Kulturforum

The Kulturforum is a great institution in Heidelberg for families. It's a community based space that organizes workshops for kids and adults, has a performance space (that's where Sherry and I saw the Klezzmates earlier this year in a fantastic performance!). We've recently found out about it, and during the second weekend in June really took advantage of its offerings.

On Saturday, they offered a performance of a children's play. Remembering how much Alex had liked children's theatre in the US, I got us some tickets. Here he is before the performance, enjoying a pretzel stick in anticipation.

The one-woman play was meant as an homage to summer and though it was wonderfully imaginative and Alex thoroughly enjoyed it, I realized that it had been pitched too low (more towards 2 and 3 year olds) and that he was ready for more. There was no real plot, just cure songs and scenes and afterwards (on our way to the pool!), he kept asking questions that were really more involved than the play had been, looking for deeper meanings and connections. He's growing up, my little guy.

The following day, we went back to the Kulturforum, this time with good friends Kristyn and Irene in tow. They had advertised an open house for families and not quite sure what to expect, we tried it out. We had a blast. They had set up all kinds of outdoor games, a workbench for woodworking (with real tools: saws, hammers etc.), a station to work with clay, an indoor playscape with oversized padded blocks etc. Here are some pictures to show you what a blast we had.

Here's Alex woodworking with a really large (and sharp!) file.

And here the friends are trying out various outdoor games.