Children build insect hotels

The attention of those responsible for the riedenberg school garden group is not only focused on planting a garden and growing radishes, carrots and tomatoes. Learning is also about all the little creatures, among them many useful insects. Eleven schoolchildren of the 4. Classes of the riedenberg elementary school meet every monday from 15 to 16 during the vegetation period.30 o'clock. They do it voluntarily and obviously have a lot of fun doing it.

For years, werner vieres was the school garden supervisor who guided the children and drove them to the gardening site. He, too, has always been enthusiastic about his work, but now he wants to stop. But the school garden group will not be abandoned because of it. Joachim hartling, chairman of the riedenberg gardening association, and stefan schmitt, for many years principal of the riedenberg school, join the successor to vieres.
Shortly before things can really get started in the garden – after all, there was an endless frost on the ground – the caretakers and children met to build insect hotels. "I got suggestions from the national association. They also have a special information sheet for children on building insect hotels and their inhabitants. I will pass this on to the children's class teacher for follow-up support. They were prepared by stefan schmitt and me", says joachim hartling.

Demonstration object in the school garden
A crude insect hotel has already been erected in the school garden as a showpiece and to attract imitators. Here the first experiences could be gained. Now the ten- to eleven-year-olds built their own insect hotel with help and guidance, which they were then allowed to take home home. Heinz kuhn had made the preparations for this: "we asked the children to promise that they would hang it in the right place at home, i.E. Facing southeast, says hartling.
Theresia heinze is one of the children who participated in this action. "I have already put up my insect hotel", she says a few days later "on a tree in the middle of the forest. We have built in a piece of wood for the insects with holes of different coarseness. And in the upper part we have stuffed bark, for the earwigs."
Theresia loves to be in the school garden group. "That's how it is: I also spend a lot of time in the garden with my mother. And it's fun to plant something and then harvest it, strawberries for example."
Now it can be spring. The children will be eager to see which wild bees or other insects discover their habitat and will certainly be pleased with any success they have. For a long time now, children have known that there are not only the state-forming, coarse bee colonies, but also inconspicuous little bees that roughly rear their offspring in hollow tubes. There are also nesting possibilities for hollow-breeders in the "new living space" in riedenberg. Wolfgang dorn built ten nest boxes over the winter. They will also take care of the garden so that coal tits or blue tits can breed and provide for offspring.