The best things to do in Amsterdam with kids run the gamut from exploring the world of microorganisms to admiring works by Banksy.
The Dutch like to have fun, and it’s an outlook that’s reflected in the vibrant streets of the Netherlands’ most visited city. This innate playfulness is woven into the Amsterdammers’ many museums, well-turned-out parks, and, most ebulliently, central Dam Square.
Discover the best things to do with kids in Amsterdam, whether you’re looking for a dose of family-friendly culture or simply want to find the best stroopwafel.
Gaze at Sunflowers at the Van Gogh Museum
Van Gogh Museum
Museums and kids can be like oil and water. This artistic city, however, has museums that frequently break the mold, and can be exciting for kids. One of those, which offers a magical combination of adult enjoyment alongside childish wonder, is the Van Gogh Museum.
Whether you feel the need to mention the artist’s ear situation is entirely up to you. However, the gore might be an unnecessary hook: Van Gogh’s vibrant, post-impressionist works are usually quite youth-friendly. Perhaps something in his tumultuous brushstrokes suggests an adult with their own big emotions.
And don’t worry about getting through all 700 of the artist’s works, or holding their attention as, in a voice cracking with emotion, you read Van Gogh’s letters to his brother. To take the pressure off, hop on one of the museum’s private family tours, book onto a children’s art workshop, or just let them dally at the interactive exhibits.
Explore Lively Jordaan
Jordaan
Once you’ve explained for the fifth time that there’s no such person as Michael Jordaan, it’s time for you and the kids to discover one of Amsterdam’s most engaging quarters.
Jordaan is a gentrified neighborhood in Amsterdam located to the west of the canal district. It’s a warren of buskers, fun little museums, and quirky cafés. As you explore the area, play a game of spotting the gable stones, or gevelstenen, on certain houses. These pictorial stone tablets would help the illiterate identify the doorway of the cobbler in this once working-class area.
Jordaan is also home to several well-known street markets. The Saturday Lindengracht food market is probably the most high-profile, and superb for free Gouda cheese samples. Find Electric Ladyland for a fluorescent art extravaganza or head to the waterside for the floating Woonbootmuseum houseboat.
Reward the children’s stamina with a slice of the revered apple pie at the Winkel43 café.
Cruise the Canal Ring
Canal cruise
Eventually, you have to get on those tranquil lanes of water that the Netherlands are known for. Not only for a breather from the bike bells and tram traffic but to observe the city from this unique and historic perspective.
To maximize your family’s dose of history, book a tour of the UNESCO-listed Canal Ring. This is the canal network’s heart, where you’ll cruise close to some of the city’s most handsomely gabled merchant houses.
The tour putters along the Singel Canal, once Amsterdam’s moat, when the city was the seed of the international metropolis it would become. You’ll pass the Anne Frank House on the Prinsengracht, and argue over which of the splendid mansions on the Golden Bend—formerly the address of the wealthiest merchants—that you’ll move into.
Play in the Vondelpark
Vondelpark
Amsterdam is known for its Vondelpark, featuring 120 acres of glorious open spaces, leafy copses, and smoothly paved tracks. Found in the Amsterdam-Zuid borough, it’s the city’s largest park, named for 17th-century playwright Joost van den Vondel.
During the era of Flower Power, the Vondelpark was seen as a place of absolute freedom, where “everything is allowed”. Whether that’s advice you share with your kids is up to you. Fortunately, there’s enough here to keep their minds from mischief.
Rent bikes to tick off the sculptures dotted around, such as Picasso’s exuberant “Fish”. Chase down an ice cream bike cart before burning off the sugar at the playground.
As befits a park named after a playwright, the Vondelpark has an open-air theater.
If you’re there on a Saturday afternoon in the summer, you can catch one of the free children’s shows, for up to age 12.
Find NEMO
NEMO Museum
One of those city institutions to which Amsterdam families owe many happy hours, the NEMO Science Museum is a dramatic verdigris hulk situated near the Central Station. Open since 1997, its five floors of interactive exhibits still feel entirely current.
The sci-fi panache of its exterior is the work of architect Renzo Piano and sets the tone for what’s within. The largest science museum in the country, NEMO is divided into five themes such as Technium, focused on modern tech, such as warehouse robots, and Energetica, focusing on renewable energy.
Energetica is located on the fifth-floor roof terrace, so let your kids become absorbed by the wind-operated sculptures as you take photos of the stunning views over the city. Expect to spend up to three hours if you’re taking in all five floors, and maybe longer if staying for lunch at the top-floor restaurant.
Read: Three Days in Amsterdam
Experience Animal Magnetism at ARTIS
ARTIS Royal Zoo
A visit to ARTIS Royal Zoo is one of the best things to do in Amsterdam with kids. Opened in 1838, ARTIS, as its elegant vintage buildings attest, is the country’s oldest zoo. Artis is found in the Plantage district, hugged by the Entrepotdok canal.
Within its expansive park-like grounds, some 900 animal species parade, preen, and provoke your children’s amazement and wonder. Elephants, lions, lemurs, and giraffes all dwell within ARTIS’s grounds. The zoo is also home to some wonderful tree specimens, including the city’s oldest oak which sprouted from an acorn in 1750.
After you’ve checked out the charismatic megafauna, take a look inside some of the museums. There’s Micropia, which opened in 2014 and focuses on charismatic microfauna; an aquarium; and the Planetarium, which launches the imagination of young visitors into space.
Although, if you’re with young kids, you might not make it very far past the petting zoo, found close to the main entrance.
