In our regional series we wrote about the Kraków day — when our Krasnoludki lulled the Wawel Dragon to sleep, made pretzels and got to know Kraków’s most important monuments. Later there was a Warsaw month, in which the children got to know their own capital. This time we took them to Toruń. From a five-year-old’s perspective — this was their third imagined journey through Poland. From a teacher’s perspective — another opportunity to show the child that Poland is not one city. Poland is a mosaic.
In this article we want to tell you why we chose Toruń as the next “journey”, what the Krasnoludki found out about this city, why gingerbreads are pedagogically more valuable than you might think, and how Nicolaus Copernicus reaches a child’s imagination.
Why Toruń
Toruń is, for a five-year-old, an ideal city to get to know. First — it has clear, easy-to-remember symbols: the Leaning Tower, gothic walls, bridges over the Vistula, Nicolaus Copernicus. Second — it has its own culinary speciality, extraordinarily attractive to children: Toruń gingerbreads. Third — it is a city on the UNESCO World Heritage List, so it is historically and culturally important. Fourth — and this may be the most important — Toruń is relatively close to Warsaw (two and a half hours by train), so for many families this is a city they can really go to.
The idea of a “virtual journey” to a Polish city is one of the most tested formats in our preschool. It has several pedagogical advantages:
— The children get to know the geography of their own country in a tangible way, not from a chart, but through specific images and tastes. — Respect for cultural diversity is built — Poland is not just one Warsaw. — Motivation for real travel arises — many families, after our Toruń day, actually went with their children to Toruń. — History, art, geography, cuisine all come together — in one day the child gets everything.
What actually happened on our Toruń Day
Introduction. In the morning each group found in their room a letter from a “Toruń dwarf” (Toruń has its own city dwarves, just like Wrocław). “Dear Krasnoludki, I invite you to Toruń. I will show you the Leaning Tower, tell you about Nicolaus Copernicus, and at the end we will bake gingerbreads together — the best in Poland. Yours, Pierniczek”.
The teacher’s first question: “who among you has ever been to Toruń?”. Most Krasnoludki raise their hands, though some a bit hesitantly. Some know Toruń from grandparents’ stories, others from a weekend with parents, still others will only hear about it for the first time today. “What did you see there?”. “The Tower!”. “The Leaning Tower!”. “And big bridges!”. So begins the conversation.
The Leaning Tower made of blocks. The first activity was to build the Leaning Tower. Each Krasnoludek received a set of blocks — ordinary, wooden, colourful — and was to build a tower that stands crookedly. Sounds simple? It isn’t. A tower that stands crookedly but does not fall — is genuinely a demanding engineering task. The weight has to be well distributed. Each block has to be placed slightly offset. Balance has to be understood.
Some Krasnoludki built and toppled. Built and toppled. Other Krasnoludki built classic, straight towers and called them crooked (which provoked debates: “no, yours is straight, look!”). Some Mędrki, the oldest, sometimes did this almost masterfully — they managed to build a tower tilted at a clearly visible angle but standing. For them this was an opportunity to learn physics through experience — without words of theory, but with a real understanding that weight must be distributed.
The city plan. The second activity — each Krasnoludek drew their own plan of the city. The teacher showed on a screen a photograph of Toruń from above, with the most important points: the Leaning Tower, the town hall, the bridges, the Vistula. The Krasnoludki drew on their sheets. Some did it very schematically, others added extra elements — trees, people, cats. This was an opportunity to learn spatial thinking and cartographic thinking — extraordinarily important developmental skills, rarely consciously trained in preschool.
Nicolaus Copernicus. Here Miss Justyna played a short, very simple story about Copernicus. “A long, long time ago, a boy was born named Mikołaj. He lived in Toruń. He liked to look at the stars at night. And he decided to find out how the world works. What did he discover? He discovered that it is not the Sun that goes around the Earth, but the Earth that goes around the Sun”. The Krasnoludki listened with open mouths. Some had this idea earlier from educational fairy tales. Others — were in shock. “Miss, are we all spinning?”. “Yes, sweetheart, we are all spinning. All the time”.
This is the first, primitive astronomy lesson — and it is for a five-year-old so deeply fascinating that some of our Krasnoludki then drew “the Earth turning around the Sun” at home for weeks afterwards.
The gingerbreads. The climax. Each group went in turn to our kitchen, where we were preparing gingerbread dough. The children measured flour, honey (real, by the spoon), spices (cinnamon, cloves, cardamom — the Krasnoludki sniffed each one separately), cocoa. They mixed, kneaded. They rolled out the slab. They cut with cookie cutters — into shapes of hearts, stars, letters, little trees. Each Krasnoludek cut out several gingerbreads.
And then — baking. The gingerbreads in the oven, the room fills with that incredible spice aroma that evokes all the warm memories of holidays. For the next half hour the Krasnoludki could not wait. Some kept asking “are they ready?”. Finally the gingerbreads came out. Each Krasnoludek got their own, cooled, in a paper bag, to take home.
