Creative activities with children

At the Traversine Bercy garden, school children are actively involved in growing strawberries on the roof terrace. After transplanting the runners into new trays in the autumn and helping with weeding, maintenance and watering throughout the year, they were able … Read More

Today, children from the Bercy school took part in a leek planting activity at the Traversine garden, supervised by animators from the Designing Hope association. Before getting started, the organizers explained the essential steps for ensuring good leek growth: cutting … Read More

Following a reorganisation of the terrace linked to the extension of the school, and the construction of a new canteen close to the vegetable garden, new containers were installed on the roof garden. The recycled plastic containers, cut in half … Read More

The Garden of Skills greenhouse provides a protected space for growing crops, complementing the nursery area.

As the weather did not allow us to work in the vegetable garden, we decided to create a memory game with the children. We printed black and white drawings of fruit and vegetables in vegetable gardens or baskets on sheets … Read More

Once the beds had been prepared, and the soil refined and weeded, the women of Roosboom set about preparing a typical bed, sown with carrots in rows close together, according to permaculture principles.In fact, we try to maximize production on … Read More

While the greenhouse is still under construction by the Lesotho team, a team of 4 women and 2 men from Roosboom set about installing the growing beds in the greenhouse, under the guidance of Sphephile and Fezile, who had come … Read More

With the help of our animators, the elementary school students made bird nesting boxes. A nesting box is a small wooden house where birds can safely nest, rest or raise their offspring. The children took it in turns to assemble … Read More

Once the greenhouse’s wooden poles and metal frame were in place, the sunshade fabric, which had been hand-sewn with a nylon cord, was positioned on the structure. A perimeter trench was then dug all around the greenhouse to bury the … Read More

Once the nursery frame and internal grid had been installed, all that remained to be done was to fit a protective frame with a number of purposes:– Reduce the intensity of the sun’s rays, which are particularly hot in southern … Read More

At Roosboom, young plants have a number of enemies: the sun, lack of water and attacks by locusts and grasshoppers, which love young shoots… So we designed a system of bottomless trellises that has the advantage of drying out less … Read More

With the water reservoir just in place to collect water pumped from the ground by the Halfway house borehole, the plumber laid a large-diameter line from the borehole along the length of the greenhouse to install the drip system. 4 … Read More

After preparing the growing beds inside the greenhouse, the Roosboom team started working on the new plot of land recently made available to Halfway House by Roosboom Town Council. The humid summer is the ideal time to prepare the soil, … Read More

Young farmers from Levi’s Nek farm in Lesotho came to Roosboom to share their know-how and build a 200 m² greenhouse on the Halfway House site, similar to those they have already built on their own farm.Pine poles are set … Read More

Summer, which corresponds to the rainy season in southern Africa, is the ideal time to set up a fertiliser tree nursery. These trees have been chosen for their ability to fertilise the soil by producing nitrogen nodules at their roots, … Read More

All set! All the elements are ready to be hung on the Christmas Teepee in the Traversine Villiot garden! Plant balls, stars decorated with fir branches and pine cones, colored bamboo snowflakes, wooden snowmen… Despite the cold, the children enjoyed … Read More

Children from the Bercy elementary school played an active role in decorating the Christmas Tipi in the Traversine Villiot garden.Among their creations, based exclusively on plants, they decorated stars made from strings wrapped around a wire, using Christmas tree branches … Read More

Christmas is approaching, and the garden teepee is being transformed into a festive Christmas tree! Several workshops were organized to bring this metamorphosis to life…Children from CLAJE (Centre Paris Anim de Villiot) made little snowmen from 2 wooden washers for … Read More

Every year, the tipi in the Villiot vegetable garden is transformed into a Christmas tree, adorned with plant-based Christmas decorations! As part of this animation, pupils from Bercy elementary school made stars by assembling bamboo branches with raffia. After painting … Read More

Children from the Bercy kindergarten made unique, colorful maracas by reusing applesauce containers. To begin with, they applied a coat of varnish to the packaging to make it easier for the paint to adhere. They then chose a solid color … Read More

This afternoon, elementary school pupils created a magnificent piece of Land Art in their school garden. Using dried leaves, chestnuts and small sticks, they imagined and assembled a collective work of art. Everyone contributed in their own way, exchanging ideas … Read More

Children from Bercy elementary school drew inspiration from their own interests to create their own paintings. After gluing the dried leaves to the paper, they drew around them to imagine unique shapes. One, for example, formed a soccer player, while … Read More

