Concept - kindergruppe lauheide e

Our facility should be a place for living and learning together and giving the children orientation and security in a family atmosphere. The children are encouraged to develop into self-confident, independent and sociable personalities.

Picture of the child ↑

Each child brings their own experiences and individual skills to the community and is taken seriously with their needs. These can be practiced by everyone, taking into account the basic rules (consideration and respect).
The holistic development of the child (cognitive, emotional, social, sensory, motor) is very important to us.

The learning areas ↑

Emotional and social skills

Feelings form the tracks for the way of life. If they were laid out broadly and stably in childhood, then derailment is very unlikely. (Charmaine Liebertz)

Emotional competence is the ability to be aware of your feelings and, if necessary, to regulate them and to deal with negative feelings and conflict situations. This includes the ability to perceive and understand feelings in others (empathy).

The training of these skills is a focus of our work. The children experience security, security and trust in the day care center, because these are the most important foundations for the development of

Trust and security as the most important prerequisite for personal development
emotional security
Care and interest in the other children with curiosity and zest for action
Trust in your own abilities by experiencing new spaces of experience
Self-confidence and self-confidence by learning how to deal with successful experiences or overcoming initial failures
stable self-esteem and problem-solving strategies through emotional intelligence

Our primary educational goal is to learn social skills. Children look, observe, perceive, form opinions about what they have experienced. We are what they see: the educators, the parents, the other children – their entire environment.
The adults are role models for the children. Hence the behavior of the Adults and so that the educators also have great importance for the child: the way we respond to the child, talk to him, listen to him.
Through our relationship with the child, they learn important things about themselves and others, about negotiating social rules and dealing with conflicts.

Social behaviors are influenced by an accepting and loving atmosphere. Fundamental factors in the development of social skills are consideration, helpfulness, belonging to a group, intensive friendships.

We live the children in an appreciative atmosphere that offers them emotional security and reliability in dealing with their own feelings.
They experience how the adults also strive for the facility and thus experience attachment to theirs "habitat" and shared responsibility for one another. To promote the social skills of our children, our house with its many rooms and the "natural" Building a family home has an essential, supportive meaning.
Here the children can make their experiences in peace and clear groups, deal with each other, resolve conflicts and articulate wishes.
In these situations, we see ourselves as conflict clarifiers in the sense that we assist the children as helpers and advisers and develop solution strategies with them instead of clarifying the problems for them. The children often surprise us with their fascinatingly simple solutions.

Cognitive development

The development of cognitive skills, such as concentration, perception and memory, as well as the development and expansion of thinking takes place in many daily games. In this way, children reproduce what they have seen, heard and experienced in the game and thus consolidate their memory.
Child learning is not a passive process, but an active process of appropriation. Children deal with their environment from birth and look for explanations, interpretations and connections to open up the world. They are dependent on a stimulating learning environment that invites them to experiment and explore and in which they can choose their own approaches. Children learn what arouses their interest and link the new with what is already known in the brain.
We see the children remembering what they have experienced and imaginatively portraying it in stories and role plays. They are knights and fairies, horses and riders, pirates and princesses.

Motor development and movement education

Motor development is what we perceive most clearly on the outside in our children.
Promoting early childhood physical activity prevents children from developing motor deficits later. It is not just about running, climbing or gymnastics, but about diverse aspects of gross and fine motor skills and especially body awareness.
How do I hold the pen? Can I cut along a line, fold paper, glue or paint?
At the same time, many of these small movements are enormously important in order to be able to make experiences, to design and to put what develops in the head on paper. Motor skills are essential for communicating, showing something to others, getting involved.
Children have to move in order to develop healthily, to feel physically and mentally well, to find the balance between rest and movement, to make contact with others, to acquire objects and to be able to sensually perceive and understand their environment.

For this, children need versatile, daily exercise incentives.
The joy of movement is promoted by open spaces in which the children can move indoors and outdoors and are challenged to run, jump, crawl, run, climb, slide, swing and balance.

We want to support the children especially in free play, but also with targeted instruction in their joy of movement. In any weather there is the possibility to play in the outdoor area, where different play materials are available: roller skates, pedalo, stilts, vehicles and much more.

There is also a regular gymnastics lesson in the gym.

We pay attention to balanced phases of movement and rest in the daily routine and design our rooms so that it is possible to live out the urge to move.

language development

Language is the most important interpersonal communication medium. The promotion of language development is a central task for us. Of course, we are guided by the requirements of the Child Education Act (KIBIZ)
Language support is integrated into everyday life: through conversations at the table, while playing, handicrafts, reading, changing, coming and going. Everyday actions are accompanied by words and so language is made understandable.

