Our study of the Netherlands happened to coincide with Thanksgiving in America. How is that related? The pilgrims went to “Holland” for about 12 years before going across the sea to America. This is a fascinating place with so many areas to study. I hope you pick one or a few to dive into!

Navigate this page: Missions, Booklists, Science, Cooking, Composer Study, Folk Dance/Music, Art Project, Art Study, Physical Education, Game, Movies, Videos

Mapping it out

Crayola.com’s Free printable of Netherlands Flag and Map
Seterra.com’s Free printable maps of Europe
Seterra.com’s Free online geography games for Europe

Missions Spotlight

Prayercast.com/Netherlands: Prayer Points, Summary, Quick Facts
**parents should preview the short prayercast.com video for sensitive topics that may not be age appropriate.
Corrie ten Boom, whose family helped Jewish people during the Holocaust
- “Corrie ten Boom,” by Kayla Radcliff (Elementary, Torchlighters Biography Series)
- “Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels’ Den,” by Janet Being (Book Level 6.3)
- “The Hiding Place,” by Corrie ten Boom (Middle School, Book Level 6.4)
- Video: Torchlighters: Corrie Ten Boom
Menno Simons, father of the Mennonites, a subgroup of the Anabaptists
- “Hero Tales,” by Dave and Neta Jackson (Chapter on Menno Simons)
- Biography of Menno Simons: ChristianHistoryInstitute.org
The Pilgrims in the Netherlands
- “Pilgrim Adventures,” by Margaret Pumphrey, republished by My Father’s World Curriculum
- “Pilgrim Stories,” by Margaret Pumphrey, edited by Rea Berg, has similar content
- Article, “The Pilgrims in Holland”: Plimoth.org

Booklists

I’m working on books reviews of our favorite books about the Netherlands. The ones we liked the best for our home library are linked below to my Amazon affiliate account.

Introduction to the Netherlands (These series have been kid approved)

“The Netherlands,” by Alicia Klepeis (Country Profiles series, grades 3-7)
“The Netherlands,” by Jean Blashfield (Enchantment of the World Series, grades 5+)

Picture Books

The ATOS Book Levels specified after each chapter book measure the difficulty of the text for independent reading.

“The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies,” by Ammi-Joan Paquette (Grade Level K-2)
“Ludlow Grows Up,” by Foster & Erickson (early reader)
“The Great Tulip Trade,” by Beth Wagner Brust (Step into Reading Level 3, Book Level 2.8)
“Katje the Windmill Cat,” by Gretchen Woelfle (Book Level 3.1)
“Pedal Power: How One Community Became the Bicycle Capital of the World,” by Allan Drummond (Book Level 3.4)
“Boxes for Katje,” by Candace Fleming (Book Level 3.5)
“Rembrandt and Titus: Artist and Son,” by Madeleine Comora and Thomas Locker (Grade Level 3-6)
“Timmerman was Here,” by Colleen Sydor (Book Level 4.3)
“Hana in the Time of the Tulips,” by Deborah Noyes (Book Level 4.4)
“Tulips,” by Jay O’Callahan and Debrah Santini (Book Level 4.8)
“Legends & folk tales of Holland,” told by Adèle De Leeuw (Grade Level 4-6)

Picture books about the WWII and the Holocaust in the Netherlands:
- “Anne Frank: The Girl Heard Around the World,” by Linda Elovitz Marshall (elementary age)
- “Just Being Audrey,” by Margaret Cardillo (Book Level 4.6)
- “Anne Frank,” by Josephine Poole (Book Level 5.1)

Chapter Books

“Nine Open Arms,” by Benny Lindelauf (Book Level 4.5)
“The Wheel on the School,” by Meindert DeJong (Book Level 4.7)
“The Unadoptables,” by Hana Took (Book Level 5.4)
“The Diary of a Young Girl,” by Anne Frank (Book Level 6.5)
“Corrie ten Boom,” by Kayla Radcliff (Elementary, Torchlighters Biography Series)
“Corrie ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels’ Den,” by Janet Being (Book Level 6.3)
“The Hiding Place,” by Corrie ten Boom (Middle School, Book Level 6.4)
“Storming the Tulips,” by Ronald Sanders, translated & revised by Hannie J. Voyles (middle school level)
“Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates,” by Mary Mapes Dodge (Book Level 8.2)

Science

Microscope
- “All in a Drop: How Antony van Leeuwenhoek Discovered an Invisible World,” by Lori Alexander (Book Level 5.8)
Tulips
- “Bloom,” by Deborah Diesen (elementary reading level)
- “Tulips,” by Peter Arnold (brief history and photographs)
- Video: Why The Netherlands Is The Tulip Capital Of The World
Windmills
- “The Wind at Work: An Activity Guide to Windmills,” by Gretchen Woelfle
- Video: Inside a Dutch Windmill

Cooking Dutch Food with kids

The kids and I had a blast making Oly Koek and Poffertjes! The rest of the fantastic Dutch recipes we tried are here: Recipes by Country: the Netherlands.

Composer Study

We continued listening to the music of Beethoven while we studied the Netherlands. For links to audios for kids, kids books and YouTube videos, visit my page: “Composers: Ludwig van Beethoven.” (I’ll make lists for Bach and Brahms, too.) For ideas of how to do Composer Study, visit my page: “Art and Music.”

Folk Dance and Music of the Netherlands

We had so much fun watching and trying to imitate the clog dancing. It is so unique!

Video: Folk Music and Images Netherlands
Video: Accordion and Voice, Dutch Folk Songs
Video: André Rieu – Clog Dance
Video: Scarlett & Giselle’s Klompendans (clog-dance)
Video: Traditional Dutch Dance

Art Project/Handicraft

I took apart the stroopwafel boxes from Aldi, they decorated the white inside of the box, and then I glued them back together inside-out! From the book “Global Art,” we decorated boxes with seashells. We had one box leftover and decided to use markers to draw blue pictures on a white background, simulating Delft porcelain.

Art Study: Vermeer

The Golden Age of Baroque Art includes Dutch artists Johannes Vermeer and Rembrandt van Rijn. We focused on Vermeer during our study of The Netherlands. For a list of suggested artwork and links to videos, visit my page: “Artists: Johannes Vermeer.” For ideas of how to do Art Study, visit my page: “Art and Music.”

Picture study of windmills by three Dutch artists

Physical Education

Out of necessity, the Dutch used poles to jump across ditches. Now pole jumping is it’s own sport and quite an amazing feat of strength, too! Check out this video: Canal Jumping | Holland’s Oldest Sport!

Game

The Dutch brought nine-pin bowling to the United States, so we tried our hand at that. Here are articles to explain the history and setup of the pins.

We also played Kingdomino which I’m counting for Netherlands because there’s a windmill on it! My 5 and 8 year olds picked it up quickly and were playing it by themselves the next day. Once learned, each game can truly just be 15-20 minutes long.

Movies!

We finally finished “Hans Brinker” as our family read aloud and rewarded ourselves by watching the movie. There’s singing and dancing and it was overall very charming. I heard a a few sentences along the lines of “You’re a girl and girls can’t do that,” which I didn’t appreciate, but it’s an old movie.