Learning, meeting and growing together

KinderRijk’s annual seminar was held at De Meervaart in Amsterdam on 14 April. Childcare professionals gathered at this event to learn, share their experiences and meet up with each other. This year’s theme was: Everyone is seen.

Every child is given attention

Truly seeing children is the focal point in everything we do at KinderRijk. For this reason, the topic question during the seminar day was: what do you see, and how does this impact your role?

The day kicked off with a cheerful opening video featuring the director and KinderRijk characters. Wilma van Esch then took us through her talk, ‘I spy with my little eye. Well-being and engagement in a stimulating and inspiring environment’.

She showed us that a stimulating environment is about more than just the physical layout. The environment only truly works when you can see that children feel comfortable and engaged. Using relatable examples and stories, she discussed things that matter to children and how you can respond to this in practice.

In the topic of space she discussed how an environment can be laid out that encourages children to play, explore and develop — from babies through to after-school care age children.

Practical elaboration

During two rounds of breakout sessions, the childcare professionals were able to choose from a wide range of workshops, covering educational topics, creative activities as well as hands-on sessions. The focal elements in each session were sharing experience, practice and application.

Meeting and energy

Besides the seminar’s programme subjects, there was opportunity to meet up with each other. During lunch, ‘Samen Vitaal’ (fit together) was the leading topic. Activities such as the smoothie bikes got colleagues literally moving. The childcare professionals also got to share their personal priorities while working on Healthy Childcare.

A humorous conclusion

The day was closed with a dynamic performance by Berend Koen. It was a light-hearted end to a day full of inspiration and meeting up with each other. A day that combined learning, meeting and fun. This is how we continue to work on quality standards and development in childcare.