The paper presents a cooperative project of the Department of Education and Communication of the German Historical Museum (DHM) in Berlin and the Social Studies Education Department at the University of Siegen. The project has been running since the winter semester of 2012/13 and focuses on preschool children, who often have their own collections of things (Duncker, Kremling 2010) and have gained experience with the activity of collecting, which makes the collections and archives of the DHM accessible to them on that level. Since kindergarten and preschool groups from different districts of Berlin are invited to participate, very heterogeneous groups will visit the German Historical Museum. They get to know the museum exhibits and explore historical transformations in contrast to their own world. In order to make this possible, it is necessary to open and develop the exhibition designed for adults, German History in Images and Testimonies, for 5-year-old preschool children. Outcomes of the research are reflected in the context of the German subject Sachunterricht that involves basic primary school lessons in social sciences and promotes multi-perspective views in which the natural performative learning tendencies of children are incorporated. This study gives input on pedagogical approaches that combine early childhood education in museums with performative play-based learning processes. Many museums in Germany are tailored to specific groups of visitors, which reflects structural exclusion mechanisms within educational institutions. Children as visitors also indeed suffer unless they prove to be compatible with the staging of the museum. Even the few museums that explicitly address families and children in their exhibitions or visiting programs are sometimes not sufficiently adjusted to include contact zones. On the other hand, many presumably family-friendly social spaces oftentimes provide limited aspects of learning material. The following attempts to develop an education-oriented museum project aimed at preschool children; a learning environment based on preschool children within a large, permanent exhibition. Following Gerold Scholz (2010), who postulates that children from preschool to primary school age empathize and learn through relationships, it can be seen how relationships between groups of preschoolers and things in musuem exhibitions may arise. Concrete objects with sensory properties are required, as preschool children can draw nearer to their meanings through artistic expression and play (Isenberg, Jalongo 2000). In primary education, especially the Sachunterricht subject-teaching, explorative, childlike approaches to relationships are negotiated in performative learning form (Pech, Rauterberg 2007). The performative learning framework (Pech, Rauterberg 2008) emphasizes pedagogical entry points. This approach considers  impulses and questions of children as a starting point of learning and relates to research in childhood studies. This approach places less emphasis on skills and knowledge, and more emphasis on the reflexive support of children grappling with ideas individually. The first design considerations for the tour were created in reference to developments in the theory of early education and teaching of Sachunterricht, without an extensive empirical evaluation. Early on, small groups of children were included to act as a corrective measure against stations selected by adults. Through the children’s participation it was discovered what objects were of most interest, and these expressions of interest from children became the starting point for the play stations at selected locations in the exhibition. The final stations will be built in several exhibition areas. They will provide contact zones where reconstructed objects on display provide physical-sensual experiences, and where mimetic approaches, in the form of imitation games with personal expression and performance, are encouraged.

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