Words I heard during everyday life in German Kitas (facilities for early childhood care and education):
„We are a Kita, not a school!“
„Why this work with educational offers using pre-made templates and worksheets? Besides, working with templates and worksheets is old-fashioned and forbidden. Children learn through free play.“
„The Kita is not a school! Free play and self-directed learning are the focus in the Kita facility.“
„Why always offer something? The children should learn to entertain themselves or to play with other children together!“
„Why jumping at every child’s request and making special educational offers? Children need to learn to play alone or together with other children… Children also need to learn to wait!“ While at that time I was spontaneously preparing an educational activity (using insufficient available materials) for a group of several children ages 1 to 3, the children who saw it shouted: „I want, too!“, „Me too!“, „I want to join in too!“… The children “worked” then joyfully and enthusiastically, each according to his age-appropriate skills. The colleague present – sitting on the floor carpet – “looked after” the rest of the children: „Go play! I don’t understand this. You must learn to entertain by yourself or to play with the other children together! We’re not a one-on-one childcare.“ But the small children obviously didn’t want to “play freely” and kept coming back to the worktables. They signalled, crying, verbally, with facial expressions, and with gestures (depending on their developmental stage), that they wanted to participate. The “early childhood specialist” present: „We are not a one-on-one childcare! You must learn to wait!“
„The job of a Kita is not to prepare children for school. It’s not the job of a Kita to teach children how to hold pencils. It’s also not the job of a Kita facility to teach children how to cut with scissors. Those are the jobs of the parents and the school.“
As so often – back then – I was shocked. Statements that illustrate “pedagogical” thinking and action.
Where had I ended up professionally? Bittersweet…
At the same time, I experienced another – for me heartbreaking – reality in German Kitas.
Why shouldn’t we use this time to systematically promote school-relevant precursor skills of children – in addition to free play and self-directed learning? This is my perspective and my professional understanding of early childhood educational work.
This is how the idea for my private early childhood learning program was born; through professional reflexion about educational courses for children ages 1,5–5 in Saarbrücken. I owe The Happinest idea to experiences and memories from previous Kita engagements, which convinced me: young children need more than just supervision and care. They need “brain-food” that nurtures the further development of their abilities.
Children want to “work”, acquire knowledge, learn something and then be able to do it better.
