Amsterdam day out for pre-teen/teen

[BeanCounterBabe]

We're going to The Netherlands for half term and planning a day in Amsterdam. I stupidly left it too late to book Anne Frank's house and history mad 11 year old is going to be very disappointed. Any recommendations for something engaging to do? They are not fussed about art so galleries are out. I am thinking maybe Nemo as they like hands on science. Is there a good little museum that might appeal?

We did a canal cruise, that was really good. They also do food and drink tasting ones that looked like fun.

There's always the sex museum for a giggle 😉.

We didn't go to the dungeon as we didn't have time but teens might like that?

Chips and mayo is a must! There's also lots of Nutella and churros cafes dotted around which I'm sure will appeal to teens.

We went Van Gogh museum and were really bored so I wouldn't do that!

We really enjoyed our visit to Micropia, the museum of microbes, lots of hands-on exhibits and it is right across the road from the Dutch Resistance Museum which I'd also highly recommend.
Micropia

I think they do bike tours of the city or windmills. They look fun.

This is really random but I have two tickets for Anne Frank house on 29 May. Any good?

Quite possibly. What time for? The 14 year old isn’t too bothered and DH had been before so they could explore while I take the 11 year old. Can you message me? Thanks!!

Buy a day pass/City Car which provides access on the trams and entry to lots of museums. Plan first so you can cram as much in as you can as so much to see. You'll be absolutely exhausted by the end of the day!

City pass!

MrsMaudeLebowski Love the name. Micropia sounds great (I’m a Biology graduate so would geek out here) and the Resitance museum.

Hoping to fit in a canal boat trip. I assume we can pick one on the day?

@BeanCounterBabe YHM

The Amsterdam Museum was a great social history museum, it’s in an old orphanage, lots of interactive exhibits and great visual history of the city www.amsterdammuseum.nl/en/exhibition/panorama-amsterdam/10

We loved the museums but NEMO was great too! The flower market is nice to see but we didn’t spend very long there. The canal tour was fun and we really wanted go on the swing on top of the A’dam tower but it was too windy on the day we had planned.

Trying stroopwaffles, poffertjes and Dutch pancakes were probably the things DC will remember the most though!

This sounds really awful...but we went to the retro arcade place on the other side of the bank to the ferry. Lots of 1980s games like Pac-Man and donkey kong and my kids loved it.

We also enjoyed hiring one of the electric boats and pootling round the canals. And the Banksy museum.

We'd booked an escape game at the Rijksmuseum which was so awful that we abandoned it half way through. Which I feel slightly bad about.

Also the Bodyworks museum. They particularly enjoyed standing on the machines to measure your fat etc at the end!

We had a day in Amsterdam in the Easter holidays. I recommend Foodhallen.nl for eating. It's a big food court - busy and crazy but a great variety of stuff to try, so works well if you have a range of tastes to cater for.

Some great ideas here thanks. The 14 year old has ASD so pacing required. We can’t go at it too hard. If she likes the feel of the place we will be back for more another time. DH and I have already visited and will likely be back in future years to do the arty stuff grumpy teen free.