Concept of Little Munchkins
Provider:
The Little Munchkins gGmbH, founded in February 2012, is the provider/operator.
Managing Director:
Lydia von Gilardi
State-certified early childhood educator (B.A.) | Specialist in integration and inclusion
Our closing times are approximately 25 working days a year.
- Christmas: approximately 1 week
- Easter: 1 week
- Summer Vacation: 2 weeks
- Autumn Break: 1 week
- Public Holidays and Bridge Days
- 1 - 2 team days for professional development and annual planning
Group Assignment
The division of the children into two groups each is based on age, gender balance, as well as the individual development and personality of the child. Cross-group childcare takes place in the morning hours from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM and in the afternoon hours from 2:30 PM to 5:00 PM. This allows for experiences in social structures of a mixed-age group and helps to maintain a familial atmosphere. During the core hours, which begin with the morning circle, the children are divided into age-specific groups. This ensures age-appropriate activities and outings, as well as the adjustment of the daily rhythm of the younger groups to, for example, shorter trips, an earlier lunch, and longer midday rests.
Daily Schedule
| 8:00 AM | The kindergarten opens, greeting of the children, breakfast snack, free playtime |
| 9:00 AM | Morning circle in the groups "How are you?" "What’s the weather like?", finger games, singing, and music… |
| 9:30 AM | Breakfast/fruit break with book reading |
| 10:00 AM | Educational offers and activities, project work, crafts, indoor play, playgrounds, excursions, etc. |
| 11:45 AM | Preparation for lunch, bathroom, toilet, diapers, washing |
| 12:00 PM | Healthy, vegetarian lunch, provided ready-to-eat by the food supplier "Gourmello" to all locations |
| 12:30 PM | Rest period, according to age and individual needs, children have the opportunity to sleep or rest |
| 2:15 PM | Afternoon snack, with book reading, fresh fruit and drinks are available all day |
| 3:00 PM | Free play in the kindergarten or in the garden, language playgroups, offers for preschoolers |
| 5:00 PM | Kindergarten closing time, children must be picked up by 5:00 PM |
Once a week, our external music educator, Fabian Fiedler from the "Musikseeräuber" music school, enriches the learning offer with early musical education. The kindergartens are also equipped with their own piano, and additional instruments such as guitar, violin, and drum are incorporated into the lessons.
Fridays are toy days at our facilities. On this day, children are allowed to bring their favorite toy. The groups start the day together with an open kindergarten breakfast followed by free playtime. At 10:00 AM, all children gather for a large morning circle where songs and finger plays are shared. A visit to the playground is scheduled afterwards.
In the cooler months from October to March, we use externally rented rooms on Fridays to offer children's dance and movement games. These activities support motor development and promote the physical activity of the children.
Educational Goals – Areas of Learning
The "Little Munchkins" organization aims to create a space for children that allows for loving and holistic support in all areas of life and development. It is our concern that the kindergartens offer a wealth of joyful experiences for both the children and all staff members.
Nature education supports us in this. Nowadays, nature experiences are no longer a matter of course for many people, especially in urban conurbations where direct and original contact with nature is often lacking. However, these encounters are essential for children. We allow our children extensive, regular, and imaginative access to nature. In every season, children experience nature up close in parks, on playgrounds, and in forests. The older group even spends two forest days a week from 9:00 AM to about 3:00 PM. Encounters with nature promote the healthy and holistic development of children. They offer experiences for all senses, diverse stimuli, motor challenges, impulses and suggestions for independent exploration, and a constantly changing yet always recurring environment.
With the help of changing seasons, holidays, and current kindergarten themes, we offer children a diverse range of topics. The Berlin Education Program defines many areas of education that we have firmly integrated into our daily kindergarten routine. For example, the education areas of movement, body, health and nutrition, language and communication, social, cultural and intercultural education, musical-aesthetic education, and mathematical-scientific education are actively involved and conveyed in an age-appropriate manner. The children participate actively by naturally contributing their interests, desired topics, curiosity, and questions. The educators pick up on these topics and integrate them into the children's daily lives.
Forest Days
Movement is healthy for both the body and soul. Children love to move and explore their environment in a natural and playful way. Places like parks, forests, or playgrounds offer unlimited play opportunities, which can be utilized daily with appropriate weatherproof clothing. For the older groups (3.5-6 years), the forest day begins on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:00 AM. Accompanied by three adults, they take public transport to a child-friendly forest area in the north of Berlin. The journey takes about half an hour. Each child carries their provisions for the day in a backpack. Upon arriving at the forest, the children start with a breakfast picnic, which serves both as a welcome ritual and as the basis for planning the day. To avoid dangers, the behavioral rules for staying in the forest are regularly discussed with the children. Depending on the particular forest area, the daily routine is determined. Possibilities include free play, hiking, explorations, group games, working with wood, or project work. At lunchtime, the children have another snack and then make their way back to the kindergarten.
On the forest days, the children have the opportunity to consciously experience nature, offering many advantages to the pedagogical work. The forest is a space that allows for discoveries, movements, and sensory experiences. The children learn about the habitats of native plants and animals. They test their abilities in the forest, are very active motorically, and develop growing independence, creativity, and imagination in dealing with natural materials.
By touching, hearing, seeing, and smelling, the children's sensory perceptions are strengthened, and both their gross and fine motor skills are promoted. The children learn through their experiences in nature.
Indoor – Outdoor Days
The days at our kindergarten are divided into indoor and outdoor days. This is deliberately designed so that the respective group staying in the kindergarten can use the entire premises for their pedagogical purposes. On winter days, the outdoor days can be shorter depending on the weather conditions.
