Happy Birthday Dear Schatzkiste

Tanay’s crèche (kita) is named Schatzkiste. It literally means treasure chest. All the kids (around 40 between the ages 0-6 years) are considered and treated as the most important people on this earth and I love this very fact about it. A crèche in Germany definitely has a different approach when it comes to dealing with kids and their routine in the crèche. There are a lot of activities planned on a weekly basis and the overall development of the kids is ensured. They are taken for shopping to a nearby super market; they are taken to the nearby woods to play in the sand and the leaves. They cook together on some days, they have a music hour on every Friday, where an external music teacher comes to teach music to them and they sing different songs, dance and play musical instruments. So, my point in writing this write-up is to narrate the birthday celebrations on this very wonderful Schatzkiste. It was the 5^th year birthday of the crèche and it was celebrated with great aplomb.

Invitation cards were distributed to the parents who enrolled themselves for the brunch on the last Saturday in the month of April and all the care-takers were excited and eager and they began the preparations in full swing. Parents and the kids gathered around 9:30 am on that day and brunch was served. While we all ate, the plan for the day was told to us and we were asked to form a group of 2 families each and then play a game where we were going to explore the 5 stages of the development of the crèche in the past 5 years. We formed a group with Tanay’ friends Nora’s family and we set out for the adventure together.

We first went to a room where we clicked a family photo. Tanay was not interested in it actually, a book of pictures caught his attention and we had to bring him to us for the photo. That was the first stage of the adventure. Next was a room where different shapes and sizes of play bricks were kept and we had to build a structure which we imagined the Schatzkiste to be. After the whistle was blown, we quickly assembled some walls and doors and fans and benches and formed a beautiful structure, our idea of the Schatzkiste Kita. This was the second stage. The third stage was named Experiment where children of higher ages, e.g. 4-6 were asked to make a paper structure and then the significance of it was explained to them. Then they were asked to apply their imagination to that very paper structure and the different ideas that came out from those kids were really amazing. The next stage was called touch. 5 different tubs were kept and there were 5 different things kept in them. E.g. one tub had sand, one had silk, one had leaves, and one had stones. The kids had to walk in those tubs to get to know the difference between these nature elements. I walked in it with Tanay in my hands as he was not ready to do it. I felt like I have gone back to my nursery days. And then the last stage was planting a tree each by the kids themselves. Tanay loves to play in the mud and sand and he was more than happy to put sunflower seeds in the mud pot and I wrote his name on it and now everyday they will water it and see it grow, how wonderful, isn’t it? We also got a sneak peek into the music hour, where we sang German songs and played instruments and danced with the music teacher and the kids. The kids and the parents equally enjoyed it!

This took an hour or so and then we all assembled in the garden area to get to know the winner. Obviously, everybody who participated was winner. We all sang the birthday song ‘Happy Birthday dear Schatzkiste’ and all the kids joined in. Then we had collected money to buy presents for each group there. The requirements were already communicated to the Parents Council by the caretakers and the two representatives of the Parents Council gave away the presents to the respective groups, which could be immediately used by the kids. The parent’s representatives also thanked the management and the caretakers and we all had one same feeling, of adoration and respect towards all of them! Their patience and their unconditional love towards each and every kid is just unassuming. They don’t get angry on the kids, but they have their own ways of meting the right punishment to the kids who misbehave and do not comply even after repeated warnings. We parents are able to give our 100 percent in office because we know that our kids are taken care of in an extremely professional manner.   

We then dispersed for lunch and caught on with Tanay’s friend’s parents and had a nice and friendly chat with them. The kids were playing around and it was very endearing when the little German friend of Tanay offered a cake piece in her hand to him. Tanay was extremely happy, he took a bite, said thank you and they both laughed loudly displaying their cute little teeth here and there.

This effort of bringing the parents and the kids in a quarterly brunch event is really well appreciated by all the parents and everybody makes an effort to come and attend and socialize and get to know each other a little better.