Grüne Woche invites visitors to join in
A wide range of interactive activities will bring visitors of all ages into contact with animals, plants and themselves. An overview of various hands-on activities for the whole family.
Who remembers the story of the little guys, Karius and Baktus, who hammered holes in people's teeth? And who has ever concluded that bacteria are exclusively bad and must be fought? But that's not quite true. Everything in human life depends on bacteria.
Getting to know bacteria in the shrink lab
In the ‘Adventure Shrink Lab’ (Hall 3.2/307), children of all ages can immerse themselves in the world of bacteria at the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment and learn, for example, about the bifidobacterium, which creates a slightly more acidic environment in the intestine and weakens harmful bacteria. The ‘Shrink Lab Adventure’ is part of the young generation school programme, which is not only open to school classes, as is the ‘Search for clues in the kitchen’, which teaches kitchen hygiene in a fun way.
If you filter the Grüne Woche programme by the keyword ‘young generation presents’, you will find hands-on activities and learning stations for the whole family, which are offered daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. without registration at various stands.
Fun and games at the seed memory game
In Hall 23 at the ‘Rural Regions’ stand (23/110), everything revolves around seeds from the local region. Red lentils, millet, spelt, quinoa, field beans, sweet lupins and linseed are arranged in small plastic containers. Five-year-old Max taps a bowl of sweet lupin seeds. PhD student Jasper from the Julius Kühn Institute smiles at him. ‘That's right,’ he says. Max, sister Mia and parents Thomas and Friedrike from Neukölln have pictures of crops in front of them. The task is to find out which seed belongs to which flower. ‘Oh, that's what the sweet lupins look like. I thought that was corn,’ says Thomas.
The hands-on activities are not about getting everything right. Of course there are prizes for the right answers, for example you can win a bird house at the German Hunting Association stand if you answer questions such as: Which is the smallest predator in the world? However, the interactive quiz is primarily about getting in touch with nature. In the biotope, children and adults can identify paw prints and feel animal fur (Hall 27/209).
Experience the forest with all your senses
The Berlin Forest School offers educational forest activities ranging from a thirst organ to a touch station at the ‘Berlin Forests’ stand (Hall 27 /151). Right next to it is a lovingly handcrafted wooden marble run, which Thorsten Wiehle from the Berlin State Forestry Office will be happy to explain: to start with, you can take a wooden ball from the basket and move it up a wooden chute by cranking it until it lands in a quiz box. By pushing a wooden button on the correct answer, the ball moves on.
Climbing, rowing and relaxing
The climbing wall and rowing machine (27/210) are even more sporty. With their physical efforts, trade fair visitors support the planting of a ‘Grüne Woche forest’. The trees symbolically planted at the trade fair will then find a place in the Berlin forest and thus ensure the climate-adapted forest of tomorrow.
Those who prefer something a little more relaxed can immerse themselves in a cornfield with VR goggles, float across the meadow with pigs or swim through the water with fish. A little tip: The video selection is made via the eyes and there is a small button on the right-hand side of the glasses with which you can return to the menu. (Hall 22/157 and 159).
Interesting facts about apples, bees and donkeys
There are around 30 programme items to discover every day in the ‘young generaton presents’ area alone, including information about the apple (4.2b/460), the bee (5.2/205), animal welfare for rabbits, goats and cattle (25/104b) and interesting facts about the donkey (26c). The future trails of the adventure farm are also highly recommended, as are the numerous activities in the organic hall. Otherwise, it's worth strolling through the halls with your eyes wide open and simply joining in.
