Even on difficult topics – like World War 2
By Eileen Ogintz
Tribune Content Agency
Taking the Kids
Get your magic carpet ready! We’re going to do a little time travel through several centuries at museums in Amsterdam that really know how to engage kids, whether we are talking art or history.
Amsterdam is celebrating its 750th anniversary this year with many special events, neighborhood festivals, street parties, concerts and exhibits, culminating on Oct. 27 when the city’s actual birthday will be celebrated.
We visited in the middle of the summer just before embarking on an AMAWaterways river cruise on the Rhine River, spending a happy weekend at the Hilton Amsterdam in the Zuid district, a great neighborhood ideal for strolling, eating (there is a great Saturday farmer’s market) and home to the iconic Roberto’s Restaurant. Nearby outdoors in green space is the biennale ARTZUID where 60 larger-than-life sculptures are being exhibited until September 21. (Just book a stay before the hotel is expected to close for renovation later this year.)
This is a great city to visit with kids or teens. Everyone speaks English. Everyone rides bikes, though your kids will wonder about the lack of helmets. (Just be careful not to walk in bike lanes!) Large fluffy baked pancakes served with powdered sugar and Nutella crepes (called Pannenkoeken) are very popular. You can shop for tulip bulbs to bring home (just make sure they are properly labeled to bring into the US), as well as chocolate wooden shoes.
Perhaps most importantly, the city’s world-famous museums do a wonderful job reaching kids and teens, even when the topic is as serious as World War II I and the Holocaust. (If you plan to visit many of the major sites, consider the IAmsterdam City Card which gives you access to more than 70 museums, city-wide transport, a canal cruise and bike rental. (The Anne Frank House and Van Gogh Museum, however, are not included.)
The Anne Frank House is where Anne, her family and another family hid for two years during World War II before they were betrayed and sent to a concentration camp. Only her father survived. This is where she wrote her famous diary about their experience, first published in 1947, and now translated into more than 75 languages. The Anne’s Story audio tour (available in nine languages, including English) has been created for young visitors, told from Anne’s perspective. There are also interactive digital lessons designed for schools but also appropriate for tweens and teens tackling such topics as the differences between democracy and dictatorship, antisemitism, prejudice and more. Museum educators suggest a visit here is most appropriate for kids 10 and older. (Book your tickets far in advance!)
The Dutch Resistance Museum with its terrific Junior Museum, is appropriate for younger kids, and I saw many completely engaged as they made their way through the exhibits, learning the stories of youngsters who lived through the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. All of the museum’s exhibits are about the response of the Dutch population to the occupation.
The Junior Museum allows children to enter this “time machine,” experiencing what life was like for children then, complete with a booklet where they can answer questions about the experiences of Henk, Nelly, Jan or Eva. There are drawers to open, hiding places, a rabbit hutch and much more. In this era of divisiveness, it is especially poignant to explore the differing experiences of Nelly, who is proud of her Nazi leader father, and Eva, a Jewish girl who finds her life increasingly curtailed as the Nazis take away rights and freedoms of Jews. Henk, just eight, is sent to live in the countryside as is Jan, 7, whose father, a minister, is hunted by the Germans because he helps downed allied fliers and others escape. “This museum is a must visit,” declared an American visiting with us. And while the captions are in Dutch, the (free) audio tours are available in English.
I love that the (free) family audio tours at the Rembrandt House are told by Rembrandt’s dog, Kwast, which means brush in Dutch. Here we time travel back to the mid-17th century when Rembrandt, the most important Dutch painter of his time, lived here with his family and then nearly 20 years later, was forced to leave because of financial difficulties. Kwast’s narration will make kids laugh with the commentary (beer for breakfast, even for kids!) and “quests” seeing if they could find things in each space, like the pan in the kitchen to make the round Oliebol, sweet fried dough that are popular here and that Rembrandt loved. We also learned kids, as well as adults, drank beer – even for breakfast as water wasn’t clean.
This was more than a comfortable family house. It was a workshop, a place to meet customers and sell art, to get portraits commissioned and a place where aspiring artists were taught. Up we go on the steep, creaky staircases from the kitchen to the kitchen to salon, studios, sketching room and his “museum” with artifacts he’d bought from traders coming to Amsterdam (check out the stuffed crocodile hanging from the ceiling!) Learn how Rembrandt made his paint colors. (He ground bright red lice for one color, storing them in pigs’ bladders!)
The Van Gogh Museum has a treasure hunt for kids that is available in English. Did you know there is a clock on the wall in The Potato Eater’s painting? There is also a Van Gogh checklist for those 12 and older.
The The Rijksmuseum is a Netherlands national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam.The Rijksmuseum is a Netherlands national museum dedicated to arts and history in Amsterdam, with over a million artworks and historic objects, including masterpieces by Rembrandt and Vermeer, can be overwhelming for families. I love the museum’s Family Trail with 11 cards, suggesting the museum “is like a big castle full of hidden corners, stairs and countless artworks.”
Kids are encouraged to, for example, walk until “you find a gallery with paintings of people.” Choose a portrait of someone poorly dressed and then consider how you could improve their looks. Perhaps a different hairstyle?
Another card asks that families choose a gallery where visitors are chatting – and a painting with a few people or animals. Kids are encouraged to think about what kind of conversation might be happening and then think about what one of the figures in the painting might say.
There is also a Digital Family Quest for families to play together seeking the password as they meet challenges in different galleries.
Enjoy those sugar-topped pancakes!
(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The fourth edition of The Kid’s Guide to New York City and the third edition of The Kid’s Guide to Washington D.C. are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)
©2025 Eileen Ogintz. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.