We take our interlocutors seriously. Through eye contact when speaking, patience when listening, through a clear, understandable expression and through correct repetition (and not through improvement).
Children learn to speak by listening and imitation. They practice by using new words and sentences when they speak.
The children’s vocabulary increases as we challenge and encourage children to speak actively.
We make sure that the children let us and other children speak and listen to each other (patience).
An important practice area here are the seating circles, in which the children are given the opportunity to report on their weekends or other events.

In the seating circles we also play song, gossip, movement and finger games and make games that stimulate speaking, listening, asking and explaining.
We read to the children daily or look at picture books together to keep them interested books and to wake up literature and learn language in a quiet, cozy atmosphere.

Special support for children under 3 years ↑

The development of children is very different in the first years of life – close observation and responding to individual peculiarities is therefore particularly important in daycare.
Nevertheless, there are age-appropriate development steps with specific aspects that we are prepared for and deal with appropriately:
Children try to get an idea of themselves early on. You discover her "I", develop a self-concept or their own identity or personality.
The little ones need enough space and time for this. Therefore, on the one hand, special rest and retreat options are important to us, on the other hand, we only provide play material to a manageable extent so as not to overwhelm the children and consciously reduce stimuli.

The developing language ability is promoted above all by the very conscious speaking in the diverse everyday situations. Actions are repeatedly named and verbalized by the educators.
This process is supported by viewing picture books together, finger and hand gesture games and musical-rhythmic offers.

Since the little ones cannot fully verbalize their needs, a strong exchange with the parents is also important. In this way, the educators learn how the child expresses and communicates, how it expresses needs and what habits it has.

In addition, the educators closely monitor the children in order to better understand their individual body language. These own interpretations are then exchanged with the experiences of the parents.
Every new child has a permanent caregiver who protects, supports and consoles them. On this basis, it can then more easily establish further relationships in day-to-day nursery life.

Once the child has developed a relationship of trust with an educator, body awareness is also promoted through offers such as petting or relaxation games.

The basic requirement for the development of fine motor skills is the training of gross motor skills. Accordingly, this is in the focus, whereby the small children mainly use everyday objects and natural materials – special toys and utensils are provided for the child in a manageable manner.

Acclimatization and reorientation in the new day-care center year ↑

acclimation

Getting used to the new living space "Kita" takes place individually and gently. In this way, the children can get involved in the new situation and the naturally occurring fears can be adequately addressed.
The main challenge is the individual "Feel-good pace" to find out and respect the individual child.
On "emotional slumps" is dealt with as intensively as the special need, especially for the youngest, for protection, security, closeness and physical contact. Last but not least, it is important to adopt the rituals and rhythms familiar from home.
Successful acclimatization requires trust in children and adults.
Based on findings from attachment research, building the relationship between child and educator is the central aspect of settling in.
Transition processes can be coped with well when a child feels safe. Only when the child develops a stable, trusting relationship with the familiar educator can the parents be separated for the first time.
In order for this to happen, the teachers take a lot of time in the first weeks of the day-care center for the new children and for exchanging ideas with parents and colleagues. Specifically, this means, among other things, that

the individual reference teacher is continuously present for each new child,
individual delivery and collection times agreed and "spontaneous door and angel talks" can be organized,
At least three teachers are on duty during breakfast from lunch to lunch,
weekly team talks for one child and further case discussions if required.
Organizationally, the sufficient presence of caregivers is made possible by
the new children can be accommodated in the day care center, * the roster can be flexibly tailored to individual needs,
none of the teachers in the first four weeks of the new day in the daycare center
Take vacation,
everyday life in groups for the children familiar with the daycare
is designed by the other two teachers.

The gentle familiarization takes place through a "3-step model", which, however, is implemented flexibly and according to needs. The acclimatization takes place within 4 weeks or longer if necessary in the following phases:

Phase 1: the children are present until the end of the free spins period
Phase 2: the children take part in lunch
Phase 3: the children take part in the meals and have an afternoon nap in the daycare

The parents are only absent for a short time, the times are then gradually extended. They are not supposed to "sneak off", but leave the daycare center with a clear farewell – such as a ritual.

During the entire period of familiarization, the parents play a rather passive role in the day care center: they stay close, but do not actively participate in play situations.

