Pinocchio kindergarten celebrates anniversary party for everyone

Pinocchio Kindergarten in Dammstraße is celebrating its 60th birthday next week with a whole week of festivities. At the end on Friday, 12.06.2026, the doors will open at 3 pm for a party for everyone. In addition to children and families, former daycare children and staff, neighbors and all interested parties are expressly invited.

Kindergarten director Florian Thümmler and his deputy Petra Möbius have prepared a varied program with their team, including music, play stations and food and drink. The police and fire department will also be presenting themselves. An official opening will take place at 4 p.m., with a guided tour of the facility on the program at 5 p.m.

A look into the archive

In preparation for the celebration, the kindergarten director has compiled facts and photos from the early days. When the current building first opened its doors in 1966, it initially housed the "Tümplingstraße" East III crèche, says Thümmler. The building was constructed together with the entire site, which included the neighboring school and surrounding residential buildings. These new buildings were intended to further develop the Wenigenjena district.

The focus of the crèche at the time was on health education. The nursery nurses - who were on duty at the time wearing white dresses and hoods - were trained to specifically counteract early damage to the children's feet and spine. In 1980, the facility was given the honorary name "Werner Seelenbinder". The successful wrestler and resistance fighter against National Socialism had been executed in Brandenburg concentration camp.

Many changes after the political turnaround

With the political change, not only the name changed to "Pinocchio". The previous crèche was converted into a daycare center for children from seven months to school age. The drop in the birth rate in the early 1990s meant that the daycare center in Schulstraße was closed and integrated into "Pinocchio". Beate Eifler began her role as director and remained in this position until 2019.

Since 1994, the Pinocchio team has followed the so-called situational approach in its educational work, which was further developed into the situational approach in the years that followed.

"We still follow this approach today - we are now one of the few in Jena to do so,"

says Thümmler. In essence, this means taking up the children's everyday lives in kindergarten with all the topics they bring with them from home.

"It's about enabling the children to relive relevant situations in order to understand and change them,"

says Petra Möbius. Social issues also have an impact on the children's everyday lives and are therefore discussed together. Pinocchio was also one of the first facilities in Jena to be awarded the title of "movement-friendly daycare center" - continuously from 2007 to 2024.

Anniversary celebration and farewell party

With 111 children, the daycare center reached its highest occupancy rate in 2020. Today, the facility is a long way from these figures. As the number of births in Jena has been falling significantly since 2019, the city council decided to reduce the number of childcare places in Jena by 500 in 2023. The measures planned for the first phase of the reduction include the closure of the municipal "Pinocchio" kindergarten in summer 2027. All children who start school later will move to the neighboring Fröbelhaus next summer.

"It was a challenging time for us after the decision, with lots of questions,"

describes Thümmler. It took him and his team a while to adjust to the new situation. This makes it all the more important to celebrate the anniversary in style.

"A good finish is the be-all and end-all for a successful new start,"

says the manager.

The birthday celebration will therefore also be a farewell party. On 12.06.2026, historical photos and documents will be on display in a room. Former employees and families are cordially invited to bring their own pictures or to send or bring them to the kindergarten in advance. The Pinocchio team is looking forward to many visitors and an exchange of ideas.

Contact Kindergarten Pinocchio

Director Florian Thümmler
Tel. 0049 3641-443931
E-mail: kiga.pinocchio@jena.de