We don't do standard projects. Every project grows out of the people who bring it to us. Got a crazy idea? Tell us about it.
The heart of our work
Instead of sightseeing, your class builds a complete playground in one week – at a children's hospital, a school, a social institution or an orphanage. Worldwide, but preferably in places you can still reach overland. We prepare together for about a year.
For clubs, school groups & youth welfare
Do you lead a youth or adult group of any kind? Then everything works just like the school trip: one year of preparation, one week of building, and at the end there is a safe playground that meets all safety standards.
Enquire about a group project →
Our youth group · ages 15 to 21
We meet every week in Stuttgart-Möhringen, guided by KuKuk, and carry out our own play space project every year – most recently in Burrel (Albania) and Vadu Oii (Romania). Anyone who can come to the weekly meetings can join.
I want to join KuKuk Move →Team building with purpose
Swap suit and laptop for boards and drills: we choose a social institution, organise the day and build together with your team – even with 150 people at once. A change of perspective that does everyone good.
Small building teams of playground experts and adult volunteers build in especially critical places – in cooperation with specialists in trauma and emergency education. Free play is proven to help children process difficult experiences.
A playground in a shipping container: prefabricated in Germany, shippable, and set up on site by two people in a few hours. Available in different models depending on budget and location.
Meeting places at refugee accommodation. The first one was built in 2015 in Stuttgart-Möhringen by around 500 children, young people and adults. Many more have followed since.
From the idea through fundraising and travel planning to the building week, it usually takes about a year. If action is needed right away, we respond as quickly as we can.
Usually groups find us: school classes, sports and cultural clubs or youth welfare groups. Just write to info@kukuk-kultur.de or use the contact form – we are open to all enquiries.
Through a network built over 20 years of project work: other NGOs, associations and many free and alternative schools. We look for places where children cannot grow up under normal circumstances, and we make sure that place and group are a good match.
We assess the security situation carefully. We never travel to crisis regions with school classes. Projects in countries with high security risks are carried out only with adults, and the association has an emergency management plan.
Rarely. On the building site people communicate with hands and feet, and usually someone soon turns up who can translate into a shared language.
Yes, if you are seriously interested. Not every project is open to volunteers, but with a little patience we will find a suitable one. As a rule, you cover travel, accommodation and meals yourself.
Because the shared process matters: those who helped build it are proud and look after the playground. And it is about turning strangers into friends.
Absolutely. Tell us about it over a cup of tea or coffee, and we'll work out together whether and how we can make it happen.
Two permanently employed project managers and an employed head of building education. The board works on a voluntary basis. Our freelance building educators are mostly employed by KuKuk GmbH and take holidays to work on social projects.
KuKuk Kultur is project-funded: through grant applications, supporting members and donations, for example via crowdfunding.
For €300 or more you receive it automatically in the following quarter if you include your address or email in the payment reference. For amounts up to €300, the German tax office accepts your bank statement together with our simplified donation receipt.
