GREAT FOR CHILDREN
Children + camping is a guaranteed golden combination. Sleeping in a cosy tent or sturdy caravan, equipped with a toothbrush and a torch as you head to the shower block, making your own sandwiches in the grass and toasting marshmallows over an open fire. Spending loads of time playing, getting really dirty, staying up really late… There’s not much you have to do and so much you can do. There’s nothing better than playing outside all day long, messing around with sand and water, going round the whole campsite on your go-kart and playing games of football that end only when you can’t see the ball any more because it’s so dark outside …
CHILDREN, FRIENDS, SAND AND PLAY
At our natural campsite, all the space is for the children to enjoy. The sandpit is naturally a favourite with the little ones and is located right in the middle of the site so you can enjoy sitting in front of your tent whilst keeping an eye on them. Still in their pyjamas, the little ones go charging over to the sandpit to make delicious mud pies for the whole campsite. That’s how you make friends: making a mud pie together or sharing a bucket, it’s as simple as that. And: sand + water = mud! This formula makes every child in the world happy. The playground and the trampoline are also in sight from the field near the sandpit. They can spend hours bouncing, swinging and whizzing down the slide.
CANOES, KAYAKS AND FISHING
Bigger children trudge along with fishing nets, fishing rods and buckets to the jetty behind the campsite and are often occupied there for hours on end. Don’t be surprised if they forget the time and you have to take them a sandwich. At the jetty, there are also two 3-person Canadian canoes and two 1-person kayaks which can be used for free by our guests.
Children think it’s really fun to paddle in the canoe with their parents to Kollum and then eat an ice cream there. Or get diverted on the way and paddle to the beautiful water mill. The world looks very different from the water and paddling is an experience in itself. But no-one can guarantee you’ll stay dry of course!
GO-KARTING, BIKES AND TABLE TENNIS
Of course the go-karts and the numerous bicycles, tricycles, balance bikes and wheelbarrows are popular with all the children, and are ready and waiting in the bike area so that you can enjoy racing over the campsite. Many a child has learnt how to cycle in it Dreamlân! In the barn there is a table tennis table that the children can use, so even in bad weather there’s somewhere where they can play. Behind the reception in the field there’s a natural playground in the making: water, gullies, tree trunks, a pump, sand, mud, high grass, reeds, climbing and adventures… just waiting to happen. Work in progress!
There’s also more than enough for the children to do in the vicinity of the campsite. Olke, Tjalle and Jikke have shared their best tips with you: take a look at the experience map!
We have put the best tips on the map below for you. But here are also a couple in writing, for the readers amongst us. There really is more than enough to see and do!
Wadden Sea
Tip number 1 with children is, of course, the Wadden Sea. Drive to the villages of Paesens-Moddergat, climb over the dyke, go down the pier and just look around! With fishing nets, a pair of Wellington boots, and a bucket to hand. Look for shellfish, catch crabs, make mud soup… what more do you need?
The organisation Oan ‘e dyk is also located in Paesens and they organise fantastic mud walking trips for children, and trips by horse and cart along the mud. Children find out all about lugworms and other creatures. Check here the current water levels online because it’s at its most beautiful at low tide.
A day out in Schiermonnikoog and Ameland is also always great fun: you have the Wadden Sea and the North Sea and the most beautiful beaches in the world on top of that. The ferry for Schiermonnikoog leaves from Lauwersoog and takes 45 minutes, but boats also leave from Oostmahorn. The ferry for Ameland leaves from Holwerd.
Seal sanctuary
The seal sanctuary in Pieterburen is a great drive away, a good half-hour along the Marne villages of Groningen.
Lauwersmeer National Park
Around the Lauwersmeer, there are several beaches that are suitable for children. The Nature School organises various family excursions from Lauwersoog: a mudflat walking excursion, a trawling excursion, a freshwater excursion and crab fishing.
Hiring a tuk-tuk and riding round Lauwersmeer on it is great fun with children and a guaranteed hit. These relaxing 1 cylinder diesel cars look fun, don’t go very fast and have just got it all. Afterwards go and eat fish in the Booze Wijf in Lauwersoog where the children can play in the enormous playground outside or upstairs in the big ball pit.
On the Frisian side of the Lauwersmeer
In Dokkum, there is a great small children’s farm Anna Zijlstra Hoeve with playground, and in Drachten there is a really big farm Naturij with a traffic park. Aventoer, a spectacular indoor and outdoor park, has opened in Burgum. And the fun-park Sanjes Fertier is located in Zwaagwesteinde, the biggest indoor and outdoor playground in Friesland.
Buitenpost is home to the Kruidhof: a botanical garden with a really great natural playground. Speaking of nature, there’s a reason they call the Nature Museum in Leeuwarden the most fun children’s museum in the Netherlands: there is plenty to experience and children get a chance to try out and discover lots of new things. Then go and have something tasty to eat in the het Leven café, which also has a really great children’s play area. Aqua Zoo Friesland is also near Leeuwarden.
On the Groningen side of the Lauwersmeer
Climbing is always an adventure with children, of course, and the perfect place for it is Waddenfun in Wehe-Den Hoorn. The biggest indoor climbing park in the North Netherlands and with the safest system – so children as young as 4 can go climbing there. They’ll overcome their fears! Another recommendation is the Doezoo Insektenwereld in Leens where children can stroke a skunk, kiss a frog or put a snake around their neck.
