Baumhauscamp: children build their own tree house in the Saxon forest

The heart of this camp is a tree house the group builds together from nothing. It starts with instruction in handling the tools safely - hammer, saw, nails, screws and cordless driver - and it makes no difference whether a child has done any of this before. Participants then saw, screw and hammer boards, beams and planks into a house on a platform in a tree. Counsellors stay within reach the whole time, helping where needed and seeing that the safety rules are kept. The site for the house is fixed, but what it finally looks like is decided by the children as a group: everyone may put forward ideas, and the group builds them.

The stay runs seven travel days with six nights. Accommodation in a multi-bed bungalow room with bed linen, full board with drinks throughout the day, all working materials, the escape room and the join-in disco are included, as is round-the-clock care from the travel counsellors. The operator states that its price covers all the listed services with no separate service or handling fee, and that its own booking terms form part of the trip. One practical note: a sleeping bag is needed for the night in the tree house, and a child who has none can borrow one on site at no charge. The camp is generally not suitable for participants with restricted mobility.

Children sleep in bungalows fitted out for their age group, in multi-bed rooms, with bed linen provided. Showers and toilets are in a central block on the grounds. The counsellors sleep directly next to the participants' rooms. On the last night the group may sleep together in the tree house it has just finished building.

Full board. Breakfast, a warm lunch cooked fresh each day in the centre's own kitchen, and a substantial dinner after a day of building, with drinks available all day long. Vegetarian diets, lactose intolerance and food allergies are catered for when they are declared at booking, so that the kitchen can take them into account.

Beyond the building work there is an escape room to puzzle through, a join-in disco, a talent show, geocaching, a night hike in the forest and the chance to explore the woods. On the grounds children swim in the 25-metre pool, play football, table tennis and beach volleyball, use the playgrounds with their cable runways, and take part in sports, group and coordination games. There is time for painting, crafts, card games and music, and an excursion into Weisswasser with a wander round the town.

The camp sits on roughly eight hectares of ground in the middle of forest, with its own 25-metre swimming pool. There is a football pitch, a volleyball court and table-tennis tables for contests after the day's work, and playgrounds with cable runways. Meals are prepared in the centre's own kitchen. Showers and toilets are central to the site.

What children take home from this camp is something they can point at: a house in a tree that did not exist before they arrived, built by their own hands with tools many of them pick up for the first time here. The work is real and so is the result, which is why the last night is spent sleeping in it. Around that runs the ordinary good life of a forest camp - swimming, night walks, a disco, a talent show - in a small group where the counsellors are never far away.