tree trunk, scurries up it and is already gone. "Oh too bad," says Mali, "I would have liked to watch it longer. Maybe squirrels will be my new favorite animals from today on." "Exactly!" confirms Lilli, "squirrels are just much better than stupid dinos. They don’t even have fur." That makes Matze laugh too: dinos with fur is really a funny idea. Giggling, the children walk back to the bus stop. They can hardly wait to go on another trip into the forest. "Who knows," says Imke, "maybe next time we’ll see the wild rabbits too!"
Explorer sheet
With the downloadable explorer sheet it is very easy to record your experiences. Mom or Dad will surely be happy to help you fill in the trip destination. You can fill in the rest yourself, tick boxes, stick things on or draw.
We wish you lots of fun and exciting discoveries!