Exchange with the new parents

All new parents naturally have a great need for information.
In order to make the start for the children and parents as pleasant as possible, there is an intensive exchange from the start:

1. Registration takes place via the daycare navigator of the city of Münster by January 31 of each year

After a pre-selection, personal discussions with the management and the admission committee take place (content: information on daily routine, parenting, concept)
* the decision on admission follows; the commitments will be made from February 8th. via the daycare navigator

2. Info talk for all new parents

shortly before the start of care
Contents: concrete individual agreements for the design of the familiarization phase

3. Initial conversation with the reference teacher

Contents: Exchange of information on the child’s first two years before entering daycare

The entry into the day care center marks the beginning of a new family phase for the new parents, but with a lot of tension, but usually also "normal" Worry is connected.
Both in the planned as well "spontaneous" Discussions with parents during the acclimatization phase are therefore actively addressed by the teachers in the parents’ potential fears.

The reference teachers offer the new parents enough space for regular discussions, among other things
* through their presence in bringing the children
* through direct access to the facility / caregiver during the first few weeks
* by calling parents on special occasions.

If the reference teacher is not present when you pick up, another teacher can provide information about the course of the day.

Reorientation for the children familiar with the day care center

With each new day of the daycare center, the composition of the entire group changes, new relationships, roles and group dynamics emerge.

Immediately after the holidays, the new group constellation can create feelings of insecurity and neglect.
The continuation of certain traditions and rituals offers the children a familiarity that enables them to start their new role gently.
Basically, there are many opportunities for children familiar with the daycare center to try out new roles and responsibilities.

The teachers take care of their needs for closeness and attention. They also make sure that feelings like jealousy can have their place in the new group constellations and that they can be handled well.

It is therefore important to create points of contact between the children of the different age groups. This can happen when changing or waking up. Even in concrete game situations, the little ones are integrated into the game with the big ones according to their abilities, in order to then develop opportunities for playing together.

Free spin ↑

"Children should play more than many children do today. Because if you play enough as long as you are small, then you carry treasures with you, which you can later use throughout your life. Then you know what it means to have a warm, secret world within you that gives you strength when life gets difficult. Whatever happens, whatever you experience, you have this world within you that you can hold onto." (Astrid Lindgren)

The children thread one during their kindergarten time "pearl necklace" with lots of beautiful, colorful and precious pearls – a particularly dazzling pearl for the children of our group of children is free play.

We see this priority as fulfilling part of our educational mission: our children "Game Room" to give in the truest sense of the word, to take children seriously in their ability and their need to engage in "purposeless game" to experience, to process life creatively and to create something new, to give time for play, experiments and imagination, as well as time for self-responsible action.

It is especially important at this time that children feel safe with themselves, that they know and feel what they want, and how they can do this – naturally also in discussions with others. In free play, the children have the opportunity to create a place in the group, to be able to choose and choose what they play and with whom, what space and what time they give their game, what they want to use of their potential in the game and can.

Children play on their own initiative, they construct and reconstruct social relationships in the game, they create the right conditions and behave as if the game was real.

The phenomenon of free play is its futility. What matters to the game is the action, not the result. Different skills, such as sensory perception, gross and fine motor skills, as well as care, interest, concentration, endurance, consideration, problem solving and much more "by the way" developed.

We don’t leave the children alone!

We are in active contact with the children and know which small groups play where and what.

We are also present to provide assistance when needed. We also observe what materials and possibilities the children need for their play and what needs to be changed to meet their needs.

The children receive guidance and help from us. We want to allow children to play intensely so that we don’t interfere with their play, and we withdraw when appropriate.

The many small rooms in the children’s group as well as the large, unspoilt outdoor area make us happy: What we have to do in many facilities with separate functional corners to meet the needs is natural for us. For climbing and romping, building and designing, painting and dressing up, for moving and contemplative – there are opportunities in the daycare for everything.

Dealing with dangers is as natural and relaxed as possible: "everyday risks" are part of growing up per se, we accompany the children responsibly. The little ones should also be able to make important experiences here, although obvious sources of danger are of course regularly investigated and eliminated:

A board member is responsible for the topic of security, an inspection is carried out annually by a security officer.
Dangerous objects (sharp knives, scissors, cleaning agents, etc.) are kept out of the reach of the little ones.
Danger areas are inaccessible to the little ones.

Gender-sensitive treatment ↑

We practice gender-sensitive interaction with our girls and boys in the daycare center. We understand the children as personalities – and not just as girls or boys.
We therefore offer learning and gaming experiences "wide", detached from gender stereotypes, to: beyond "the boys shoot on goal" or "the girls play mother-father-child".