Discover New Species at the Hortus Botanicus
Hortus Botanicus
The Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam is the city’s 17th-century botanical garden and one of the world’s oldest. It’s found close to the ARTIS Zoo in the Plantage district, an area of wide avenues and green spaces that the locals use as a sanctuary away from the lively and often crowded Amsterdam Centrum.
There’s an interesting origin story for the Hortus Botanicus: it was originally planted as a herb bank for use in medieval medicine. Another factoid that might buoy your children’s interest is that there’s a particular coffee plant housed in its stately greenhouses to which the entire South American coffee industry owes a great debt.
More likely your kids will be drawn to the dazzling visuals of the Butterfly Greenhouse or find joy in the spot-the-difference vegetation of the Three-Climate Glasshouse. It’s possible to join craft workshops at Hortus Botanicus and guided tours are available, and tailored for families.
Check Put Koons at the Moco
Moco Museum
Resembling a young wizard’s finishing school, Moco Museum Amsterdam is housed within the grand Villa Alsberg. The stained glass windows and exposed wooden beams of this architectural treasure belie the artistic boundary-pushing housed within. Moco is a museum with a focus on the greats of contemporary art.
If you’re able to convince your kids that you’re not about to abandon them at boarding school, they’ll be delighted by what they find inside: sardonic, in-your-face artworks by Banksy, Jeff Koons, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and more.
Temporary exhibitions can be found on the first floor, with previous editions covering subjects such as how the post-impressionist Van Gogh influenced Pop Art star Roy Lichtenstein. If your kids are still hungry for more by the time they spill outside, a free Moco app allows them to create a Digital Open Air Museum on the Museumplein.
Solve Mysteries at the Rijksmuseum
Rijksmuseum
Free for ages 18 and below, and with a vast range of artistic treasures, the Rijksmuseum is one of the best attractions in Amsterdam for kids.
And while its imposing reputation as a national heritage site—not to mention its visibly imposing neo-gothic exterior—might be initially off-putting to children, don’t let them talk you out of it.
Begin by downloading the app. The Rijksmuseum app is loaded with routes specially designed to keep the young engaged as you delve into the 8,000 artifacts within. There’s even an interactive game that allows you to solve mysteries in the museum, ideal for children aged seven and up.
Step Back in Time at the National Maritime Museum
National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum’s exhibits are a wonderful way for you and your children to brush up on the Dutch Golden Age.
This impressive, UNESCO-listed building appears as if it’s floating in the harbor. Once an HQ for the Dutch navy, it’s since been converted into a delicious architectural mash-up of the modern and antique, with a gorgeous, glass-topped courtyard.
Inside, you can hop between 50 works of art that chronologically chart the mercantile rise of the Dutch in the medieval era. The model ship collection is extensive and impressive, and there’s also a replica of a colonial-era ship moored outside with hammocks to swing in and cannons to operate.
Stroopwafel Hunt in De Pijp
Stroopwafel
One of the best things to do in Amsterdam with kids is hang out in the cool De Pijp neighborhood.
“The Latin Quarter”, as it’s also known, is a bright maze of boutiques, street markets, and activities ideal for families. Browse the kids’ clothes at shops like De Kleine Parade before popping next door to the kids’ cafe for hot cocoa and crafts.
Or walk the streets, looking for those named after famous painters. Stop to admire the goblin gargoyles at the Huise Met Kabouters, the House with the Goblins, and find your way into the Albert Cuypmarkt for sticky stroopwafels. Run off the sugar in the Sarphatipark, De Pijp’s manicured green heart is enclosed within the ranks of broad Dutch-style brownstones.
Read: What to Eat in Amsterdam
Experience Dam Square
Dam Square
Grand buildings box in Dam Square, the vibrant central square of Amsterdam. Most children love a good royal residence, so be sure to point out the Royal Palace, once the home of the Dutch Royals. Even shinier than royalty is a celebrity, so guide your kids into Madame Tussauds for the creepily real waxwork experience.
Often, however, Dam supplies its own entertainment. With this being just around the corner from the main train station, you have a steady stream of street performers attempting to catch the eye of new arrivals to this beautiful city. Grab a loaded hot dog at a street stall and, in the summer, enjoy the rides at the fun fairs that are set up here during the summer months.
Souvenir Shop at the Bloemenmarkt
Bloemenmarkt
Flowers are an essential part of Dutch culture. The floating Bloemenmarkt, the city’s most distinguished flower market, combines history and floral excess into one exciting canal-going package.
Peered down upon by the handsome merchants’ houses of the Singel Canal, the Bloemenmarkt is tufted with variegated tulips, bobbing narcissi, and even flowers carved out of wood. It’s been trading in this spot for over 150 years, originally as a place to receive tulip barges from out of town.
Probably the most fragrant and colorful place in the city, it’s a great place for kids to try out their photography skills. Let them select a seed packet as an affordable and uncrushable souvenir that will keep their trip to Amsterdam brightly in focus even when back home.
Learn About History at the Amsterdam Museum
Amsterdam Museum Photo by Martin Kraft on Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
Find your way close to the very heart of Amsterdam, and you’ll arrive at the entrance of the Amsterdam Museum.
It’s one of the best things to do in Amsterdam with kids who love history. The museum chronologically charts events in the city—both headline and esoteric—from the Middle Ages to the present day.
The exhibits, created from a collection of over 10,000 artifacts, have a playful feel. Amid the paintings and models, there are bicycles to ride and a bell-powered carillon you can listen to in the attic.
Buying a ticket on the H’ART Museum website gains you access to that high-powered art museum, the Amsterdam Museum, and the intriguing, unconventional Museum van de Geest, all in the same building.
Canal Ring
Show your kids all the colors and sights of this vivacious city. Browse Celebrity’s cruises to and from Amsterdam and plan your European family adventure.
