Our interior and play equipment: looking through the eyes of your child

Walk into any of the groups and you’ll see clearly marked corners and play equipment everywhere. They invite you to investigate and play! We’d be delighted to tell you how we use our furniture at the locations. Like the play equipment, we ensure that this grows with your child.

Everything at a child’s height

Low furniture opens up a whole new world. That’s why some furniture is low at all our locations. Low chairs, low tables, and cupboards with toys at eye level. The children can then collect toys and play equipment themselves, which promotes their independence.

We don’t use a mirror to make the room look bigger. It’s a play and discovery item.

Chantal van den Houten

Location manager at Kindergarden

Climbing at their own level

Children have different developmental needs at each age. Babies try to roll over, infants want to climb and clamber and toddlers like to test their boundaries. All our group rooms are set up to meet these needs. That’s why you’ll find a climbing element in each room, adapted to the group’s developmental phase. The need to climb is, after all, part of each child’s natural physical development. A baby will try to climb on something, crawl through something, or use things to pull themselves up. Infants start to climb upwards and toddlers climb, jump, and clamber. Allowing children to clamber around a lot and move around freely also enables them to practice their sense of balance. Our locations’ interior and furnishing contribute to your child’s development.

In our approach, personal attention and a warm welcome are central, for all children and their parents at Kindergarden, from online registration to the settling-in period and starting in the group.

Patricia Schat

Customer Relationship Manager

Sitting (and pulling up) on the baby group

The youngest can pull themself up and the older children can easily sit at the table themselves.
Sitting on the infant group

Multifunctional chairs for toddlers, because, conversely, they are ideal collection boxes.
Sitting (and playing) at the toddler group

The table and chairs are used by the toddlers for lunch as well as for play.
Sitting on the older toddler group

Ideal just to be able to sit down at the table at your own height, even for the older children.

Diaper changing, playing, eating

It’s essential that children have space to move freely. Here are a few examples of how we offer your child space…

Flat diaper changing mats

We change diapers on flat changing mats without raised edges. This enables our childcare staff to follow your child’s movements and your child isn’t restricted by the raised edges.

Flat, hard play mat

Our play mat for the baby group is made from somewhat harder material. This provides a flat surface, which helps your child develop and move from the supine position. It helps your baby experience and practice moving (grasping, turning, walking on all fours, crawling).

Baby bouncers? On our laps!

Our locations don’t use baby bouncers. These don’t offer your baby that vital freedom of movement. Our childcare staff take your baby on their laps for feeding, move with your baby during feeding, and enjoy a nice ‘moment of closeness’ with your baby. Children of this age really need a lot of physical contact.

Playing themselves

Children will learn most from each other and from our childcare staff in a well-prepared and furnished space. We call this an educational environment. That’s why we focus on our staff, the furniture, and the rooms. We look through the eyes of your child when designing these, so your child can pursue their own interests and start investigating independently without always needing support from our childcare staff. Our children learn to make their own choices earlier and they gain self-confidence.

Setting an example for each other

The groups at our locations have been structured in such a way that children stimulate each other. When a child takes a ‘task’ from the cupboard to work on, this ‘activates’ another child to do the same; they imitate each other. Selecting and playing at the table with materials you picked yourself and tidying these away are ways that children set an example for each other.

Encouragement

Kindergarden staff encourages our children to discover how to use the materials and space, observing and redirecting the children where necessary. They explain things and help the children resolve issues themselves.

We create the conditions

The group room itself, the different corners and spaces each with its specific function – everything is well-prepared. Whenever you enter one of our baby, infant, toddler, and older toddler groups you’ll find clearly marked corners, and toys and other play equipment that are adapted to the children’s needs and developmental stages. As the children grow and develop, so does the size of the furniture and educational level of the toys we offer. This stimulates the natural creativity within each child. We’re always working hard to create the conditions that encourage children, and therefore your child as well, to play together and interact.

What is our approach based on at our daycare centers?

Each child needs attention and guidance to develop. In ‘Wereldwijs’, our childcare program, we explain how we offer that attention and guidance and why we work like this. As we have developed, detailed, and recorded everything in a well-thought-out way, ‘Wereldwijs’ offers the perfect guidance for our childcare staff. This program ensures that, as parent, you know which development points we will be focusing on. In a nutshell, this involves providing an educational environment entirely aligned to your child’s experiences. We also provide a clear daily routine and optimal group structure.

Why horizontal groups at Kindergarden childcare?

Did you know that a baby plays and learns with its whole body? Preferably in a calm environment? And that infants need to burn energy to develop strength and coordination? And toddlers? Yes, they mainly want to do everything by themselves. They learn to share through play and gradually start to understand their own responsibilities. In a nutshell: everything in every child’s world makes an impression - and everything also has influence. And that’s why our locations use horizontal groups.