Exhibition on the Environmental Award

Further information

Drosselsteig daycare centre: Research for "Chemnitz shines"

The children from the Drosselsteig daycare centre's research group took part in the "Chemnitz shines" exhibition at the Chemnitz Industrial Museum as part of their project. The participants first learnt about the topic of "light". They discovered that electricity is very important for generating light.

As a result, they asked themselves where the electricity from the socket actually comes from. They realised that electricity can be produced from fossil fuels, such as coal or gas. However, the children realised that "(...) the best electricity (...) comes from renewable energy sources." They researched the elements wind, water and sun and how electricity can be generated from them.
from them. They carried out various experiments.

Evangelical kindergarten Apfelbäumchen: The magic of herbs

Herbs not only flavour our food, they can also awaken an interest in understanding their origins and the processing of food. This interest was awakened in the children at the Apfelbäumchen Protestant daycare centre. The 37 children involved in the project first looked at the question of what plants actually need to grow.

Once they had acquired this knowledge, they created a new raised bed in the centre, for which they first collected soil from the waste and city cleaning company. They then cleared the bed of leaves and leftovers from the previous year. They sowed new herbs and plants and continue to look after the new bed. Creating a herbarium and colouring herbs expanded the offer and encouraged close observation.

Kita Sonnenschein: My environment and I - how can we learn to deal with it better?

In their last year at the daycare centre, the pre-school group got to know the city of Chemnitz very well. On their excursions to places of interest, such as the Karl Marx Monument, they repeatedly noticed carelessly discarded rubbish. The children then wanted to explore the topic of rubbish.

Where does rubbish come from? How can rubbish be reused? When should rubbish be disposed of for good? These and other questions were on the children's minds. Their questions were answered using the story of the paper cycle, among other things. The children quickly realised that the waste needed to be well sorted in order to produce recycled paper. They made new paper from the sorted paper waste and then tested their knowledge on a waste separation worksheet.

Kinderhaus Pusteblume: Experience sustainability in the garden

The children, parents, teachers and members of the intercultural garden "Bunte Erde e. V." have redesigned the garden at the Pusteblume children's house. The aim is to use the garden as a holistic educational space and to make the cycle of nature recognisable and tangible for the children.

The starting point for the project was the donation of two raised beds by the parents of one of the children. The beds were then initially filled with soil and other natural materials to create a nutritious soil. In spring 2024, the children were then able to plant the newly created areas. Nasturtiums and various types of vegetables were planted. Various types of herbs were also added to the healthy range. The various fruits were then harvested and processed by the children themselves.

Caritas Kita Schatzkiste: We become little climate heroes

The children at Caritas Kita Schatzkiste became "little climate heroes" in the course of their project. The project participants organised project weeks on the topic of the environment from Ash Wednesday to Easter. In a conference, the children themselves decided which topics they wanted to address. They collected their ideas on two large posters and presented them to their parents.

The resulting activities became weekly stations during Lent.
Among other things, they dealt with the forest, waste separation, recycling and
recycling and the topic of smog and environmental pollution. For Easter, they made Easter baskets from small tissue boxes. Together with the children, they created their own marble game on the subject of smog and the environment.

KIta Bunte Kinderwelt: Waste and sustainability

From January to March 2024, the Panda Bear preschool group at the Bunte Kinderwelt daycare centre engaged in numerous activities related to the topic of waste. In a playful and creative way, the children learnt all about different types of waste, how to separate them correctly and a lot about composting and reusing materials.

For example, the children learnt how to separate waste correctly by playing a self-designed
rubbish memory they had designed themselves. They had to match the different cards to the correct bin. They also made paper together, put together different types of paper using posters and
paper and made pencil boxes out of milk cartons. The children also learnt about composting waste. Each child planted their own cress on their own compost. The children were supported by the waste and city cleaning company with various materials.

