Kita at the Freie Universität Berlin

Like all day care centers in Berlin, we work on the basis of the Berlin Education Program (Berliner Bildungsprogramm). Our pedagogical focus lies on health education. According to the Ottawa Charter for Health promotion, our understanding of health includes physical, mental, and social well-being: “A child who feels comfortable in their own body and who feels accepted, respected and valued in their family and within the environment of the day care center will feel curious and  explorative about the diverse challenges and stimulations of their environment .”

This salutogenetic understanding of health is the basis of our pedagogical concept:

• We prepare breakfast and afternoon snacks together with the children. Apart from that, we pay attention to a well-balanced, healthy diet. The children always have access to drinks and a fruit and vegetable plate.
• The day care children have the opportunity to take their midday nap in the pram on the terrace in the fresh air.
• We regularly go to the garden or explore the surroundings in almost any weather condition.
• All areas of our day care center have well-equipped play and sports rooms, which provide the children with various opportunities for movement and tactile experiences.
• Once a week, the children visit the large gym of Freie Universität.

Our success proves us right. In 2023, we were awarded the quality seal for day-care centres "Kita mit Biss" (nutrition and education programme to create an everyday day-care centre that promotes oral health).

With the help of the Stiftung Kinder forschen, which operates throughout Germany, the aim is to enable children in as many daycare centers and elementary school as possible to encounter mathematics, computer science, natural sciences and technology and issues of sustainability on a daily basis. The educational staff at the Kita an der FU have taken part in various training courses on those topics and have carried out project-related activities with children, which will continue to be implemented permanently in everyday educational activities.
As a result, the daycare center at our FU has received the "Kinder forschen" ("Children do research") award.

In order to meet the various needs of the children, we have created different areas where they have the opportunity to rest and relax, to move around, to be creative and do roleplaying.

Our well-equipped learning workshop can be visited by all children from 4 years on. The curiosity of the children is aroused by the design of the rooms and a wide range of materials. They are challenged to try out something new and perhaps unusual, to research and to find answers to their questions. Our learning workshop works according to the principle of “discovering learning”.

The large, versatile outdoor area invites the children to play, climb, rock, balance, slide, splash around and be creative.