Caption: Daytime rest was part of everyday life in kindergartens 50 years ago.

The director of the Reimankallio kindergarten, which opened in 1972, was elected Silja LempiäinenThere was a shortage of childminders at the time, so to fill the positions, employees were given crash training in kindergarten childminding.

The private Reimankallio daycare center was transferred to the city in 1979. The employees also transferred to the city at that time. During his career, Lempiäinen saw many changes in the daycare center's daily life.

– I have been retired for 14 years and have often looked back on the day-to-day life in the kindergarten afterwards. In the 1970s, there were crafts and singing every day, and of course there was outdoor play, daytime rest and largely the same activities as today. However, the activities became more diverse over the years. More time was spent on planning them and the entire staff participated in the planning, Lempiäinen recalls.

A special feature of the Reimankallio daycare center was that the daycare places were intended for the children of Reima employees. The daycare center was located on the ground floor of one of the Reimankallio apartment buildings. Later, the daycare center moved to the Jylli property.

– During our time at the private daycare, we always got our food from the Reima canteen. We also organized stalls, for example, which was different from municipal daycares.

The first preschool experiments in Finland were carried out in the early 1970s. The Reimankallio daycare center did not have an actual preschool, but small playtimes were held, where tasks were carried out to develop hand motor skills, for example.

Text: Tytti Wallenius

Photo: Leena Perälä / Kankaanpää City Museum photo collection

The article has been published in collaboration with the Kankaanpää Region.