Take your kids to the Children’s Book Museum in The Hague for a wonderful day in this literary playground.
There are fun things to do for kids until the age of 12. It is a museum, yes, but a very playful one. At the museum, you and your kids (or cousins in my case) can explore many rooms dedicated to characters from famous Dutch and international children’s books. To name a few: I am Frog, Elmer the Patchwork Elephant, Tow-truck Pluck, and Miffy (“Nijntje”).
But don’t mistake this for a simple playground. The kids will learn a lot and as they get older they will discover new things to do. While the youngest (pre-school going age) will learn to interact with objects, use colors and build things, older kids will use these objects to create words and stories.
I am Frog
The youngest kids will spend most of their time in the playroom based upon the books about Frog and his friends by Max Velthuijs. My cousins of one year old and nearly four years old loved this room.
Kids can go fishing on a boat, walk on soft water, build a virtual bench by sawing virtual planks and many more things. There are tents and alcoves to explore and there is plenty of room for running around.
Older brothers or sisters will notice the letters written on the fish and can form words with their haul.
ABC with the animals
Discover letters, sounds, and rhyme while crawling like a caterpillar, balancing on ice blocks on the north pole, supporting firemen or pimping an elephant.
With Elmer the Patchwork Elephant kids learn about colors. They can hang colored blocks on the elephant matching the colors while hoping another kid won’t pull its tail to bring all blocks down. Imagine how much the other kid will enjoy that.
Play hide and seek in the tall grass with the cat Dikkie Dik or other kids.
Help firemen man the fire hose. There is a nice link with the tent in the I am Frog exhibition here: when the story told in the tent mentions fire, you run to the firemen room to get the helmets and then back to the tent to continue the story. Or lose that train of thought and just go fishing with the helmets. Must be safer.
Papiria
For older kids (7 and up) there is the challenge to defeat the Ink Gobbler eating all the letters from the books. Kids can create their own characters and stories, be it a poem, a comic or a rap, to win the battle.
Recommendation (language skills)
The Papiria exhibition is not offered in English, so only bring your kids there if they have a good command of Dutch.
Because of this I only recommend visiting the Children’s Book Museum with kids under the age of 8, unless your kids speak Dutch. The rooms for younger kids are not language heavy and will be fun for anyone visiting the Netherlands.
How to get to the Children’s Book Museum in The Hague
Opening hours
Tuesday – Sunday: 10:30 – 17:00. Check their website for closing days.Tickets
- Age 0-1: free
- Age 2-6: € 6,50
- Age 7-18: €7,50
- Adults: € 9,00
