Project info
Operator: Strandgut e.V. Berlin
founded 2010
Club members: 33 – Board members: 3
Contact persons: Patricia Lima Zahn, Maxi Meißner
Location: Berlin, Crellestraße 19
Project: Strandgut Berlin: “Ute’s Spielraum”
Our funding:
Contribution to the costs of this project in the amount of 9883,35 € for carpentry work
Funding period: 2024 to 2025
The movement and early childhood educator Ute Strub (*1933) worked for many years with the Hungarian pediatrician Dr. Emmi Pikler and created Strandgut, a special place where children can play and discover undisturbed in a prepared and safe environment. The Strandgut inspires children to be aware of their free and self-chosen play.
The history of the Strandgut and the sensitive approach of its founder, Ute Strub, are to be honored and brought to life.
The aim is to appeal to visitors’ inner child and to make it possible to experience children’s play as particularly worthy of protection.
The project operator
Strandgut (german for Flotsam and Jetsam) in Berlin was founded as a non-profit organization by Ute Strub in May 2010. It offers children a protected space for free play with sand, straw and other materials. Even toddlers can play there independently and undisturbed while the accompanying parents’ chat.
In the main room, children play with fine sand, experiment with kitchen utensils, grind sand in mills or grind dolomite stone or bricks into flour. Drawers with seeds, shells and snail shells stimulate the joy of discovery. Another room offers wooden equipment for climbing and balancing as well as straw for jumping, digging and throwing. A third room serves as a retreat for parents and the youngest children, with tatamis, a protected play area and facilities for breastfeeding and changing diapers.
Ute’s Playroom
Inside Strandgut, there is a small room where Ute Strub’s (play) treasures for adults are neatly stored. The area, which was previously used as a junk room, has now been transformed into a treasure trove and “Ute’s playroom.” It is already available for use and offers parents and educational professionals the opportunity to discover and play, experiencing what they can observe in the children in the Strandgut playroom.
The room offers the opportunity to engage with Ute Strub’s diverse materials and documents. Drawer units ensure that the documents are clearly presented and easily accessible.
A custom-made perforated panel wall allows the focus of the exhibition to be flexibly adjusted, creating a lively information and exhibition culture in a small space.
In addition, the storage space offers room for further treasures that are still waiting to be presented. There is also a small kitchenette.
(I am touched by) … the glow in the children’s eyes when they withdraw into their world, in which they discover things that only become visible to us adults through their eyes.
Visitor to the Strandgut watching the children
Why we are committed to the project
We were able to see this wonderful place of play and experience for ourselves during a visit and observe how absorbed and serious the young children are in their independent play activities. The fact that there is now also a place for adults, which attracts them with Ute Strub’s many years of collected experience materials and encourages them to become active themselves and thus experience what their children encounter in the Strandgut, is a wonderful extension of the Strandgut.
These experiences and their effect on their own well-being support adults in the necessary restraint to be present during their children’s free play.
Outlook
The Strandgut will have been in existence for 15 years in 2025 and should continue to be a place of joy and enlightenment for young children and their parents in the future. We would like to continue to support the Strandgut’s volunteer team in their valuable work.
