The museum focuses on Kästner's early years in Dresden and Leipzig, the connections between his work and children, and his relationship to the media.

In his autobiographical novel When I was a little Boy (Als ich ein kleiner Junge war) he refers to the Villa and many places in the vicinity.

The museum has a bronze sculpture by the Hungarian artist Mathyas Varga of one such remembered scene, Kästner as a boy perched on the wall, looking out into the bustling square and listening to the trams in Dresden.

[3][4] In fact, Erich Kästner's childhood memories of Villa Augustin served him as an anchor point for inspiration; the main characters of the film Anna Louise and Anton (Pünktchen und Anton) are named after Kästner's cousin Dora Augustin, nicknamed "little dots" (Pünktchen), and the adjacent Anton-Street (Antonstraße, Dresden).

[10] Installed on the ground floor, it takes up no more than a single 30-square-metre (320 sq ft) room, within which are thirteen mobile modules, each with drawers color-coded to signify an aspect of Erich Kästner's life and work.