Preschool in Copenhagen, for international families

Where the preschool years happen

Whatever they are called at home, the years between the pram and the school gate are arranged in Copenhagen like this:

1. 6 months to
   2 years 10 months
   vuggestue - or a dagpleje, a childminder at home

   What most families call daycare, nursery, crèche, playschool or early preschool. This is us.

2. 2 years 10 months
   to school
   børnehave

   What most families call preschool, kindergarten, nursery school, pre-K or kindy.

3. The August of the
   year they turn six
   0. klasse

   Reception, kindergarten in the American sense - the first school year.

Ages as Københavns Kommune states them, checked September 2026. If you came here with the word kindergarten in mind, the kindergarten page untangles that one word on its own.

The first half is us

Kidz R Os is a small, privately run vuggestue for children aged 6 months to 3 years, at Lyshøjgårdsvej 45 in Valby. The working language is English, the staff also speak Danish, and the children hear both all day. We are open on weekdays from 08:00 to 16:30, with every meal included.

There is room to play, a table to eat at, a quiet room for the afternoon sleep and a garden. At any moment there are some of us who cannot sit up yet and some who are nearly ready for børnehave, which turns out to be good for both ends. Small enough that when one of us goes quiet in a corner, somebody notices within the minute.

The fee is kr 12.700 a month with all meals included; København Kommune pays kr 8.909 of it back to you, so most families pay about kr 3.791 a month. It is the kommune's own subsidy for private childcare, and the fees page shows how it is claimed. Families come to us from Valby, Vesterbro, Sydhavn, Vanløse and Frederiksberg.

Come and stand in the room What it costs Apply for a place

What these years are for

Nobody is preparing a two-year-old for an exam. What the preschool years are for, here as anywhere, is the things that come before reading: being understood in two languages, finding the same door every morning, eating at a table with other people, sleeping in a room that is not home and waking up fine, and having somebody notice. They arrive in your arms and leave on their own feet - with opinions.

English at the front and Danish in the room is a good arrangement for that: the children hear both every day, and the move to a Danish børnehave at three is the normal next step rather than a leap.

The second half: a børnehave from three

We take children up to three. From 2 years 10 months a child in Copenhagen goes to a børnehave - a kommune one, applied for through Københavns Kommune's Pladsanvisning, a private one applied to directly, or an early-years class at one of the international schools. The kindergarten page sets out the three routes, and we are glad to point a family in the right direction; every child who leaves us makes this move.