Kindertagespflege mezzopiano: Insect happiness - we support butterflies and bees

The very young people of Chemnitz also took part in the Environmental Award again this year. The children converted a former crèche van into a mobile flowering meadow. The children sang about bees and butterflies.

The children made their own little seed bombs to give to the neighbours of the day care centre. The two-year-olds also enthusiastically watered the flowering meadow and counted the flowers, which will soon develop.

Kita Bildungsinsel: A snack garden is growing behind our house

"Sustainability begins in the mind!" This was the motto under which the youngest Chemnitz residents of the Bildungsinsel daycare centre engaged with their environment. They worked on their snack garden for a whole year.

The starting point for the project was the upcycling of old wellies, which were quickly turned into flower pots. These were first used to beautify the daycare centre grounds. The children were already caring for these plants and so the idea was born to create a snack garden in the daycare centre. With the support of the parents, strawberries and much more were planted. The harvested fruit was used to cook and bake delicious dishes such as soups, cakes and even ice cream.

Hort Kleinolbersdorf: Rescue for the forest

In March 2023, two children from the Kleinolbersdorf after-school care centre discovered many acorns that already had small root sprouts. The children immediately had the idea of planting the seedlings, caring for them and watching them grow - a new project idea was born.

The children planted over 50 seedlings. Of these, 34 oak trees grew under their care. A permanent home then had to be found for the ever-growing trees.
a permanent home had to be found. In search of this, the children approached the local council, who quickly made an area available as well as the
wildlife protection. The trees were then planted and a new home was found. The trees can now be visited by those involved at any time.

Hort Harthau: Environmental protection, whether big or small, can be a thing for everyone

The pupils of the after-school care centre at the Klima-Grundschule Harthau focused primarily on the protection of nature and wildlife. They carried out many smaller projects that could also stand on their own. The focus was on protecting the forest and its immediate surroundings, supporting wild animals and insects and supporting charitable organisations.

To protect the surrounding forest, the children carried out regular rubbish collection campaigns. They repeatedly found a lot of rubbish, such as cigarette butts. They also learnt about the correct way to separate rubbish and played a memory game about rubbish decomposition times. They also built insect hotels, hung up home-made bird food in winter and gave gardeners tips.

Albert-Köhler-Straße after-school care centre: All-day programme Biene

Since June 2023, the after-school care centre in Albert-Köhler-Straße has been looking after a bee colony on the premises. The all-day bee programme focuses on everything to do with bees. In winter, the children were not able to work directly with the animals in the hive. However, there was other important work to be done at this time of year.

For example, they treated the bees against Varroa mites by administering medication to the animals. They protected the bees from uninvited guests, such as mice, by using wire to make the entrance hole smaller. In addition, excess wax was removed and then cleaned, which took three passes. The cleaned wax was then used to make
candles were made from the cleaned wax, which were given away at Christmas time.

Cooperation school Chemnitz: Small animals also make dung 2.0

The Plant for the Planet working group at the cooperation school continued the project they had already submitted for the 2023 Environmental Award. They began by identifying the plants that had grown in their flowering meadow, such as dandelions, marigolds and meadowfoam.

The participants in the working group then asked themselves how they could
meadow inhabitants could colonise. They therefore focussed on various insect species and their habitats. To create new habitats for the insects, the children built a total of four insect hotels.

They were particularly keen to work in a way that conserved resources. Materials that had already been used in the past could now be used to build the insect hotels. The finished hotels were installed near the flowering meadows.

Hort am Stadtpark: Sustainability and a respectful approach to our environment

As part of a project week, the children at the Stadtpark after-school care centre explored the topic of "Sustainability and respecting our environment". The participants were able to set their own priorities and decide which topics they wanted to focus on.

On the first day of the week, the children cleared rubbish from the day-care centre grounds. They used tools such as rubbish grabbers and appropriate containers. The second day continued with the topic of rubbish: The rubbish bins were labelled with self-designed pictures and the collected rubbish was sorted accordingly.

The penultimate day was dedicated to the garden, which was cleared of weeds. A wildflower meadow was then created and the raised beds were replanted. At the end of the week, everyone watched a film together.

