The vision of a precious childhood

The Ebeneser Foundation represents history of early childhood education and teacher education in Finland.
The aim of the foundation is to support early childhood education and parenting and preserve the cultural-historical
significance of kindergarten work. With a focus on its purpose, the foundation supports and advances research and
education in the early childhood education and participates in general educational activities. The foundation maintains
the Kindergarten Museum.

The Kindergarten Museum, maintained by the Ebeneser Foundation, was founded in 1998. The Kindergarten Museum is
the only professional museum in the Nordic region that preserves the kindergarten work tradition. The museum aims to maintain
a unique concept that focuses on early childhood. This concept is a part of our activities related to visitor-facing work and collection
policy choices. The museum has a collection policy, which was composed in 2017. The activities of the Kindergarten Museum are
defined and guided by the Museum Act of Finland and ethical rules for museum work by ICOM. The Kindergarten Museum has been
a member of the Finnish Museum Association since 2008.

The foundation and the museum aim to advance valuable childhood, honoring the foundations purposes regarding early childhood.
The previous translates to seeing childhood as equal, polyphonic, inclusive, communal and functional. Childhood can be seen as a realized,
lived and remembered childhood at different times in history, and as a childhood today and in the future. We want to build a bridge between
the childhoods of different eras of time and to participate in creating innovations inspired by history for the present and the future.