The Waldorfkindergarten is one of the oldest projects at the Forum, and it came about the way almost everything here did: out of a need. In 1980 there were four children at the Forum, soon there were more, and the only Waldorf kindergarten in the city was far away in Zehlendorf. So the parents organised a series of talks in the large Forum hall, the response was overwhelming, and in 1981 a group of parents, joined by families from the neighbourhood, began to found a kindergarten of their own.
A shop unit was found and converted for kindergarten use in a year of self-build: building, sewing, painting. That founding has become a fixed institution, today run by Forum Kreuzberg e.V., with rooms at Eisenbahnstraße 21 and Köpenicker Straße 174, right among workshops, theatre and courtyards.
Pedagogy
The work follows Waldorf pedagogy: a firm daily and weekly rhythm, seasonal festivals, natural materials, free play. The courtyards of the Forum are part of everyday life, and the short distances to the theatre, the studios and the crafts make the kindergarten a place where children see how things are made. Over the years the Waldorfschule Kreuzberg and the Berlin college for early years teachers were also set in motion from this kindergarten.
Founded1981 out of a parents‘ initiative
SponsorForum Kreuzberg e.V.
PlacesEisenbahnstr. 21 and Köpenicker Str. 174
PedagogyWaldorf: rhythm, seasonal festivals, natural materials
Contactthrough the association office, buchhaltung@forumkreuzberg.de