Introduction/specifics

Certification as a 'House of Little Scientists'

With the certification as a "House of Little Scientists" in May 2019, the foundation recognized our commitment to promoting early childhood education.

The House of Little Scientists foundation is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and offers a wide range of educational programs along with extensive scientific support from experts in various disciplines.

Our daycare center supports the children with great commitment in their everyday exploring and discovering. The research lab in the daycare allows children to enjoy investigating and discovering using numerous materials for observing, experimenting, matching, and sorting, including the EnBW energy box. There are also regular experiment sessions for all children aged two to school age. The award is motivation to continue sparking and fostering children's enthusiasm for mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, technology, and also topics around sustainability.

Rooms

LEARNING SPACES IN THE DAYCARE  
A room where children work, learn, and grow should never be purely static. It should adapt to the needs of its visitors. Thoughtfully designed spaces promote self-activity, orientation, communication, social interaction, physical experiences, and aesthetic sensibility. The rooms in our daycare are research and experimentation fields where children can develop a picture of themselves, others, and the world with all their senses.  
They span three floors of the building. In doing so, we use almost every square centimeter with the children. We work in a semi-open concept (home groups, cross-group work). There are group rooms, intensive rooms, free play areas, nooks, gym rooms, quiet rooms, function-specific rooms, learning spaces, movement rooms, experiment rooms… and they all have one thing in common: they adjust to the requirements.  
When it comes to designing spaces, the needs of the children and the educational impact of a room are what matter most. That's why our four group rooms can vary in their setup. What really counts is what each child needs, what the group needs, and what the educational staff need. Room design, furniture, and themed areas are arranged individually according to the group's requirements for their environment. The space shouldn't feel restrictive, it should inspire. One focus area of our facility is movement, which is why the free play area for our children stretches across all three hallways and the stairs. On the top floor, there’s the gym with an adjoining equipment room. The children can use it freely outside of structured room schedules. The equipment room is set up so that many materials are accessible and safe for the children, each with its own fixed place. This makes it easier for them to access the materials and to tidy up afterwards.

Additional Offerings

One of our most important cornerstones in educational work is portfolio work.  

The portfolio, a large folder, belongs to the child. It contains educational and learning stories,  

documentation of settling in, or transitions, as well as reviews of  

festivals, celebrations, and special activities.  

We place value on clarity, individuality, and  

child-friendly presentation.  

The children's portfolio folders are structured roughly the same way. Besides the welcome page at the beginning,  

the children also find a family page, an overview of  

their development during their time at the daycare,  

birthday pages, and individual projects or activities.  

We observe that the children in every group often and happily look through their portfolios,  

read them together with the educational staff, and recall past  

events.  

At the end of kindergarten, the respective key staff write a farewell letter, which is then filed into the portfolio and  given to the child after leaving. The child's portfolio should also be created and developed together with the parents.

Specifics

LANGUAGE SUPPORT

Since 2004, with financial support from the Baden-Württemberg State Foundation, we have been offering intensive language support in small groups three times a week.

Our educational program is continuously supervised by a specialist with additional training as a language educator. She is responsible for assessing language skills, creating support plans, and documentation. In regular exchange with teachers and parents, she discusses current observations and support possibilities. Parental involvement is encouraged and, if needed, integrated into the offerings of the language workshop.

Starting from the strengths that children bring in different areas, they can explore and acquire language. For this, they receive a variety of incentives. What is always important is the children's joy of speaking and expanding their vocabulary. If needed, areas such as grammar or phonological awareness can also become focus areas for support.