Hort Röhrsdorfer Kinderwelt e. V.: Revenge in the forest

They are disturbed by careless young people who treat their environment with disregard, for example by throwing rubbish everywhere, listening to loud music or trampling on plants. The youngsters are also camping in the forest, which is not allowed.

The animals decide to teach the naughty youngsters a lesson.
So they dug a pit in front of the teenagers' tent, into which they all fell one after the other. Taught a lesson by the animals and their friends, they realised that they were no longer allowed to pollute their environment.

After-school care centre at Wittgensdorfer Straße 121a: "From field to field" game

The game includes various questions and activities around the grounds of the
Chemnitz-Borna Primary School/Wittgensdorfer Straße day nursery and the animal and plant world. The aim of the game is to find a treasure that has been hidden on the grounds. The group that reached the goal first by answering the questions correctly had to solve a riddle. Once the riddle was solved, the group was given a clue to the hiding place.

Hort Hoffmannstraße: Individual projects

Children from the after-school care centre in Hoffmannstraße submitted various individual projects.

Parzivalschule Chemnitz: Renaturalisation - Bee pasture

Class 7b at Parzivalschule Chemnitz wants to do something good for the environment in the long term. They looked into the topic of renaturation and realised that it can play an important role in overcoming the consequences of climate change.

In their project, they then set about making a brownfield site bee-friendly. To do this, they renaturalised an area and then planted bee-friendly plant species. First, the area was cleared of rubbish. The resulting meadow then had to be dug up and fresh compost added.

Next, wild herbs were planted. Straw was spread over the entire area to protect the soil from drying out. The renaturalised bee pasture was edged with natural stones that had been specially collected.

Terra Nova Campus - the discovery school: A special place to learn - the forest

The pupils on the "Natural Treasures" elective course offered by the Terra Nova Campus all-day programme enjoy going to the Zeisigwald forest, the school's natural neighbour. That's why the young Chemnitz students were keen to take a closer look at the forest. As part of the project, they made their own bird feeders, went on an excursion, created a photo exhibition and information boards for the school building, took part in spring cleaning, created their own knowledge game and went on a final excursion.

Before they got down to the practical realisation of the project focuses, they researched the respective topic in detail. They went about their search for information in very different ways: Some looked for information in the school's own library, while other pupils preferred to search for knowledge on the computer.

DPFA Rainbow Schools: Collecting rubbish in the neighbourhood

In May 2023, pupils from Year 7, the secondary school and the grammar school at the DPFA Rainbow School organised a litter collection campaign. Equipped with rubbish grabbers, rubber gloves and a handcart, the three-hour walk took them from the school building in Emilienstraße via Scharnhorstplatz, along Margarethenstraße and Cäcilienstraße to the Zeisigwald forest. They found all kinds of rubbish, lots of bottles and small items of waste, but also collected larger items such as car tyres and metal parts.

At the end, they sorted the rubbish together and put it in the correct bins. The pupils were surprised and annoyed by the large amount of rubbish lying around and could have collected a lot more.

Johannes Trüper Special Education Centre: Watch out for hedgehogs!

The school garden group, "SOFIE`S FELD", from the special educational support centre
Johannes Trüper built a hedgehog house and set it up on the school grounds. They also put up a sign saying "Attention hedgehogs".

Sächsische Sozialakademie Chemnitz: Collecting cups

Inspired by the film "Alice in Wonderland", the future educators,
care workers and nursing assistants wondered whether they should use disposable or reusable crockery for the upcoming graduation ceremony. The idea for the "Collecting cups" project was born.

The graduation ceremonies at the Saxon Social Academy had previously generated a lot of rubbish year after year with around 250 guests. So a collection campaign began within the student body, which was supported by the school management and teaching staff. More than 300 complete sets of cups, saucers and plates were quickly collected, which are still used today at every celebration or open day at the centre. The parents and grandparents of the students always enjoy the crockery as it brings back many fond memories.