If there’s one vegetable that amazes children in the Traversine Bercy vegetable garden, it’s the Blauhilde bean from our seed partner : Agrosemens.And yes, this pole bean, which looks so good on our pergola, isn’t green, it’s purple!Its long pods … Read More

Today, children from the school and CLAJE had the opportunity to meet Shapari Behzadi, a visual artist and teacher from Tehran. She organized a creative activity based on natural elements such as branches, leaves, straw and bundles. The activity involved … Read More

The women in charge of the garden and the gardener at Halfway House are preparing for the arrival of spring!The cold, dry southern winter will give way to the temperate, rainy summer season, ideal for planting new crops.The beds are … Read More

The star planter was designed in the same way as the other planters :A watertight tray is filled with clay balls to form a water reserve. Geotextile is laid on top to prevent the soil from mixing with the balls. … Read More

It’s assembly time ! Once all the materials have been reassembled on the roof, installation can begin. The Douglas fir boards have been pre-cut to size according to the new garden plans. Once the boards have been screwed in place, … Read More

The Halfway House is a place for children to relax and enjoy themselves after school every day. They can enjoy outdoor games as well as board games inside the house, in addition to the daily meals they are served.These happy … Read More

The children of the Centre Paris Anim’ (CLAJE) elementary school of Bercy realized their self-portrait in the style of Arcimboldo. After colouring fruits and vegetables, the children cut and glued them to form their own face.

Today, we asked the children of the Bercy primary schools to draw the vegetable garden of their dreams!  They were able to organise their imaginary garden as they wished, by placing fruits, vegetables, animals, insects, compost, ponds…While waiting for spring..

The children welcomed by the Centre Paris Anim’ (CLAJE) decorated pine cones for the end-of-the-year celebrations. They glued pompoms and stars on them, wrapped the pine cones with thread on which they threaded beads and painted the ends of the … Read More

The children of the elementary school of Bercy made a card to wish a good Christmas to their close relations. They wrote on it, drew with felt pens, cut out and glued paper and stickers. Above all, after tracing their … Read More

The children of the nursery school of Bercy in Paris were able to discover the various insects in the garden through colouring boards realised by the association.  The children coloured in bees, ladybirds, butterflies, ants, earwigs, woodlice and grasshoppers: all … Read More

The children of the elementary school of Bercy in Paris were able to discover the various insects in the garden through colouring boards realised by the association.  The insects were classified according to their role in a garden, namely pollinators, … Read More

With the children welcomed by the Centre Paris Anim’ (CLAJE), the team of Dessine l’Espoir finalised the installation of the insect hotel in the garden of Traversine-Villiot.  We installed pieces of broken bricks for the staphylinid, pine cones for the … Read More

We organised a painting activity using our stencils representing all kinds of leaves, fruits and vegetables. They were also able to use dried leaves to create various patterns. The children made many colourful paintings to take home!

With the children welcomed by the Centre Paris Anim’ (CLAJE), the team of Dessine l’Espoir organized a workshop creation of mobiles with natural elements.  On straight tree branches, the children hung woolen threads on which they suspended several vegetal elements: … Read More

To celebrate Halloween, Dessine l’Espoir joined Double Face to allow the children of the residence Villiot Râpée to realize frightening heads of monsters. After a day spent modeling clay under the guidance of Zoé from Double Face, the children painted … Read More

This Wednesday afternoon, the team of Designing Hope organized 2 creative animations in the garden of the Traversine Villiot, one with the children welcomed by the Centre Paris Anim’ (CLAJE) and the other with the children of the primary schools … Read More

It is autumn, it is time to enrich and to refill the tubs of the mandala and the Keyhole of the garden of the Traversine Bercy in order to prepare the tubs to welcome new cultures. The bins have been … Read More

The metalworker has finished making all the structures for the roof terrace garden at the school in Rufisque. The children, enthusiastic, participated in the installation of the plastic containers, which, once filled with soil and compost, will soon welcome new … Read More

The children of the youth center of Villiot (Claje – Paris Anim) decorated wooden frames in the Villiot garden. First, they painted the outline of the frame in the colours of their choice. They then ventured into the garden to … Read More

The Lauris preschool children enjoyed a calm time to realize colourings in the Grand Potager of the Domaine de Fontenille. Sitting around the mandala, they coloured their own version of the beds forming a flower. After the visit to the … Read More

The children from the leisure centre in Villiot made Christmas decorations with bamboo branches, raffia, cords and the association’s “Porte-Bonheurs” flowers. The leafy parts of the branches were used to make wreaths, while the hard parts were used to create … Read More