Role-playing games, nature experiences, reading, handicrafts and crafts, cooking and romping: we make sure that all children can take advantage of the offers. We motivate you to try out the unfamiliar and break role models – also with ourselves!

Nevertheless, it is important to us to support the children in forming their identities as boys or girls. We take children’s interest in their own body, but also in the other
true gender and want to convey a positive attitude towards sexuality and physicality by:

Support children to perceive and express their own feelings
promote the development of a positive body feeling
Allow children their own physicality and intimacy and show them respectful, appreciative handling of others’ bodies
Encourage children to trust their own perceptions and that "No" Support for unwanted physical contact (demarcation) * Encourage children to reject border crossings, injuries and violence

In the implementation means that we integrate physical exercises into everyday life (massages, fantasy trips, plaster masks, body pictures), take children’s questions seriously and offer suitable materials (books on the human body, development of the child).

We set clear rules and limits for dealing with each other.

Health promotion ↑

The promotion of health is very important to us: it plays a central role in day-to-day daycare and is realized on the three levels of exercise, nutrition and care.

The children are motivated by our gymnastics groups to exercise games and motor exercises. On the other hand, our spatial environment already offers many incentives to move, which tempt you to do gymnastics, romp and try out in free play and our suggestions.

Organically grown vegetables are used for the catering, and the lunch meals are freshly prepared. The children also have the opportunity to help shape the menu and help with the cooking service. In this way, we create an awareness of healthy meals for the little ones, which also taste good.

As the parents are responsible for the shopping and cooking services, the children experience the appreciation given to the meals up close. The cook service, the educators and the children eat together so that the children are encouraged to eat. The joy of eating is always in the foreground, but this also includes that both adults and children "unknown" try.

Education in cleanliness and personal hygiene is also very important in daycare. The daily learning opportunities are used and help is given depending on the child’s level of development. For example, brushing your teeth after eating and washing your hands after using the toilet are natural rituals.

In addition to these specific aspects of funding, we support the development of one "healthy body and mind" through the holistic educational work in our facility.

Project work ↑

In the weeks leading up to the summer vacation, we immerse ourselves with the children over 45 weeks in a topic that is based on the children’s current interests and questions: How did the Indians live, or the pirates, or the dinosaurs, for example?
Or: how is life in the land of art and colors?
Or: Why is water wet and what lives and everything happens in the underwater world?
Or: what’s going on in the universe, in the world of sun and moon, of Milky Way and planets?
Or: Earth, water, fire, air, each have a fragrance?
Or: who am I and what defines me?

We have already carried out projects on all of these topics in which we go on an adventure-oriented, exciting journey of discovery with the children.

There is research and experimentation, handicrafts, notes, sings and reads, disguised and played a lot. If everyone is curious, then imagination and research, play and learning merge. Many questions arise and many answers are sought. And together with the children, we experience and experience more and more, dive deeper and deeper and in the end are real specialists:

Pirate specialists, color specialists, planet specialists, friendship specialists…. And as specialists, we will then stage a play on the subject with all children at our big summer party. Then beings from the land of colors appear, or fairy tale characters frolic. Exciting stories developed with the children are shown to a large audience on the magical day care center stage.
The project work includes the creation of the stage sets, the practicing of age-appropriate roles, as well as the handicrafts for the costumes.

The starting point of the projects is the orientation towards the life situation, the interests, wishes, needs and experiences of the children. In the project, the children experience their work as meaningful if the topic comes from their area of life.

As a result, you are involved in the selection of a subject area and jointly look for ideas and suggestions on the subject.

In one day in a daycare center, for example, we ran the jungle project with the children "Something is going on in the jungle!" by. Among other things, we learned a lot about the rainforest and its inhabitants. We sang jungle songs, got to know jungle animals and tried jungle fruits.

The second project had the topic "Friendship". We have a "Friendship table" designed in which the children can exchange secrets or reconcile themselves, have played trust games, painted a friendship stone and given it to our best friend, mastered tasks as a group and made a bonfire together.
The works created in the project are exhibited, hung up or brought home and enable everyone to remember the topic for a while.

One project deserves special mention: the annual theater project before the summer holidays! Every year the children perform a play at the summer festival. Together with the teachers, a piece is selected (or thought out) and rehearsed.
The project work includes the creation of the stage sets, the practice of age-appropriate roles, as well as the handicrafts for the costumes. Then fireflies appear at the summer party for dancing, a band of robbers storm the elf hill or a princess saves her people from the giants.