Bethanien training centre for healthcare professions: Raised bed garden

Four raised beds were created at the Bethanien Education Centre for Health Professions as part of the project. The newly created beds are intended to give the students a profound environmental awareness and practical knowledge of sustainable cultivation and the use of plants.

The "raised bed project" will be continued sustainably at the school. It will be integrated into everyday school life and the curriculum: pupils will take care of the cultivation according to the rotation principle. In this way, everyone is taught about ecological cultivation and a seed is sown for a lifelong commitment to environmental protection.

Rappelkiste day care centre: Building, constructing and designing

36 children between the ages of four and seven years old worked on the "Building, constructing and designing" project with the motto "Don't waste! Re-use!", the children focussed on waste separation and the importance of sustainability. They carried out various upcycling activities as sub-projects, such as the construction of snowmen and, in the main, the construction of a house out of egg cartons. The "little architects" dealt with the various construction phases and even carried out a building consultation and organised a topping-out ceremony.

Kita an der Sparkasse: "All rubbish or what?"

All the children at the "Kita an der Sparkasse" daycare centre took part in the "All rubbish or what?" project. They were interested in topics relating to waste separation. They developed, taught and introduced their own separation system. From now on, the daycare centre will focus on the topic of "living sustainability" and has even stopped using plastic bags and plastic crockery.

Kita Krabbelkäfer: Bees and garden project

The children at the "Krabbelkäfer" daycare centre developed a "bee and garden project". They planted beds and flowering meadows and built an insect hotel. They also learnt about bees, made beehives, sang songs and programmed bee robots.

Neue Straße day care centre: Hedgehogs and foxes learn and practise environmental protection

The participants from the LUPINIO day-care centre worked on many different environmental projects. The children were particularly interested in our earth as a blue planet. The children were also interested in fish. Among other things, they visited a garden centre and looked at different fish, experimented with dirty water and how to clean it and looked at water pollution. They also experienced a day without electricity and learnt about waste separation.

Kaßberg-Spechte daycare centre: On the trail of our environment

20 children from the Löwenzähnchen group at the Kaßberg-Spechte daycare centre took part in the Chemnitz Environmental Award with the project "On the trail of our environment". As part of the project, they focussed on the topic of waste separation. The children learnt about waste separation in a playful way by making their own rubbish monsters. They then put their knowledge into practice by collecting rubbish on the Kaßberg. Parents were also sensitised to the topic, the daycare centre grounds were cleaned and apple pie was baked.

Chemnitz kindergarten model: various environmental projects

14 children aged 1 to 3 from the Chemnitz kindergarten model carried out various environmental projects. Among other things, they sowed flowers in spring, fed birds, cooked a wild herb soup and built nesting boxes with the whole family. They also made wallets from empty milk cartons.

Day care centres BimBamBommel, FichtenWichtel and Villa Schmetterling: A hedgehog house in the nature garden

15 children aged 1 to 3 were particularly interested in the hedgehog. The three children's groups are an integral part of the "Waldesduft" allotment site in Grüna. A large natural garden is being created there, which the children help to maintain - an ideal habitat for hedgehogs. They created a hedgehog corner for the hedgehog in the nature garden.

Naturkinderhaus Esche: Environmental projects at the Naturkinderhaus

The children at the Esche nature children's centre have been working on waste separation and carrying out various upcycling projects. Among other things, they built insect hotels and a model of the Chemnitzer Lulatsch. They also created a wildflower meadow and a Benjes hedge.

Kita Bildungsinsel: Forest and meadow day/nature

Every Wednesday, the children at the Bildungsinsel daycare centre have the opportunity to take part in Forest and Meadow Day. The aim is to sensitise the children to the richness of nature at an early age. Among other things, they observed a grey heron and tried to build a bird's nest.

Kita Bildungsinsel: Birds in winter

The younger children focussed on birds in winter. They made their own bird food dumplings and hung them out in the outdoor area of the daycare centre. They also observed numerous birds at the castle pond.

