Explorers, inventors, creative wonders: 37 little gems gather every weekday at the “Bunte Haus” Protestant children’s home to drum, play and laugh to their heart’s content. Most people in Hallbergmoos will be familiar with the “Bunte Haus”, as the childcare facility run by the Munich Inner Mission is called. It looks like it was built from different colored Lego bricks. The daycare center is located in the quieter part of the Hallbergmoos industrial estate and was opened in 2014 specifically for MABP employees. The educational concept of the childcare facility is particularly approachable, as the teachers treat the children as equals and are very flexible – without any fixed groups, but in an open house.
“We currently have 37 children here, who we look after with a lot of love and attention. This is based on an open educational concept that is very responsive to the children’s needs. We want them to build new relationships at their own pace and get to know themselves, their needs and their wishes,” says Hencsi Markos-Albert, who has been a nursery teacher at the Bunte Haus since 2017.
Theater, role play, music: experience the daycare day with all your senses
“It starts with the fact that we don’t have groups here, but themed rooms – for example, a theater room, a role-play room, a learning workshop or a music and sensory room where they drum, rattle, play flutes and even build their own instruments,” says the 33-year-old. Every day, the children can choose exactly which room they want to spend their time in from this wide range of activities. “This allows us to respond to the children’s needs according to the situation,” explains the teacher.
At eye level with the children
The children of MABP employees and Hallbergmoos families mainly come to the Bunte Haus for childcare, but if there is more space, parents from the surrounding communities such as Neufahrn or Freising can also bring their children to the popular facility.
When asked why the Bunte Haus is so popular, Hencsi Markos-Albert answers with a laugh: “Because we are fun and treat the children as equals. We like to get involved with the children and the nonsense they come up with and are very open to their needs and wishes. This includes a certain concept, that of open work: it allows the children to pursue their interests and follow their curiosity under pedagogical guidance. “The children should learn that they can achieve positive things with their actions. That’s why we also encourage them to act independently and to do and decide as much as possible themselves,” explains the educator.
Spanish, Turkish, English: the “Colorful House” is international
The origins of the children and parents are just as multicultural as those of the five nursery nurses and two supplementary staff: “We have Turkish, Spanish, Hungarian and English staff here, who can also speak to the children in their different mother tongues, which are also very international,” says the nursery nurse, who reports that this is also related to the staff structure at the MABP. “Many new employees from all over Europe come to work here and that’s very nice. Our goal is comprehensive inclusion,” says the 33-year-old, “because we work according to the Christian guiding principle of ‘help in life’, which also includes welcoming all children into the community, regardless of religion, skin color and culture, so that they can find their place in society.”
Help beyond the daycare center
For the educators, Inner Mission Humanity means providing holistic support to parents in the event of problems or major challenges: “If they don’t have much money, for example, we help them to fill out all the forms for state aid. If there are problems that we can’t help with ourselves, we find suitable advice centers for the parents,” explains Hencsi Markos-Albert. Of course, educational help is just as much a part of the job for the Innere Mission nursery teachers: “For example, we also have problems that occur at home described to us in detail and try to resolve them in daycare and give the parents tips for home,” says the 33-year-old, for whom her job as a nursery teacher does not end at the nursery door, but goes far beyond it.
Images © Bunte Haus Hallbergmoos/Municipality of Hallbergmoos, Manfred Zentsch
