DialogPunkt Kleve starts programme with guided tour for children

Our DialogPunkt Kleve was officially opened on 6 June. Until 28 June, a wide range of initiatives for a sustainable future will be brought to life in the shop at An der Münze 12 in Kleve’s pedestrian zone. In addition to events, open consultation hours and opportunities for dialogue are offered.

THE CITY NEEDS (OLD) TREES

What do you associate with inner-city areas? Shops, buildings, sealed surfaces? Or the buzzing of insects, cool places in the shade of old trees, rippling water? Unfortunately, the “green” potential of city centres is often overlooked. To discover more about urban nature, the day after the opening of DialogPunkt Kleve, children aged eight to 12 met up with their parents for a green city tour. Luc Boekholt, green, environmental and landscape planner for the city of Kleve, took the keen group on an hour-long discovery tour.

The first stop was the town hall and the old linden tree in front of it. In a relaxed question and answer session, Luc shared his knowledge about the importance of trees for the city. And he soon realised that the children were true tree experts: whether it was the shade function, dust filter or oxygen supplier – they knew all about it. It was only when it came to the question of how many young trees should be planted to replace the 125-year-old linden tree that they had differing opinions. Many figures were quoted, ranging from one tree to a trillion. Would you have known? 400 trees would be required today. But where should they be planted in the densely built-up city centre? Unfortunately, even the climate champions of tomorrow had no answer to this question.

WHERE IS THE BUMBLEBEE HIDING IN KLEVE?

We continued on to the wildflower meadows in the Wallgrabenzone. Luc had prepared a flower bingo and the children eagerly set off on their search. While marguerites were easy to find, flax flowers and thistles took a second or even third look. And that was precisely the purpose of the flower bingo, as Luc explained. “At first glance, we see a magnificent flowering insect meadow. But it’s only when we take the time to immerse ourselves in this world of flowers that we see the details: The individual plants and also the different species of insects that cavort here.”

Another offer that was enthusiastically received was the flower bracelets that the children could make themselves. In the end, the insect meadows offered so much to do that the excursion along the Spoy Canal, which was originally planned, ended here after an hour.

A resounding success for Luc: “The children took a closer look at the environment. I am surprised, but also impressed by the level of prior knowledge that the children brought to the green city tour.” The children and their parents also had happy and satisfied faces. They were enthusiastic about the playful approach and the child-orientated implementation of this offer.

You can find more information about the events at DialogPunkt Kleve here!