Lockdown birds |Hochtaunus

Grävenwiesbach.On Thursday afternoon, a family of four goes for a walk in the Steinkertzbach valley.The children Frieda and Remo run ahead and return a short time later with a sly smile."Did you suspend them?" - "Yes."When you walk on, the seeking look of the parents hikes concentrated and excitedly to tree stumps, wooden stacks, rocky slices and earth hills.

There she is.The image of an owl with white clicker eyes lights up on a blue-red pebble stone, which exhausts from a moored column of a tree stump.The Koch family paints stones and puts them out through nature while walking.They should be found by other walkers and give them joy.

They are the little ones, at first glance inconspicuous stories that show a path for a positive way of dealing with corona pandemic.Detlef Koch and his wife Meike had this creative idea two years ago, with which the children in pandemic have a lot of fun looking at domestic nature: »We wanted the children to come to the fresh air in the lockdown and walk with uswalk." Als im Kindergarten Grävenwiesbachbunte, mit Schlangen und Feuerwehr-Motiven bemalte Steine auslagen, erinnerte sich die Mutter der heute siebenjährigen Frieda und des fünfjährigen Remo daran, dass vor fast dreißig Jahren in Merseburg ihre Kita-Erzieherin ihr einen Marienkäfer-Kieselstein schenkte.“I still have it today."

The painting and passing on of Kieselstein motifs first within the family started.So the first painted stone came to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

»Taunussteine" kommen viel rum

The Koch family found a community on the Internet that sends stones on the trip.There people enjoy sending stones and making the world travel with appropriate photo posts. Die öffentliche Facebook-Gruppe »Taunussteine" hat bereits 2646 Mitglieder, die Steine bemalen, verstecken und sich freuen, wenn diese gefunden und ihre Weitergabe gepostet wird.

With the Koch family, the stones remain in the municipality of Grävenwiesbach.Because they are exposed to long walks, primarily in the Steinkertzbach valley.Before the hiding game begins, paint is painted with living room color and clear paint at home.Owls with big eyes, mignons and skulls are among the children among the children in the painting workshop.So the children's fine motor skills in the Lockdown was specially trained.

Hidden game in nature

Richtige Begeisterung kommt immer wieder beim Hidden game in nature auf.The number of new experiences grows from day to day.A wet trousers after landing in the stream, dirty shoes while wading through the meadow sump or a hole in the jacket after climbing in the tree are part of the natural hiding game.The Koch family was already organizing a little scavenger hunt and is well networked with the idea in kindergarten and primary school.

»Hier in Grävenwiesbachgibt es lauter nette Leute, die sich beim Spazieren über die gefundenen Steine freuen." Kein Sendungsbewusstsein, aber großer Spaß an der Freude der anderen treibt die vier an und lässt keine Gedanken an Missbrauch oder Unfug aufkommen.The silent joy when a stone is no longer in the hiding place and gives the finder joy is enough for Frieda, Remo, Meike and Detlef.The project became even more valuable with the idea of turning slate letters.ABC shooter Frieda learned to spell this way.The joy was particularly great when strangers from the letters had formed new words.“There were nice nonsense words." Zum Freudebereiten für andere in der Pandemie zählt Familie Koch auch das Versenden der bunten Steine zum Beispiel an eine Palliativ-Station.“We want to pass on a positive message."

On Thursday afternoon, Remo and Frieda initially exhibited six stones, of which the parents only found one.Walkers in the Steinkertzbach valley therefore have a good chance of finding a pebble owl with a waxed eye.Maybe someone will also come up with the idea of interpreting their own stones: »We are happy to find new stones ourselves."