Introduction/specifics

The Wichtelbude daycare center opened its doors in September 2019. The principle of our educational work is the intensive support of the children and their individual educational processes. We see ourselves as idea generators in everyday life and accept every child as it is. The children act self-determined and autonomously in our facility and it goes without saying for us that they are allowed to make decisions themselves and have a say. For this reason, the children design the topics for project phases and offers in the current year together with the employees and actively contribute their ideas. Many decisions are also made at a children's conference, where the children vote democratically. Participation (co-determination, co-determination, inclusion) a child's right is implemented by us on a daily basis.

Rooms

The Wichtelbude has a spacious group room, which is divided into different functional areas. These include a building and construction area, a plateau, the creative area, a role-playing area with a children's kitchen and disguise options, an area for cuddling and resting under the plateau and one floor higher, our highlight, the research area. In the group room we have a kitchen at children's height in the dining area, so the children can set the table independently and develop their practical life skills. On the outdoor area there is a nest swing, a vehicle train race track, a barefoot path and a small playhouse to meet the children's daily urge to exercise and play ideas. Our raised beds are regularly planted and cared for, so a home-grown salad tastes particularly good.

Food

Backpack-free and vegetarian (without fish and meat) daycare center 

Meals such as breakfast, lunch and tea time are taken at the daycare centre. The children do not need a backpack, because the kindergarten offers breakfast, lunch and tea time. All dishes are purely vegetarian and mostly in organic quality.  The children decide for themselves what and how much they eat!

Basics

The pedagogical work in the KITaZirkel e.V. is primarily based on the various educational areas. The areas are divided among the employees and everyone is an expert in this area and undergoes further training in the relevant areas.

Our educational areas are:

• music and rhythm
• creativity encounter with nature and things
• sensory perception
• movement and play
• language

Music and rhythm

Children of all ages need music, dance, expression and play! Rhythm combines these areas as a holistic educational offer in early childhood education. Even the smallest children dance and sing with elementary joie de vivre. The affinity and fascination emanating from music and dance are ultimately independent of culture, gender, age, intelligence and also of a person's deficits in perception or disabilities. Music is seen as a universal language, which small children, who are often not yet able to use the word language, use. In our day-to-day work, we keep finding:

Children are only too happy to be captivated and moved by music! Music, games and dance are not only important for children in terms of developmental psychology, but are also of great importance as a cultural building block. The identification with one's own culture and its typical children's songs is of importance for the self-image and for the integration that should not be underestimated. And remembering well-known children's songs, such as "Bunny in the Pit" or "Sleeping Beauty" creates a feeling of security in everyone. Songs and musical games create a sense of togetherness in any group or culture.

Creativity

What makes messing around with porridge or food creative is the driving force behind action: the children enjoy the sensual experience and become curious about the world. Toddlers don't just become creative, they are creative by themselves. You just have to let them do what they do and encourage them to do so. Children experiment, try out and find new and original possibilities - that is exactly what creative action is all about.

The children need an environment in which they feel comfortable and can affirm themselves without pressure to perform so that they can develop their imaginations to the full. Various materials encourage the children to deal with them and to explore them with all their senses. Children are not interested in visible things, but rather in exploring the materials. First of all, they are concerned with smearing, muddling, kneading, dabbing and splashing. Children are not result-oriented; they are concerned with the experience. Only later does something emerge that children also want to name. A big side effect of varied stimulation is that creative children have more self-confidence and less fear. These children are more lively and social, negotiating with others, listening, accepting other ways and appreciating their fellow players. They also have a greater power of concentration and find solutions faster.

Encounter with nature and things

With their thirst for knowledge, their striving to discover and experience new things, children have many experiences every day and reinvent their environment a bit every day. We would like to support our children in this area in pursuing their joy of discovery and experimenting with materials from nature and their environment.