And here came the most beautiful scene of the day. In the evening, when parents picked their children up from preschool, each of them proudly pulled out the paper bag: “Mum, I baked a gingerbread for you. It’s a Toruń gingerbread. Copernicus used to eat them”. Some Krasnoludki added: “remember, we are all spinning”.
What is built in a Krasnoludek’s head after Toruń Day
The concept of cities’ diversity. A child who earlier knew Warsaw and Kraków today got to know a third city. The understanding is being built that Poland is many cities — each with its own character, its own symbols, its own tastes. This is the foundation of later love of travel and openness to diversity.
First embodied astronomical concepts. A very simple Copernicus lesson — that we are all spinning around the Sun — is a revolutionary discovery for a five-year-old. Some Mędrki then for weeks tested their theories, placing torches on the floor and rotating plastic balls around them. This was their own, child’s version of science.
Engineering and physical concepts. Building the Leaning Tower is a statics lesson in a five-year-old’s version. Without formulas, without theory — with pure experience that weight must be distributed. It stays in the brain for years.
The taste of Poland. Toruń gingerbreads are a taste the child will remember. Every time they later in life encounter gingerbreads, their brain will automatically associate: “ah, that’s the taste from when we were learning about Toruń at preschool”. This is as deep a cultural rooting as is possible.
Pride in their own work. A Krasnoludek who has personally baked a gingerbread and given it to mum feels something very important: they are an agent. They can do something that gives joy to others. From such small moments of agency, an adult sense of self-worth is built.
Why gingerbreads are so pedagogically valuable
In our tradition we make gingerbreads literally at every occasion — holidays, birthdays, trips. Why? Because gingerbreads combine several elements rarely found together in another kitchen activity.
— Smell sensory input. Spices — cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamom — trigger strong sensory reactions in the child. Each spice smells different. The Krasnoludki, going by smell alone, navigated to each bowl, trying to guess what was what.
— Fine motor skills. Rolling out dough, cutting with cookie cutters, placing gingerbreads on a tray, decorating after baking — all of this trains the fingers. Cookie cutters require the pincer grip — the same one with which we later hold a pen.
— Patience. Baking in the oven — half an hour. Cooling — another half an hour. For a five-year-old an hour of waiting is very long. But they manage — because at the end there is delicious gingerbread, and it is a reward worth the patience.
— A connection with tradition. Toruń gingerbreads have been baked in Toruń since the 13th century. A child baking gingerbread today is continuing an action people did eight hundred years ago. This is an absolutely deep connection to Polish tradition.
— A gift for loved ones. The most beautiful part of gingerbread baking is that the Krasnoludek bakes not only for themselves, but for mum, dad, grandparents. “I baked this for you”. From such acts they learn giving.
What a parent can do at home
A home Toruń day is one of the simplest to organize. A few ideas:
— Bake gingerbreads. Simplest recipe: 500 g flour, 250 g honey, 1 egg, a teaspoon of baking soda, a spice blend (cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger). Mix, chill overnight, roll, cut, bake 8-10 minutes at 180 degrees. Hard to ruin.
— Read together about Nicolaus Copernicus. There are plenty of children’s books about Copernicus. “Why doesn’t the Sun walk across the sky?” — that is a question worth asking a five-year-old.
— Go to Toruń. Really. Two and a half hours by train from Warsaw. Toruń’s Old Town is one of the most beautiful monuments in Poland. A Krasnoludek who sees the Leaning Tower with their own eyes after our preschool day has a magical moment of closure.
— Build a leaning tower of blocks. A challenge that works for children from three to ten years old. At what angle should it tilt? Will it fall? Experiment.
— Show the spinning Earth. A globe and a torch are enough. Or a plastic ball and a torch. Show how the Earth rotates around the Sun. For a five-year-old this is one of the most magnificent astronomical experiments.
What stayed after our Toruń Day
Our client wrote in one of our recent reels: “The Krasnoludki once again proved that learning by experience and play tastes best”. This is a beautiful summary not only of the Toruń Day, but of our entire pedagogical philosophy. A child who learns about Copernicus through a fairy tale, about the Leaning Tower through blocks, and about Toruń through a gingerbread — learns these three things much more deeply than a child who has only heard of them from a chart.
And this is the meaning of our entire regional education in preschool. Poland, for our five-year-old, is an ever-growing collection of tastes, images, sounds and stories. From Kraków there are pretzels and the Wawel Dragon. From Warsaw there are mermaids and the Palace of Culture. From Toruń there are gingerbreads and Copernicus. From Poznań (soon!) there will be dumplings and goats. Each of these places is a fragment of the Polish mosaic that the child assembles in their head throughout the preschool years.
And in twenty years, when our Krasnoludki are parents and travel with their own children to Toruń, they will probably think the same thought every one of us thinks who remembers their childhood trips: “strange that I remember it so well”. But it will not be strange. It will be natural. Because well-designed preschool journeys stay in the head forever.