"We didn't expect so many children to sign up" , nina werner from the municipal utility was amazed. As part of the vacation program, she had organized an "energy expedition camp" with external support from verena schmitt and meike eck organized and had to turn down a dozen children because there were only 30 experiment stations on the former "zaak gebaude" in the wurzburger strabe for grouting stood.
They, however, were professionally equipped with all the tools needed to turn children from six to 13 into true energy experts. Buttons with the first names of the children were created, and that was the "energy certificate".
Full of energy, the children looked for the different ways to generate electricity after a short introduction. With small games, it was shown how electricity flows, and the children quickly understood what color a plus pole has, how the cables have to be connected together, how the measuring devices work and how many volts ultimately come out of the socket.
"Yes, the light is on!"
In the wind park, the children could try out how electricity is generated from wind. Teamwork was required in the small groups, which had to make fans run by hand crank, whose wind in turn drove small windmills that generated electricity. But lukas, nine years old, was disappointed:" i have connected all the cables correctly, but the windmill turns too slowly, the connected lamp doesn't light up". Only when his friend paul put another windmill in front of the ventilator, connected the two together and julius cranked even faster, cheered the whole group:" yes!!! The light is on"!
Radio ecology
the solar workshop was also a hive of activity. There, the children had to place small solar cells in front of the lamps so cleverly that the required four volts could be generated with which a small transistor radio was to be made to run. Tim, magdalena and jule connected one cell after the other until tim finally called out: "i'm getting antenne bayern in".
In order to keep the children's energy up, they were able to refuel with gum bars and enjoy sausages and lemonade during the break. After that, the cheeks of emil, maximilian and mercedes were also glowing when they used solar cells to drive a mini motor on small bursts and mercedes was able to proudly announce: "my penguin is running.
The relationships were explained in a way that was appropriate for children, and the supervisors responded to the questions with a great deal of empathy. Padagogin verena schmitt said: "it's amazing how quickly the children work together".
At the end of the day, wind turbines were made, which the children were allowed to take home. They told their parents with shining eyes about an exciting and instructive afternoon. Paul proudly declared to his mother: "I have achieved 8.1 volts"!