kinderinsel
Our Kita
In the neighborhood of the Nordbahnhof in the heart of Berlin, the colorful adventure world of Kinderinsel is anchored in a renovated old building.
We offer a familiar and loving education and care for 27 children aged twelve months to six years.
Despite its central location, our daycare center is situated in a quiet side street directly next to the water playground “Plansche” and a large children’s playground where we can be found almost every day.
Thanks to the S-Bahn connection, we also have the opportunity to use the nearby Humboldthain for forest and meadow excursions.
As colorful as our neighborhood is, so are we:
Our children and our team come from the most different corners of this world. We live diversity – linguistically and culturally. Every child is welcome here.
Our Philosophy
Explain to me and I forget.
Show me and I remember.
Let me do it and I understand.
Confucian Wisdom
In the Kinderinsel we see the child as an active learner who brings his or her own questions and interests in exploring the world. These questions and interests are based on the different age and developmental levels of the respective environment and the people moving in it, but can also be culturally conditioned.
For the Kinderinsel team, it is important that children’s education means giving them an active part in their learning and development processes. We want to provide the children with different spaces of experience in which they can try out and pursue their interests.
Experience
Since we care for children of different ages, the team works in two groups – the Crocodile group (up to 3 years) and the Fish group (from 3 to 6 years). This allows us to respond individually to the needs of the different age groups.
This is also reflected in our daily routine which, in addition to group-specific fixed rituals and a structured process, conveys a sense of security and safety to all the big and small Kinderinsel children.
Through rituals, events become predictable for children and they can adjust to them. However, there are also many opportunities for both groups to meet throughout the day, as we are convinced that commonalities and differences can be discovered in mixed-age encounters and play partnerships.
Nutrition
All meals such as breakfast, snack and lunch are freshly prepared by our cook in the daycare center. We make sure to use organic food. From time to time, we involve the older children in cooking situations in which they learn the processes involved in preparing meals: writing a shopping list, going to the supermarket to buy ingredients, preparing them in the kitchen and finally preparing the meal.
Exercise and Health
Children have a natural need for movement. We regularly integrate diverse forms of movement into our daily daycare routine – be it gross or fine motor processes, e.g. by building movement landscapes for gymnastics, romping, climbing and sliding, daily visits to the playground or a park, finger games, singing and movement games, as well as offering materials for kneading, grasping or touching. In our care room we have our own space for romping – with a climbing wall, climbing holds, gymnastic mat, trampoline and much more.
Music
Music is omnipresent in our everyday life at Kinderinsel. We work closely with the Fanny Hensel Music School. Every Tuesday, our children make music with music teacher Antje. They sing, try out instruments and learn basic rhythmic skills. On Thursdays, our older children dance with dance teacher Bettina.
Our Opening Hours
The Kinderinsel is open on Mondays and Wednesdays to Fridays from 8:00 to 17:00. On Tuesdays, the facility opens from 9:00 to 17:00, as the team meeting is held on that day.
The closing times of Kinderinsel will be announced in time for the start of the new kindergarten year and can be up to 25 days per year.
The team has two (closing) days per year at its disposal for internal training, spatial redesign, team-building measures, etc. These days are also announced in good time so that other care can be organized.
Pictures from Daycare Life
Our Team
The staff of the Kinderinsel consists of six pedagogical specialists and one housekeeper. A good supervision ratio, especially when working with our U3 children, is part of the philosophy of our facility in order to provide good educational and care work and to respond individually to the children.
In addition to our core team, we have a core of temporary staff who support us in times of vacation or illness. It is important to us in our pedagogical work that we can offer the children a good care ratio.
An appreciative and respectful team culture and cooperation are important to us.
In weekly team meetings we reflect on the group events and our pedagogical work, we design weekly plans, plan new projects and festivities.
Continuous training and further education are an integral part of our work, as this is the only way to further develop our staff’s areas of competence and to gather new scientific knowledge that can be incorporated into our pedagogical work.
We see ourselves as a training center for school interns and are happy to support suitable applicants in getting to know the profession of “educator”.
Anna (Educator)
Elodie (Educator)
Eva (Pedagogical Management)
Maika (Educator)
Mandy (Administrative Management)
Nicole (Educator)
Pidi (Educator)
Ahmet (Cleaning Staff)
Oliver (Cook)
Joana (Board Communication)
Lars (Board Organization)
Sandra (Board HR)
The Parent Initiative
T he Kinderinsel e.V. Inselnest has been a parent initiative since 2017 and is run by the parents on their own responsibility.
We are looking for families who want and are motivated to help shape the place where their children spend the day. The board work in our association is taken over by three to four parents every year.
Smaller repairs and handicrafts in our daycare center the organization of parties and excursions or the recruitment of new families we take over on our own.
There are no limits to the design possibilities in our daycare center.
