Kindertraum

Opening hours

Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Flexible day-care times upon request

Job vacancies

Free places

We currently still have places available in our daycare center. Please feel free to contact us.

Childcare provision

We care for children from 12 months of age until they start school in our nursery and preschool programs. In the year before they start school, the children attend our transition year program.

Educational offer

In our open-concept environment, children move about the building independently and choose their play, learning, and educational activities based on their interests. Our early childhood educators are always available to assist, support the children in their daily routines, and provide guidance and support as needed. This creates a wide range of opportunities for interaction and learning throughout the day.

Our facilities are designed according to the principles of Christel van Dieken’s Waterkant workshop pedagogy. This involves aesthetically designed, theme-specific experiential spaces where children can actively explore and create on their own. These include areas for nature and nature experiences, sensory experiences, building, artistic creation, dramatic play, and movement.

Breakfast and lunch are organized according to a free-flow model. Within a set time frame, the children decide for themselves when and with whom they would like to eat. This supports self-determination, everyday skills, and positive eating habits. Healthy, nutritious meals, fresh food throughout the day, and beverages are available to the children daily.

Our early childhood educators provide attentive and reliable support to the children. They are each assigned to specific educational areas: physical development, movement, and health; music; play; social behavior; norms and values; communication and language; construction; artistic expression; nature and ecology; natural science; mathematics; and technology. This ensures that all educational areas are consistently integrated into our daily routine and that parents have knowledgeable points of contact.

In the final year before starting school, the children participate in our preschool transition year. This takes place in an age-homogeneous group and offers targeted, age-appropriate activities, such as exploring the social environment, researching and experimenting, and strengthening independence and a love of learning.
The individual development of all children is documented and supported through educational and learning records.

Additional Educational Programs

• Field trips as an integral part of daily life
• Preschool transition year
• Learning to recognize and appreciate plants and nature; e.g., by helping to design the garden
• Overnight stay at the preschool for children in the elementary program
• Nutritious meals made primarily from certified organic ingredients
• Active support for language acquisition through targeted activities

The documentation and support of children’s development is carried out, among other things, through educational and learning stories. Each child has their own folder where these stories are kept.

Day-care centre team

At the Finkenau facilities, educational professionals from various fields work together. Housekeeping and cleaning staff are also an integral part of the team. In addition, we place special emphasis on providing qualified guidance to interns.

The team also receives support from volunteers and federal volunteers (Bundesfreiwillige).

During regular staff meetings, case studies are reviewed, and educational topics as well as conceptual and organizational matters are discussed. All educational professionals regularly attend professional development training.

Spatial layout

Completed in 2019, this daycare center offers plenty of space for children’s activities in a new 650-square-meter building.
Facilities:

• 5 bright and spacious activity rooms
• Art and creativity area
• Building and construction area
• Role-play, dance, and theater area
• Movement rooms
• Rest and reading area
• Nursery sleeping areas
• Hallways, which are also used to encourage physical activity
• Underfloor heating

Outdoor Area

Our large, nature-inspired outdoor area surrounds the daycare center in a U-shape and invites the children to move, play, and explore every day. A variety of climbing and balancing structures, several sandboxes, a nest swing, a playhouse with a slide, and a mud kitchen provide opportunities for motor skill development, creativity, and experiencing nature.

History

The Kindertraum daycare center has been in operation for 41 years and has been part of the Finkenau network since January 2017. Until 2019, approximately 20 children were cared for in a small space on Hirschgraben in Eilbek. In the spring of 2019, the center moved to its current location at Jacobipark. Since then, the daycare center has provided space for 80 children in the nursery and preschool programs.

Cooperation with parents

• Regular parents’ evenings in the individual groups
• Parents’ council
• Annual development meetings
• Conversations at drop-off and pick-up time
• Complaint management
• Support offered by internal advisory team