Support for the «Troll Waldkinder»
We are the Troll Waldkinder. With three locations in Zurich (Züriberg, Chäferberg, Uetliberg), we have been offering daycare and kindergarten children community, sensory experience and competent care in nature for over 20 years. The forest as a place to play and learn strengthens the children in their imagination and dexterity and in their interaction with each other.
The forest opens up an unlimited world of play and fantasy. Day after day, the children transform a pile of stones into an ice cream stand, turn a fallen tree into a pirate ship, carefully pick up a snail - the possibilities in the forest are endless. The Troll Waldkinder pursue their natural curiosity in the forest, live out their age-appropriate urge to move, and observe our four seasons from especially close quarters. These are formative learning experiences that stay with the forest children for a lifetime.
Help us prepare the Troll Waldkinder for the future by assisting us in restructuring to a full daycare. This makes the Troll accessible to more parents and creates a better compatibility between family and work. In addition, it is very important to us to provide the caregivers with up-to-date, solid equipment that takes into account the ever-changing weather conditions and enables four-season care in the forest.
We are committed to the compatibility of family and career
The parents of the forest children always find themselves in a dilemma, because the needs of the children are clearly covered in the forest, but the working parents often have to bend to make this possible for their children. Thus, it is a huge hurdle for many parents to fit their workdays around the 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. childcare hours.
In order for the Troll Waldkinder to continue to live up to years of experience and tradition, it is important that we keep up with the times and offer the option of all-day care.
With the change to full day care starting this fall, the Troll Waldkinder lacks capital to bridge the gap for indoor space rental and higher staffing costs. The Troll needs this one-time investment to get the ball rolling and thereby offer care from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. (instead of the current 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.). The children will continue to spend each day in the forest from 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m., but there will be the additional option of having the children cared for by their trusted caregivers before the forest day begins and after it ends until the end of a regular work day.
We need new material in the forest
Every morning our super motivated team packs a big handcart with everything the children need during the day in the forest. By muscle power and with a thick rope around the waist they pull it up the mountain. Downhill it is a lot more risky because the old carts have no brakes and in rain and snow it is a dangerous slide. Furthermore, our complete material, like pots, canvas, ropes, hammocks (…) is partly 20 years old and needs to be replaced. We also urgently need equipment for the indoor rooms, which will be used for the children in the all-day care after the forest to work, cook, eat, play, garden and clean.
We want to facilitate the valuable work of the forest educators and caregivers with solid and up-to-date materials. Our great team should be able to concentrate on the important things, namely the forest children and forest education.
