Stone streets get 8°C hotter, so Valkenburg kids did THIS

Key Takeaway

In the center of Valkenburg, primary school children worked with IVN and the municipality to plant a Tiny Forest. They removed 400 square meters of pavement and planted 800 small trees, creating shade and cooling to fight heat stress in paved neighborhoods.

Have you felt it today? Those stone squares in our villages can get scorching hot, sometimes up to 8 degrees warmer than a green spot just around the corner. And in Valkenburg, they’re doing something wonderful about it.

Right in the town center, primary school kids teamed up with IVN and the municipality to plant a real Tiny Forest. Small spot, big impact.

Here’s what they pulled off 🌳

400 square meters of tiles removed
800 little trees planted
Kids helping out and learning how green keeps us cool

Tim Boeste from IVN explains: ‘Walk from the sun into the shade of these trees and you feel the difference instantly. We’re doing this for the water, but mostly against the heat.’

And the kids? They’re happily running between the bushes instead of baking on a bare square in the sun.

The best part: you can help at home too. Every tile you pull out of your garden counts. 🌿

Research shows that paved streets in Dutch cities can get up to 8 degrees hotter than green neighborhoods during heatwaves. A Tiny Forest, based on the Japanese Miyawaki method, grows up to 10 times faster than a regular forest and attracts over 500 plant and animal species within just 3 years, even on a postage-stamp piece of land.