The younger groups (1-3 years) have their outdoor days always on Mondays and Wednesdays. They also start at 9:00 AM and return for lunch. The little ones explore the immediate vicinity of the kindergarten and gradually train their traffic safety as well as the basic rules of road traffic. In the spring, when they have gained confidence and independence, the children also visit more distant places and use public transport.
To prepare our younger children for the transition to the older groups, the three-and-a-half-year-olds begin to wear light backpacks towards the end of the spring. Before the summer break, they have the opportunity several times, accompanied by the older children, to gain initial experience in the forest.
Language and Communication
The kindergartens of the Little Munchkins GmbH are bilingual facilities and primarily work with children whose family environment integrates the English language. The natural flow of language, the so-called immersion principle (immersing into the language), is very important in the daily routine of the kindergarten.
All actions and activities are linguistically accompanied in both English and German. The principle here is that one person speaks only one language with the children.
Multilingualism is incorporated as a natural companion into the pedagogical everyday life.
The morning circle with its songs, finger plays, storytelling rounds, and book presentations invites many language experiences where children can actively participate. Role-playing with and without hand puppets supports the language development of children. Feelings, intentions, and needs can be expressed. Children learn that words have an effect. They learn to use their words to establish communication. Examples include: “Can I please have the car!” or 'Do you want to swap, play, dance with me...?' or also being able to say 'No.'
The forest experiences are also actively linked to language experiences. The mix of joy, enthusiasm, and language means that children can remember and recount what they’ve experienced more clearly. Their lived joy (emotions) linked with language (mind-cognitive) makes the “learning experience” more easily retrievable.
Children are encouraged to exchange words in their actions. Language should be fun and is the key to interpersonal relationships. Developing the awareness that my counterpart is listening and understands my message through my words or reacts to it is an important experience for children. We encourage them through clear, understandable rules to use language for conflict resolution and to support it with gestures. "Stop that - I don't like it." "I would like to play this game with you."
We have a variety of books in English and German, which the educators are happy to read during snack time, during the rest period, or even during free play. Fairy tales, stories, picture books, and non-fiction books on various topics are often incorporated into project work. In the afternoons, parents can also be invited to reading circles to share their native language, culture, and values with us through books.
The language(s) of the children are observed daily. Given the multilingualism of the children and families, a particularly sensitive and individualized perspective is necessary to adjust the language development to the child's actual life circumstances. Children who are not familiar with German from home receive additional support in small language groups (2-3 children). Active participation of the parents is desired, supporting the child's school readiness in the German language. The closer a child gets to school readiness, the more there needs to be an exchange between educators and parents to ensure that the child understands and speaks the German language.
As we have a bilingual concept and cannot guarantee full-time support in the German language, it is important for parents to understand from the beginning that we can only try to ensure that the children gain confidence in the German ambient language by the time they start school through collaborative efforts. To support the success of the child's social integration into the German language and culture, parents are asked to, if possible, build social contacts outside the kindergarten that specifically promote the German language.
Due to the multilingualism of the children and families, a sensitive and individualized perspective is required to adjust language development to the actual living conditions of the child.
One Person, One Language is very well received by the children. Therefore, language promotion is naturally integrated into the daily routine. The children are divided into small groups in the morning, and various activities are offered in different educational areas, both in German and English. For children who need more knowledge of German, we try to ensure that they continuously participate in the weekly activities offered by the German educators. Educators also choose moments in the daily routine to play individually with the children or carry out an activity with a child. In team meetings, we evaluate and reflect on the children's language development. Parents are informed about the development throughout the year in handover conversations and parent-educator meetings.
Observations have shown that acquiring the German language can be a challenge in non-German households. Children of non-German origin usually need a little more time and a certain maturity from the age of 3 until the full language potential can be unfolded.
In some cases, we recommend visiting a speech therapist to support German language development. Language and socio-emotional development are closely related, and together with the parents, we consider what can individually best help the child in learning the German language.
Documentation
Documentation of work takes place on different levels and in various forms. The cloakroom provides educators and children the opportunity to display offers, projects, and artworks prominently. The daily educational work is updated every day together with the children.
Furthermore, educators take turns writing a monthly letter to the parents, reporting on past and ongoing projects. In addition to documenting parent conversations, each child has a language learning diary and index cards that enable educators to document as many developmental steps as possible. Special actions and moments in the daily kindergarten routine are captured photographically and shared with parents through displays or separate emails.
Thoughts on Childhood / Values and Mission Statement
Childhood should be experienced naturally, playfully, and actively, with all senses and an awareness of freedom and self-determination. A positive and natural development of the child’s self-esteem forms the basis for a happy and satisfied life. We focus on this and incorporate it into practical educational work and the accompaniment of children.
With a child's natural curiosity, which plays a significant role in everyday life, there should be experiences, explorations, discoveries, and experiments with all senses.
The world of children is full of opportunities to be discovered creatively and inquisitively.
The primary focus is to ensure that times outside and inside the kindergarten, as well as active phases and rest phases, alternate so that there is a constant change of movement and rest. In this way, the senses are stimulated evenly.
Structured daily routines, divided into free play, morning circles, group meetings, outdoor activities in the park and forest, and project work, provide the child with the necessary orientation and security in the kindergarten routine. The value of sharing, communal cooperation, and mutual respect for others are fundamental components in daily coexistence. The educators are aware of the responsible task of being an important reference and accompanying person for the child.
Intensive observations aimed at capturing the current needs and individual interests of the child are part of the daily tasks of educators. They support decision-making and offer solution suggestions, making social interaction easier for the child. The objective is the child’s well-being, allowing it to open up and share its views, ideas, and creations.
All educators at the kindergarten consider it important to act as role models for the children, provide them with security, and ensure loving care.