The foundation of our approach

Children from four to twelve develop rapidly and each child develops in their own unique way. That’s why all our after-school care locations place a high priority on personal development. We have documented how we do this in our childcare program, ‘Wereldwijs’. This explains how we shape that focus and guidance and why we work like this.

From chilling out to creating

Children should be free to do what they feel like doing and what makes them feel good. Maybe taking time out alone or with friends, or together with a member of our childcare staff? They can also choose to make something. We challenge them by offering all kinds of materials and prepared activities, but in the end the children decide for themselves what they want to do that day. Creativity and fantasy are given free rein here and there’s always an appealing activity they can do.

Awesome, isn’t it?

Children can choose to work independently or together with childcare staff using our studio materials, including wood, clay, Ecoline, bricks, and paint. Our childcare staff teaches children how to work with the materials and the children are free to come up with their own ideas of what they want to make. What about a home-made key hanger using pyrography? Or cutting wood to size and gluing together a pen holder for your desk at home. Or making a piece of art from mosaics, splattering with Ecoline, or producing an object from soapstone?

Forever friends

Some beautiful friendships start at our after-school care and that’s important in developing your child’s identity. Holding your own as an individual in a larger group is an instructive, fun, and sometimes difficult process, and our childcare staff guides the children in this. Children in the after-school care age range want to be part of a group because that makes them feel safe to really develop themselves. They compare themselves to others and discover the effects of their behavior, so you can really see them grow!

More influence? More commitment!

Our after-school care is the place where your child feels and takes more responsibility. Children feel that they’re taken seriously and that adults have confidence in them, and children feel much more committed to a task if they can influence their own environment. That’s why we challenge them to come up with ideas about how we arrange things at our after-school care. For instance, they have a say in the design of the location’s activity program. They tell us what they want to do with their spare time and our childcare staff takes that into account as far as possible.

Forming an opinion

We’re always open to children’s ideas and initiatives.ë We listen, pose questions, are curious about what the children are thinking and feeling, and offer space for their own solutions. We ensure that our children can really participate in what goes on around them. This gives the children the opportunity to learn to form and express their own opinions.

Children’s meetings are cool

We hold a children’s meeting at the after-school care every quarter. Children can put themselves forward as representative and they can also act as adviser. We really want to know what they think about our regular and vacation activities, and the play and games on offer. We also want to hear what’s ‘going on’ at the location. Some fantastic initiatives were developed as a result of these meetings, including a temporary classroom where we play ‘school’ or a savings plan for a special Lego set. That’s fantastic, isn’t it?