With the series “THE LECTURE DAY. University Professors Read for Kindergarten Kids” Since 2024, JGU´s Family Services Center has participated in the nationwide Reading Day. Professors from various institutes and departments of JGU switch from lecture to reading mode and read to children aged 5 and over in one of JGU’s lecture halls. With this “lecture,” we want to support both the cause of the nationwide Reading Day and reading itself, and take the opportunity to make children visible on campus and welcome them to the campus.
The next nationwide Reading Day will take place on November 20, 2026, with the theme “I read aloud – do you?”. Further information on our next event is expected to be available starting in late summer 2026.
The nationwide Reading Day 2024 took place on November 21, 2025, under the motto “Reading speaks your language!”. We cordially invited all children aged 5 and over to our reading:
THE LECTURE DAY. University Professors Read for Kindergarten Kids
Eric Carle: “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”
Our Book
Eric Carle: The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Gerstenberg-Verlag)
Even small caterpillars can be very hungry. That’s why the Very Hungry Caterpillar sets out to find something to eat – and succeeds. From Monday to Sunday, it eats its way page by page through a mountain of treats until it is finally full. Now is the time to build a cocoon, and after two weeks of waiting, a beautiful butterfly hatches from it.
Our University Professors
Our Kindergarten Kids
All children from the Campulino and Sprösslinge daycares, the Städtische Kita Unigelände, and all other children aged 5 and over were cordially invited.
Picture gallery
Lecture Day 2025 was accompanied by a ZDF editorial team. You can watch the report on the ZDF-heute page.
The nationwide Reading Day 2024 took place on November 15, 2024 under the motto “Vorlesen schafft Zukunft (Reading Creates Future)!”. We cordially invited all children of JGU employees and students to our reading:
THE LECTURE DAY. University Professors Read for Kindergarten Kids
Torben Kuhlmann: “ARMSTRONG. Die abenteuerliche Reise einer Maus zum Mond”
Our Book
Torben Kuhlmann: ARMSTRONG. Die abenteuerliche Reise einer Maus zum Mond (NordSüd-Verlag)
America in the 1950s. An inquisitive mouse observes the moon through a telescope every night, while its fellow mice have fallen for a highly unscientific cheese cult. Could the moon really be made of cheese? Inspired by the pioneering achievements of mouse aviation, the little mouse decides to get to the bottom of the question. It makes a big decision: It will be the first mouse to fly to the moon!
Our University Professors
Our Kindergarten Kids
Children from the kindergartens Campulino, Sprösslinge and the Municipal Kita on Campus as well as all children of JGU students and employees aged 5 and above are cordially invited.
Picture gallery
The nationwide Reading Day takes place every year on the third Friday in November as a joint initiative of the Stiftung Lesen, DIE ZEIT, and the Deutsche Bahn Stiftung Deutschland. The Reading Day aims to bring reading as an important foundation for education and future opportunities for children into the center of public attention. In “Mainz, the Most Publicly Effective Reading Capital”, numerous readings for children (and adults) also take place annually.
