minionKIDS is for families looking for a warm, enriching place where their children can grow. Our goal is a simple one: happy children and parents who feel good about their choice. We know from our own experience how hard it can be for working parents to find child care that fits real life – which is why we build our hours around each family's needs, including parents on shift schedules, students, and single parents.
We care for children from birth through the preschool years. For the youngest ones especially, building a trusting relationship with their caregivers makes all the difference. For every age group, we offer a loving, engaging, and supportive place where children can play, learn, and come into their own.
What We Believe
We believe that every child – every person – is one of a kind. In our Kindertagespflege (licensed home-based child care), appreciation and respect guide everything we do. We honor each child's own boundaries and their self-directed learning, and we meet them as partners, with support and empathy.
A foundation of security, loving attention, and strong bonds with consistent caregivers shapes everything that comes after for a child. These basic needs are essential to their physical and mental growth.
A Day With Us
Routines and Rituals
Everyday life at minionKIDS gives children plenty of room to explore. Familiar routines and rituals give them something to count on and a sense of safety. Lively, active stretches alternate with quiet, restful ones – indoors and out, and thanks to our generous space, always in step with what the children need.
Mealtimes at minionKIDS
Balanced, kid-friendly food matters to us. We prepare our organic meals – breakfast, lunch, and an afternoon fruit break – fresh every day, and we accommodate vegetarian diets, religious and cultural preferences, and allergies. A shared mealtime rhyme is part of our routine, and water is always within reach for the children.
- Breakfast: 9:00 a.m.
- Lunch: 11:30 a.m.
- Fruit break: 3:00 p.m.
The children eat together and help set the table as much as they are able. We introduce them to silverware early on – and we gladly let them use their fingers, too, so they can experience their food with all their senses. The current breakfast and lunch menu is posted on the bulletin board next to the front door.
Rest and Quiet Time
Every child has their own sleeping spot here, set up with personal comforts like a favorite pillow or stuffed animal. Children can slip away to rest at their own rhythm; once they have settled in, they usually nap together after lunch. A caregiver is always close by during nap time.
Body Awareness
Diapering, using the toilet, and washing hands are important everyday experiences. We follow each child's lead in these moments and offer help wherever it is needed.
Communication and Language Development
Language is a key skill – for children it is the foundation of learning through conversation. We actively encourage them to talk, in ways such as:
- conversation circles and morning circle time
- putting their actions into words and talking them through together
- singing and rhyming
- looking at picture books together
- games chosen with language in mind
The Principles Behind Our Work
We start from the belief that children are capable from day one: they learn out of their own drive, curiosity, and interest, and in doing so they develop a lasting sense of wonder. One of our core tasks is to notice that curiosity, protect it, and help it grow. Learning happens in a setting built on attachment and security – once children feel at home, they join in everything we offer at their own pace.
For our qualified caregivers, these things matter most:
- giving children a secure attachment through loving attention – while respecting how much closeness or space each individual child needs
- setting learning in motion as supportive companions rather than instructors
- staying aware at all times that children learn by watching us
- respecting what makes each child an individual
- honoring the different religious and cultural backgrounds of the children and encouraging them to share them with one another
- pursuing regular training and reflecting on our work together as a team
Guided by the Hamburger Bildungsempfehlungen (Hamburg's early education guidelines), we support children as whole people and strengthen their sense of self, their social skills, their understanding of the world around them, and their ability to learn how to learn. And we give them plenty of time to work through their own learning in free play.
Settling In
A good start, guided by the Berliner Eingewöhnungsmodell (the Berlin settling-in model, a gradual transition supported by a parent), lays the groundwork for lasting trust between child, parents, and caregiver. It begins with an in-depth intake conversation, where we get to know what your child needs and plan the steps together.
During the two- to four-week settling-in period, a parent or another trusted person stays with the child, so that trust can build at the child's own pace. A first gentle goodbye on the third or fourth day gives us a sense of where things stand; from there, we slowly extend the time apart – always in close coordination with you. While you wait, there is a comfortable seating area with drinks for parents.