A barfoot path is child's play

“We would love to walk barefoot through the garden in summer.” That was the message from the children at the Happy Hippo Land daycare center. The Drees & Sommer team at the Berlin regional office plans to fulfill their wish for a barefoot path – one that the children will design and build themselves.

Brief description

Location:
Berlin

Date:
Planned completion by October 2020

Duration/scope:
Labor and a contribution towards material costs

Participants:
Core team of 12 colleagues from the Berlin regional office - plus additional helpers

A barefoot path is to be built in the garden of the daycare center in Berlin’s Maxie-Wander-Strasse in keeping with the theme ‘Happy feet for happy kids’. Thanks to the involvement of the Berlin Drees & Sommer team, the children will be able to improve their balance and coordination, and experience the feel of various natural materials such as wood, grass and stones under their feet.

But instead of simply building the barefoot path for the kids, the team plans to hold a ‘kiddie workshop’ first to establish the little clients’ needs and wishes. The children will also learn more about the business world, with the session covering topics such as “What is a workshop”, “What does ‘lean’ mean?” and “What is the idea behind Cradle to Cradle?”. Of course, all these things will be explained in a way the young audience can easily understand. The path itself will be built jointly by the adults and the children by October.

The path is designed to be sustainable, to offer a sensory experience, and to involve the kids in a ‘creative experience with an outcome’. The Berlin Drees & Sommer team also plans to teach the adults something as well – namely to see things through children’s eyes again.

“We want to see lots of happy smiling children’s faces! After social distancing and having to spend a lot of time at home, we want to encourage the children to go exploring again. Making changes to their own daycare center is the perfect approach to promoting exercise and turning the kids into little adventurers.”

Janette Grüneberg, Drees & Sommer Berlin