Obere Luisenschule: All about rubbish

Class 2b at Obere Luisenschule organised a litter collection campaign around the school. The children were allowed to choose their own collection points. A particularly large amount of rubbish was collected at Luisenplatz. The rubbish was then separated. The pupils also made games to separate the rubbish and wrote stories about the special rubbish bins.

BIP Creativity Primary School: WUNDER

The fourth-graders at BIP Kreativitätsgrundschule created a theatre play entitled WUNDER. The play drew the audience's attention to war and climate change on Earth. In the play, 15 children travel around the world and try to stop war and climate change.

Terra Nova Campus - The discovery school: Protection for bees and insects

Eleven pupils from the Terra Nova Campus focussed on the protection of bees and insects. They planted flowers on the school grounds, built insect hotels, made a poster to raise awareness and organised a quiz. They also organised an action week.

Chemnitz cooperation school: Small animals make dung too

Children from Years 1 to 6 work together in the "Plant for the Planet" working group. As part of their project for the Chemnitz Environmental Award, they replanted the herb spiral in the courtyard, also campaigned for the sorting of waste at the school and planted greenery in some classrooms.

Radau e. V.: Building a birdhouse

The children of the neighbourhood association Radau e. V. built nesting aids for birds together with their families. They also provided kits at cost price so that other citizens could take part in the campaign. A total of 45 nesting boxes were built and installed at various locations.

Borna primary school after-school centre: Nature detectives

The children from the "Nature Detectives" working group at Borna primary school's after-school care centre made seed bombs and seed tapes, which were sown on the school grounds. They also spruced up the vegetable garden and created a habitat for native insects.

Albert-Köhler-Straße after-school care centre: On a first-name basis with the bee

Ten children worked intensively with bees as part of a study group. They created their own shelter for bees on the school grounds and set up their own beehive. The children learnt how to handle bees beyond the boundaries of the working group. The working group looked after the beehive and even produced their own honey.

Hort Kleinolbersdorf: Environmentally friendly and plastic-free portfolio

The after-school centre at Kleinolbersdorf primary school is now using plastic-free portfolios. The aim is to avoid unnecessary plastic waste.

Waldorf School Chemnitz: Our birds are in trouble: We help with 51 new breeding and nesting boxes

Pupils from classes 5c and 7a built 51 nesting boxes over the course of five weeks. Two different versions of nesting boxes were built, which were then installed in the pedestrianised area around the school. The bird boxes will be checked in the autumn.

solaris: The bottle cap sorting machine 2.0 - Now it's going magnetic

Clemens Güldner and Erik Quinius improved their project from the previous year. The bottle cap sorting machine now has a magnet that filters out crown caps. The bottle cap sorting machine was also fully completed.

Dr.-Wilhelm-André-Gymnasium: Botanical garden

The pupils from the "Botanical Garden" working group have recorded a podcast together. They talk about various projects at their school, such as new flower beds, their own beeswax lip balm and healthy, sustainable snacks at break time.

Zhimiao Yang: Environmentally friendly cars for animals in the Küchwald forest

Zhimiao Yang created a kamishibai (Japanese paper theatre). As part of the picture story, she talked about the transformation from combustion cars to more environmentally friendly electric cars.

Dr.-Wilhelm-André-Gymnasium: The path of waste - a creative tour through the RABA

The project "The path of waste - a creative tour of the RABA (residual waste treatment plant)" was created in collaboration between the basic course "Biotechnology/Bionics" and the all-day programme "Gallery Workshop". The pupils designed illustrative panels of the RABA suitable for children and young people on behalf of the Chemnitz Waste Management Association.

Paula Keller: QR codes on trees

Paula Keller created websites for various native trees (hazel, yew, ginkgo, etc.) to make information about the trees easily accessible. She also attached the corresponding QR codes to the trees on the school grounds of the Dr Wilhelm André Gymnasium.