"Lilli, are you coming? Breakfast is ready," calls Mom from downstairs. Lilli swallows. She has a big lump in her throat and isn't hungry at all. Because today is her first day at the new kindergarten. Her older brother Steven will be starting at a new school soon, but the first day of school is still a week away. "He's lucky!" thinks Lilli and goes downstairs into the kitchen.

Mom and Steven sit at the table. The sun shines in through the window and Lilli's big brother is already gobbling cornflakes from a bowl. "I'm not hungry at all!" says Lilli and slides onto her chair. "No way? That's impossible!" says Steven. "How can you not be hungry?" "But sweetheart, we already talked about the new kindergarten yesterday," says Mom. "I'll take you there and stay while you look around and get to know the other children. Please eat a small portion of muesli and then we'll go."

Half an hour later, when Mom and Lilli arrive at the kindergarten, Lilli is still a little scared. But her teacher Nina already looks pretty friendly. Nina shows Lilli her hook in the cloakroom and then takes her and Mom into the group room. "So, Lilli, I'll show you everything now and introduce you to the other children. Look, this is Imke, she is five years old and will help you a little at the beginning." Standing in front of Lilli is a girl who smiles at her kindly. "Hello Lilli. Look, we have almost the same hair color!" She holds one of her long red strands of hair up to Lilli's face. "That's true!" says Lilli and takes a deep breath. She immediately finds Imke very nice. Mom and Nina are still standing at the door talking to each other, but Imke pulls them further into the group room.

"We're playing vet right now," explains Imke. "Look, these are Milla and Elise. If you want, you can play along." "Are you the new girl?" asks blonde Milla. "Yes," answers Lilli, "my name is Lilli and I moved here a week ago because my dad has a new job." "Do you like animals?" asks Elise. She has a cuddly tiger in her arms. "I like big cats best. At the vet I'm the helper and I hold all the cats." "I like small animals, rabbits, hedgehogs and squirrels," explains Lilli. "Really? You like rabbits? Me too!" says Imke. "I got two real rabbits for my birthday, they're called Muckel and Stupsi."

Then Nina claps her hands. "Children, be quiet for a moment, because I want to say something!" she calls. "Come here, everyone. We'll make a circle of chairs now and I would like to introduce you to Lilli, our new child in the Star Group." The children get a chair and sit down in a circle around Nina. Lilli is allowed to sit between her mom and Imke. First Lilli talks a bit about herself and the move to the new house. She finds that quite difficult... but Mom helps a little and it's easier together anyway. Then everyone sings a song together and afterwards Nina reads a story aloud. Mom stays sitting in the circle the whole time and so Lilli slowly feels a bit better.

After the breakfast break they go out into the garden. Imke shows Lilli the slide, the swing and the playhouse. "But now this is us! This is our police station," says a boy in a red hat. "That's Matze, he always plays police," explains Imke. "Sometimes he's a bit wild, but he can also be very nice." Behind Matze stands a girl wearing red overalls with white dots on them. "You can't join, our gang is already full!" says Felicitas. "That's okay!" replies Imke and walks on with Lilli, "we wanted to look at the flowers and vegetable plants anyway."

In a corner of the garden there are a few beds. "Look Lilli, this is my friend Mali, you already saw her in the circle," says Imke and points to the girl who is watering the zucchini plants together with educator Saskia. "May we help water?" she asks then. "Sure, no problem," says Saskia and gives Lilli and Imke a small watering can. "We planted sunflowers over there," Mali tells them, "and radishes and carrots are growing over there." Lilli is amazed: in her old kindergarten there were no beds. So she is very happy, because she likes gardening.

After they have watered all the plants, the girls walk back toward the house with Saskia. "And how do you like it with us?" asks the educator. "Really great!" replies Lilli and goes to her mom, who has sat down on a bench next to the sandbox. "Tomorrow I can stay here by myself," Lilli says to her. "I have Imke, who helps me a little. And the other children are all pretty nice too." Lilli's mom smiles with relief: "That makes me happy, my darling! Shall we go home now?" Lilli nods and thus her first day at the new kindergarten comes to an end. She is already looking forward to tomorrow and to her new friends.