Amstelveen doesn’t get the tourist crowds Amsterdam does, and that’s exactly why it works so well with kids. It’s the town right next to the Amsterdamse Bos, with wide streets, a tram straight into the city, and a genuinely good spread of things to do with kids in Amstelveen that don’t involve queuing behind a stag party. We’ve pulled together the venues that actually deliver, not a padded list of everything with a swing set.
Maybe you live here already. Maybe you’re visiting family in the area, or you’re staying near Schiphol and want a day that isn’t spent on trams into the centre. Either way, this covers parks, a proper play farm, a museum kids actually enjoy, and where to go when it’s pouring, all of it inside a town small enough that you’re never more than fifteen minutes from the next stop on the list.
Things to do with kids in Amstelveen: start with the parks
Broersepark is the oldest park in Amstelveen, laid out back in 1926, and it still has that old-fashioned winding-path, exotic-tree feel to it. There’s a playground that gets a proper mix of ages, a paddling pool for the hot weeks, and a pond with ducks and the odd very unbothered goose. It’s on Amsterdamseweg, easy to combine with a walk if you’re already in the Elsrijk neighbourhood, and it’s shaded enough that we’ve used it as our go-to on the days Vondelpark feels unbearable.
Keizer Karelpark, over by the Stadshart, is a different kind of stop: a skate ramp, a small football court, and enough open grass that older kids can just run while you sit somewhere with a coffee. It’s less of a destination park and more of a “we’re in Stadshart anyway, let’s burn off an hour” park, which has its own value. If you’ve got a scooter or a bike in the boot, this is the one to bring it to. The paths are wide and flat enough for a wobbly first-timer, unlike some of the narrower routes through Broersepark.
Speelboerderij Elsenhove: the play farm that’s actually free
Elsenhove is a combined petting farm and adventure playground on the edge of the Amsterdamse Bos, and it’s the one we recommend first to anyone asking about things to do with kids in Amstelveen with a toddler or preschooler in tow. There are farm animals to look at and feed, a proper wooden climbing structure, and enough mud and water play that you should pack a spare set of clothes without fail. Admission is free, though they’ll happily take a voluntary donation on the way out, and they’re open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm and Sunday afternoons from 2 to 5pm, closed Mondays. Go early on a weekend if you want the climbing frame to yourself for more than five minutes.
A full day in the Amsterdamse Bos
Most of the Amsterdamse Bos actually sits within Amstelveen’s municipal boundary, not Amsterdam’s, and it’s big enough to build an entire day around. Geitenboerderij Ridammerhoeve, an organic goat farm right in the middle of the woods, is the highlight for younger kids: goats, chickens, pigs and horses to feed, and a farm shop selling their own goat cheese and ice cream if you want a reason to linger on the terrace. It’s on Nieuwe Meerlaan, open daily except Tuesdays from 10am to 5pm, and there’s no entry fee, though you’re not allowed to bring your own food onto the terrace.
For kids over about six, Fun Forest adds a high-ropes course through the trees, with several routes graded by age and height, so a nervous seven-year-old and a confident eleven-year-old can both find something that works. Pair either with the Bosbaan rowing lake nearby for a picnic, and you’ve got a full outdoor day without leaving Amstelveen.
Cobra Museum: the one museum kids don’t dread
Cobra Museum, on Sandbergplein, is a modern art museum built around the postwar Cobra movement, and it’s genuinely more kid-friendly than that description suggests. The paintings are bold, colourful, and easy for young kids to talk about without an art history degree, and the museum runs Atelier Cobra, a hands-on studio session for children on Wednesdays and Sundays where they paint in the style of the artists on the walls. Entry is €7.50 for ages 5 to 18 and free under 5, and it’s open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm, closed Mondays. If the weather turns while you’re at Elsenhove or the Bos, this is a fifteen-minute drive away and an easy way to salvage the afternoon. There’s also a café on site that runs the occasional weekend “sip and paint” session for the adults, so it’s not a bad spot to split up and let one parent get five minutes of peace while the other does a lap of the galleries with the kids.
Rainy-day and indoor options
Fun Center Amstelveen, down in Amstelveen-Zuid, is the trampoline park and laser game combo most local families end up at eventually. Thirty interconnected trampolines, a foam pit, and a separate laser arena mean it covers a wide age range under one roof, which is handy when you’ve got kids of different ages arguing about what to do next.
For something calmer, Zwembad De Meerkamp is Amstelveen’s main public pool, with baby and toddler sessions, swimming lessons working toward the Dutch A/B/C diplomas, and family swim sessions on weekends. And if your kids are still small enough to sit through a show, the Amstelveens Poppentheater puts on puppet performances aimed at ages roughly 2 to 12, mostly on weekends and during school holidays, in a proper small theatre rather than a converted hall.
Practical tips
- Amstelveen connects to central Amsterdam by tram (lines 25 and 51 run this route), so you don’t need a car for most of this list, only for Fun Center and Fun Forest if you’re coming from further out.
- Pack spare clothes and shoes for Elsenhove and Ridammerhoeve. Both involve mud, animals, and water in some combination.
- Cobra Museum and Elsenhove sit close enough together that they make a natural rainy-morning-to-sunny-afternoon combination.
- Check each venue’s own site before you go. Hours shift around Dutch school holidays and public holidays more than you’d expect.
- If you’re combining the Amsterdamse Bos with Elsenhove or Ridammerhoeve, plan for a full morning at minimum. Both farms sit far enough apart that rushing between them defeats the point.
- Amstelveen is flat and compact enough to cycle between most of these stops if you’ve got a cargo bike or child seat, which is often easier than finding parking near the Bos on a sunny weekend.
If you’re building out a wider list of family days beyond Amsterdam itself, our guides to things to do with kids in Utrecht and things to do with kids in Haarlem cover two more towns that work well as a day trip, and the 5 kid-friendly cities outside Amsterdam post is a good starting point if you’re mapping out a longer stay. For more venues around Amstelveen and the wider region, our places directory is worth a browse, and check what’s on for puppet theatre dates and seasonal events near you.