Together with the educational staff, the children experience their direct environment and understand the natural conditions of our nature. This important educational process is supported by various offers. For example, the children learn about and appreciate the growth process of food by planting fruit trees or creating a raised vegetable bed. Our flower beds in the garden provide an important habitat for insects and reptiles and teach the children to protect even the smallest creatures in our ecosystems. Accompanying discussions of our observations and the documentation of what we have experienced is also an important part of the pedagogical work. The materials and results of our projects are then exhibited and appreciated for everyone in the group rooms. Through excursions we want to expand the children's spaces of perception, for example by visiting green areas, parks, the zoo or farms. Of course, shopping together in the supermarket can also be a reason to take the kids out. We also take an active part in road traffic and playfully learn about the various traffic regulations. Our offers and campaigns should not be about working out precise scientific explanations, but about experiencing and understanding phenomena from the children's immediate lives. The area of ​​encounters with nature and things offers a variety of different subject areas, although we always focus on the current needs of the children. Our goal is for the children to experience their environment with all their senses and in a variety of situations, so that they develop a relationship and an understanding of the world they live in.

Sensory perception

Our senses create the conditions for understanding, development and learning. The senses are divided into two areas, the far sense, which includes seeing and hearing, and the near sense, which includes all other senses. Tactile perception is one of an infant's first forms of communication and underscores the importance of stimulating and nurturing the senses. Children initially only understand their environment through their senses by smelling, tasting, feeling, seeing, hearing and moving. They want to run, jump, understand and discover the world. The game ideas and offers in the field of sensory perception range from tactile games and noise memories to barefoot paths and much more. In the snoezel rooms or cozy corners of the facilities, relaxation offers such as dream trips and touch games with various materials are also carried out. Basically, we always try to appeal to all senses in everyday life and to train together with the children.

Movement and play

Everything children learn, they learn through movement. The younger a child is, the more it is dependent on getting to know itself, others and its surroundings through perception and movement. Even infants explore their environment by reaching for objects and putting them in their mouths, touching them and dropping them. The child gains experience of material properties and thus grasps the first connections. With increasing age, physical and motor skills are added and combined. This is how a child crawls to stand and then run and hop. Exercise is good for you and has a positive effect on the development of your personality as a whole. It is, so to speak, the motor for body, soul and spirit. It strengthens the body and keeps it healthy. Children who can live out their natural urge to move find inner peace and balance, develop dexterity, creativity and an alert mind. Even the very youngest enjoy the attention and physical contact with adults during romping games. More lively movements, such as a sing-along, stimulate the imagination and support language development as the child can speak along with the text and thus learn to understand the meaning of the words. Our special offer in  Wichtelhagen, Wichtelbude and Krümelhausen day-care centers is the weekly yoga class.

Speech and language development 

With the help of various communication options - whether verbal or non-verbal - children can communicate, make themselves understood and get in touch with their environment. Thus, language and communication with each other is not only the oldest, but also one of the most important human cultural techniques. We see our educational mission in this area essentially as supporting and supporting the children according to their individual requirements in a resource-oriented and everyday-integrated manner. In the city of Langenhagen, the regional concept serves as a starting point for quality assurance and quality development and describes goals and methods. It is continuously updated. In coordination with the carriers, the sample text can be used as a reference (and protection in the case of an examination by the state):

The city of Langenhagen has developed its regional language education and language promotion concept for the qualification of pedagogical specialists in day-care centers in coordination with all providers. The structure of the content and the structure of this concept take into account the latest findings from science and practice. They correspond to the recommendations for action "Language education and language support" of the Lower Saxony orientation and education plan. The regional language education and language promotion concept of the city of Langenhagen is trend-setting for all daycare centers in Langenhagen and is regularly updated. In addition to the everyday integrated language education and support, the children are offered targeted support in language acquisition (§ 18 KiTaG) in the last year before school. The language level survey, which is carried out at least 1 ½ years before starting school, serves to determine the current level of each individual child.

Through the spatial concept of the day care center (e.g. reading corner or role play area) as well as activities and offers (rituals such as songs, themed stories, finger plays, rhymes, everyday situations, etc.), the educational staff encourages the children to communicate with the environment within the scope of their possibilities.

Additional Offerings

Healthy nutrition in the KITaZirkel e.V.

