Project info
Umwelt-Exploratorium e.V. (U-X)
Headquarters Frankfurt
founded: 1994
20 members, thereof 11 honorary members
Location: Hangar at the old airport Frankfurt-Bonames
Built by US forces and used as field airfield until 1992.
From 2002 renaturalized by the city of Frankfurt to a nature and recreation area.
In 2003, the hangar was developed by U-X into a learning station, Aeronauts’ Workshop, for children and young people.
Project: Summer Workshop at the Old Airport
The Summer Workshop is a project in the Aeronauts’ Workshop in the small hangar at the Old Airport. The annual summer vacation offer enables children and families in Frankfurt am Main and the surrounding area to participate in innovatively mediated environmental and cultural education and promotes environmental protection.
Our sponsorship:
Co-financing of the costs for this project (5,000 €) per year
Funding period: 2022 and 2024
Doing ingenious experiments and learning new things during the summer vacations – that’s what the Aeronauts’ Workshop summer workshop stands for. As in times before Corona, the Umwelt-Exploratorium e.V. offers an exciting program around scientific topics like flying, driving, moving on four weekends for all those who stay at home during the summer vacations. The Aeronauts’ Workshop in the hangar of the old Bonames airport is the venue (www.u-x.de/veranstaltungsorte). The events will take place on four weekends during the Hessian summer vacations. The dates and information are available on the U-X homepage: aeronauten.org/wordpress
The project operator
The environmental exploratorium registered association sets with its work primarily within the range of the environmental education. This also includes democracy education and artistic-aesthetic education as essential components. The work with refugees currently represents an additional field of activity and concern of the U-X. The goal of the association is to sustainably promote the environmental awareness and social participation of each individual participant. Founded in 1994 by graduates of the Offenbach University of Applied Sciences, the U-X has been developing and initiating learning and research formats for children, young people and adults for many years. In addition to a whole series of workshops and events in the Aeronauten workshop in the hangar in Bonames and the Aquanauten workshop on the banks of the Main in Niederrad, the U-X offers children and young people in daycare centers and schools the opportunity to deal with environmental topics in a solution-oriented manner with loanable “workshop” cases (e.g. climate suitcase, passive house).
Summer Workshop at the Old Airport
The summer workshop is a participatory educational program for children accompanied by at least one adult, which enables an intensive examination of natural phenomena and encourages environmental protection. The aim of the workshop is to open sustainable educational opportunities for the participants in this confrontation and in actively grasping and understanding the processes and through their own actions. At the same time, the offerings are intended to strengthen the participants’ respect and appreciation for nature through new knowledge and experiences and to awaken an awareness of their need for protection. Participation is open and free of charge, the workshop is open to children with educational backgrounds as well as children from educationally disadvantaged households. It is also barrier-free.
The summer workshop is offered on four weekends during the Hessian summer vacations:
- In 2022 the topics were Bird Kites, Water Rocket Cars, Fly and Rotor Crane .
- In 2023 it was all about Wind and Energy, Flight Seeds and Strategies of Plants and Looking at the Beaks of Birds – Evolutionary Adaptation.
- In 2024 there were workshops on Water Rocket Cars and Recoil Principle, Cargo Shipping and Buoyancy, Floating with a Swim Bladder and Water Quality of the River Nidda.
The photos on this page were taken at the 2024 workshops.
In workshops designed for specific target groups, participants actively and concretely experience the special features of the objects and natural processes they study through their own research and design.
Till Hergenhahn, Head of Aeronauts Workshop
Why we are committed to the project
We already mentioned during our first sponsorship project how much the objectives and commitment of the Umwelt-Exploratorium e.V. association appeal to us. The summer workshop has been a continuous vacation offer of the association for many years and is important for many families in Frankfurt. Due to the Corona pandemic, many free educational opportunities for children have been cancelled. For this reason it is important to create spaces for sensory experience and thus enable children to engage in educational processes of a special kind. This project also awakens sensitivity for nature and awareness of its protection. We are happy to support this project and the commitment of the Environmental Exploratorium.
Outlook
We have been associated with the Umwelt-Exploratorium – especially the Aeronauts – for a very long time and will continue to be. We are looking forward to the ideas of those involved, who have been (further) developing educational projects for children and young people for many years.
