First ideas for ativities with children can be found on the site “holiday in the heart of europe“. Also find the multilingual discovery tour with various topics from “Euregio vis-a-vis”. Both sources are a good chance for language learning for the small – and the grown-ups.
Find a listing of information dedicated to children or families with children).
- Aachenerkinder.de (DE only) enlists activitites and information for children and parents, Kingkalli-magazine (DE only) provides information on events, Familienratgeber Aachen helps with problem solving at home (DE only).
- The public tourist agency VVV Limburg (NL) provides their 11 top tips for activities with children in Limburg.
- Visitez Liège provides top tips for visiting the city, including a multilingual discovery tour.
Across the Euregio Meuse-Rhine you can find places with reconstructions of life in the old days, with half-timbered
houses in green areas, both for younger and more adult visitors:
- Rheinisches Freilichtmuseum Kommern (between Düren and Euskirchen)
- Bauernmuseum Selfkant (GER), only 500m from Dutch Sittard (website in DE / NL)
- Limbourg in Wallonia is not a reconstruction, but “one of Wallonia’s prettiest villages” – and former capital of the Dutchery that both Belgian and Dutch Limburg are named after
- Bokrijk Open air museum and bicycle attraction part in between Hasselt and Genk (BE), website in Dutch only)
Head to our dedicated section on education and schooling for more information.
Living with (school)children:
Note that childcare greatly differ among the different places and municipalities in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine. Some districts such as Kreis Düren (DE only) have invested in providing childcare free-of charge for residents. If you consider living and working across a national border, find first information with the GrenzInfoPunkt on family benefits. Find a comprehensive overview of the Euregio’s five distinctive schooling systems at “euregiowaves.eu” (“Euregio Maas-Rhein” – “Schulysteme”, DE/NL/FR)
Festivities with children
Festivities with children
Across the Euregio Meuse-Rhine the following festivities constitute real highlights in the life of every child:
- Maypoles are the centre of village festivities on the night from 30 April to 1 May in Germany, Ostbelgien, Hasselt and parts of Zuid-Limburg. Trees full of colour fill the streets for the entire month.
- Parades on St. Martin’s Day (DE and FR) with self-made lantern parades
- Sinterklaas celebrations start in Belgium and the Netherlands in mid-November when he arrives by ship in preparation for the big day – his birthday on 6 December.
A particular highlight across all borders is Carnaval: Colourful costumes, day-long parades (such as this example from Kerkrade/Eurode) with tonnes of sweets in Germany and Ostbelgien and the Netherlands. Music and dancing on the streets lasts for day – not only children adore the so called “fifth season” in February.
Multilingual media for children
The following programmes can provide an interesting access to your new surrounding / the neighbouring country whether you have children or not. Additionally to multilingual media in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine, these sites can also support with language learning.
- Channel for the English version of the German, weekly Sendung mit der Maus.
- Other classics from German children’s television could be used for language learning – or getting to know a new country as a native: Löwenzahn (involving some knowledge in natural sciences); Das Sandmännchen (DE only) The Little Sandman brings the children to bed with various beautiful stories – and with sprinkling the „sand“ that children find in their eyes when waking up again).
- Recommended programmes (by Amsterdam-mamas.nl for actually learning Dutch – with or without children).
- Known in the Netherlands, “Samson and Gert” is a classic for Belgian children – with a respective Flemish and Francophone version.
Selected highlights:
This map is here to grow – feel free to make suggestions for what to include.