Many learning and experience processes happen automatically during meals. All of our facilities are 'backpack free' which means all meals such as breakfast, lunch and tea time are provided by the daycare. We attach great importance to healthy, wholesome and balanced nutrition. It goes without saying that we only offer organic food to ensure an optimal supply of vitamins and minerals. In addition to a colorful range of fruit and vegetables, our menu consists of high-quality whole grain products, dairy products and eggs. In order to integrate enough variety into our menu, these are regularly reflected on and revised. Of course, we also take into account whether the children will accept the food and replace it with alternatives if necessary. Since August 1st, 2021, all of the association’s day-care centers have switched to an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet (free of fish and meat). This decision is not only related to the health benefits such as a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and type II diabetes, but also to environmental protection and ethical reasons.

The KITaZirkel e.V. would like to do our part for environmental protection and set an example by not eating meat and fish in the daycare center. The ecological footprint of animal products is very large compared to other foods. In addition, global consumption is expected to continue to increase. Thus, the production (according to the IPCC Special Report 2019) contributes significantly to climate change and generates significantly more greenhouse gases than the production of plant-based foods. The same also applies to water and land consumption, which are also significantly higher. In addition, we want to protect the animals through our actions and leave the cycle of factory farming. We do not want to impose a certain diet on other people, we just want to draw attention to the animal suffering that is currently taking place and encourage people to place more value on high-quality food. In our nutrition concept, we always refer to the recommendations of the "German Society for Nutrition" (DGE). In addition to the health aspects already mentioned, we of course also pay attention to the children's sugar and salt consumption, in order to adjust the taste to natural ingredients right from the start.

Of course, we would like to work professionally on this topic, to develop further and to continuously optimize the offer. For this important process, we got the support of a nutritionist who is specially trained in the right nutrition for children.

Our food culture

• Create an inviting center on the table 
• Napkins
• Fruit and vegetables are available all the time
• Food and drink is designed and served in an appealing and inviting way
• Child-friendly bowls and jugs from which the children can help themselves
• Eating takes place in a quiet and relaxed environment
• We are considerate of each other, hand each other bowls and use the time for conversations

The role of the employees

• Beginning together through rituals at lunch
• The ped. Specialists sit next to the children at the table and eat with them
• Leftovers on the plate are accepted
• There is no dessert deprivation as punishment
• "No" is accepted
• Sufficient staffing to provide assistance if necessary
• Discussions at mealtimes with the children and among the children are welcome! e.g. by naming the food, drinks and actions
• Give children time, trust and understanding

Quality Assurance

The capacity utilization of the facility depends primarily on the quality of the pedagogical work. The work in a day-care center must be carried out according to the generally recognized scientific knowledge of pedagogy and the quality must be checked regularly. Documentation and evaluation are instruments of quality assurance. The work is continuously evaluated and the concept is further developed. In addition, the high quality of the pedagogical facility is ensured through constant case discussions, individual and team discussions, supervision, further training, qualified preparation and dealing with specialist literature. The qualification and personality of the specialist staff is important in order to be able to competently support children in their development and parents in their educational tasks. In addition, the pedagogical team regularly qualifies in the overarching working groups on the following topics:

• Language education / language promotion 
• Child protection 
• Inclusion/ Intercultural Competence 
• Supervision / case processing 
• Parent work 
• Pedagogy

Teamwork with parents

The association KITaZirkel e.V. is characterized by the active cooperation of the parents. The parents are very important because this club life can only function with their cooperation. Every family is unique. It is of great importance to the child.

Working with parents plays an important role in our association. The basis for positive work with parents for the benefit of the child is trust, openness, honesty and the feeling that parents are in good hands with us. A positive cooperation and a regular exchange are very important to us. It is the basis for a constructive and cooperative upbringing of the child.

We see ourselves as a family-enhancing facility. Parents and professionals should be partners with regard to the child. For us, the focus is on child-oriented cooperation and mutual constructive influence. In order to create a trusting atmosphere in which mutual support is possible, we would like parents to participate regularly in the activities we offer. The work with parents in the day-care centers includes, among other things: the following:

• Parent evenings – parent information evenings 
• Parents meeting – thematic exchange 
• Parent-child afternoons 
• Spontaneous conversations 
• Parent talks with educational staff 
• Events/ joint celebrations

Projects

One focus of the pedagogical activity in our institutions is the project work. This includes both spontaneous and long-term planned projects that are oriented towards the needs and interests of the children. The pedagogical team develops the pedagogical concept and implements it in everyday practice.