The Traversine garden will soon host a mini set-in-nature theatre ! First step: cutting out and colouring the paper templates that will bring to life all the stories that the children made up. Fairies, boares, feathers, pumpkin houses, she-warriors… that … Read More

At the Grand Potager on the Domain of Fontenille, we tried out a raised mound technique, connected by a teepee giving inclined support to climbing beans and marrows, thanks to a weaving which was handmade with ropes. This green cover … Read More

The Bercy nursery school students took part in an unusual painting activity. After drawing branches on paper sheets, they got to decorate them with multicolored fruits, by using lemons, bell peppers, zucchinis, onions, celery and artichoke leaves as stamps to … Read More

Track game at the Grand Potager series 5/5 Last step of the discovery day at the Grand Potager. This open-air theatre is a mere frame made of wooden tubes which is fastened between two small trees. Inspired by puppet theatre, … Read More

Track game at the Grand Potager series 3/5 Third step of the discovery day at the Grand Potager: land art ! This artform consists in using materials from nature for esthetics purposes. The children had the opportunity to create their … Read More

Every wednesday at the Grand Potager in Fontenille children are offered a creative workshop. This week an insect house making workshop took place, which was an opportunity to children and their parents around a do-it-yourself activity under the sun ! … Read More

The construction of little cabins has just started. These cabins are the result of a local and sustainable economy: they have been made using wood from local forest production and have been assembled by a company located near the center. … Read More

The 6 young deaf and hard of hearing people manage the Saint Monica Educational Farm in Leribe, Lesotho, funded by The Ivory Foundation in 2019. Within a year they have structured a wasteland into a fertile and productive plot of … Read More

The fall season is now here at the Traversine and with it its lot of colors: yellow, orange, red, brown… It’s the opportunity to organize a land art activity with the children using the leaves of the yard. With Halloween … Read More

In order to welcome even more birds in the garden, new nesting boxes had to be built. So the children got involved: one nail here, another there and here are two brand new houses for our friends the birds! Our … Read More

In the agroforestry garden at the Yagma school on the outskirts of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, students are involved in its maintenance. Indeed, they prepare cultivation beds that will contribute to the improvement of their daily meals. This garden, set … Read More

Dawady’s farm school is located 60km from Tambacounda in Eastern Senegal, with the local expertise of Am Be Khoun and the financial support of The Ivory foundation and ULB cooperation. After its establishment, The Ivory Foundation commissioned Am Be Khoun, … Read More

The children of Laafi kindergarten in Koudougou conducted a plant buffer workshop proposed by Transgardens. Vegetable ends, having an interesting shape, are used as buffers for drawing with paint. The children were very impressed by the shapes and designs obtained …

These flowers were made with cut cans, with the children of Macambeni, to decorate their playroom.In Swaziland there is no recycling. Plastic bottles and cans often find themselves burned in a corner of the garden, or village. As long as … Read More

Marc Dumas took part to a workshop with pupils from Bercy School, during his “Réburbain” exhibition at Gallery Umcebo. The exibition’s subject. Réburbain revisits and assembles ordinary urban fragments, a panoply of banal, common, functional, “no quality” and “unparalleled” objects … Read More

Dans le cadre des échanges entre les enfants s’occupant de jardins pédagogiques dans leur école et réunis autour du blog “Transjardins”, les enfants de l’école Hlohlo AME du Swaziland, ont envoyé aux enfants de l’école de Bercy (Paris), des dessins … Read More

This film presents the setting up of the Traversine garden by Designing Hope on the terrace of the Bercy school. A winning project of the Pariscultuers competition, launched by the city of Paris in 2016. it allow to know all … Read More

Making and filling a Keyhole. The Keyhole is a keyhole-shaped vegetable garden consisting of a central compost bin surrounded by raised beds. The Keyhole produces a large number of vegetables in a limited area, benefiting from the slow diffusion of … Read More

Autumn leaves bring their array of colors and shapes to inspire playful and multiple creations. EnregistrerEnregistrer

Today at the Half Way House in Roosboom, it’s Halloween preparation … Today at the Half Way House children have carved pumpkins to make Halloween lanterns. 5 pumpkins were kept preciously for the occasion. Children first draw on the pumpkins … Read More

Over the centuries, the vegetable garden has been a source of inspiration for many artists. Below an overview of different approaches:paintings by Giuseppe Arcimboldo using fruits and vegetables to create portraits in the 16th century, photographs of Karl Blossfeldt from the … Read More