How do Kita and Kindergarten work for expat families in Germany?

German childcare splits roughly into three phases. Krippe covers ages 0–3, Kindergarten covers ages 3–6, and both are usually grouped under the umbrella term Kita in everyday speech. From the child's first birthday, there is a legal entitlement (Rechtsanspruch) to a publicly funded place — but the right is to a place somewhere in your municipality, not necessarily close to home or in your first-choice Kita.

Applications usually run through municipal portals (e.g. kita-navigator.berlin.de in Berlin) or directly with individual Kitas. Waiting lists are long in big cities and competitive areas, which is why many parents apply during pregnancy. Private and bilingual Kitas sit alongside the public ones, usually charge more, and often have shorter waits.

Costs depend strongly on the Bundesland. Berlin, Hamburg and several others have made public Kita free; elsewhere fees are income-scaled and typically fall in the €100–400 per month range, plus a meals cost of around €60–100. Subsidies and full waivers are available for lower incomes.

From age 6, children move to Grundschule — free, publicly funded and nearly universal. Catchment areas (Einzugsgebiete) usually determine the school, so your Anmeldung address effectively chooses your primary school. Schools then run for four years before splitting into the secondary tracks (Gymnasium, Realschule, Gesamtschule) — a structure worth understanding ahead of time, because the transition out of Grundschule happens early in many Bundesländer.