Come to the Mauritshuis this summer holiday! Turn your museum visit into a great day out with our fun activities. Meet the Girl with a Pearl Earring face to face. There is even a life-size 3D version in our Foyer that you can touch!
Workshops, Scavenger Hunts, Audio Tours
This summer we will again be offering a range of fun experiences for kids at the Mauritshuis. Do a scavenger hunt, listen to the family audio tour or walk into the Open Studio to paint or craft!
Younger children (4+) can join one of the Maurits Mouse Workshops. First a tour guide will show you some of our highlights. After the tour, you'll paint your own work of art! For older children (7+) there are Painting Workshops (paint your own holiday landscape or paint a flower portrait). Before you start painting yourself, you'll join a tour guide for a tour in our museum to get inspired.
Free entrance for children
Everyone under the age of 19 may visit the museum for free all year round. Don't forget to buy or reserve a ticket in advance! Will we see you around?
Maurits Mouse on holiday (4+)
Tuesday 22nd & 29nd of July and 5th of August
Yes, the Summer holiday has started! But not for Maurits Mouse because he has to keep an eye on the paintings, especially at night. Luckily for him, he’s being surrounded by a lot of beautiful paintings which he can use to fantasize about a wonderful holiday.
Together with Maurits Mouse you’ll be wandering through the museum and discover different landscapes. Will you paint a beautiful holiday landscape for Maurits Mouse? Are you painting a beach, a forest or just a city? Are you enjoying an ice cream or a pizza? Are there palm trees or flamingos? If your holiday landscape is finished you can take it with you and give it a nice spot at home.
So come visit us, meet Maurits Mouse and the masterpieces of the Mauritshuis and create your own artwork!
Time: 10.15 a.m. - 11.30 a.m.
Duration: about 75 minutes
Dates: Tuesday 22nd & 29nd of July and 5th of August
Age: 4 - 6 years old (Every child needs to be accompanied by an adult.)
Prize: € 8,50 per person ((adults and children all buy their own ticket). If you can present a 'Ooievaarspas' you’ll have a 50% discount on your ticket.
Language: English
Maurits Mouse and the Creepy Crawlies (4+)
Tuesday 12th, 19th and 26th of August
The paintings in the Mauritshuis show many animals, both very large and very small. Together with a museum guide, you will look at the large animals, but you will search for but also look at the small creepy crawlies that have hidden themselves between the flowers, fruit and other animals. Can you find them? Study them carefully and make your own creepy crawly painting. When your work is finished, take it home and give it a nice spot.
Time: 10.15 a.m. – 11.30 a.m.
Duration: 75 minutes
Dates: Tuesday 12th, 19th and 26th of August
Age: children in the age of 4 - 6 years (supervision by an adult is mandatory)
Costs: € 8,50 per person (children and adults). If you can present a 'Ooievaarspas' you’ll have a 50% discount on your ticket.
Language: English
Open Studio - crafting, drawing or painting (4+)
Every Saturday and Sunday from 13.15 pm - 16.15 pm
Walk into our Art Workshop and join the free Open Studio. Under the guidance of an experienced museum teacher, you will tinker, draw or paint. Have fun and be creative. Stick and cut your dream landscape, draw a crazy fantasy animal or paint a special portrait. It's all possible!
Come along in July or August and get started right away!
Age: 4+ (Children aged 4 to 6 are welcome accompanied by an adult)
Duration: as long as you like
Time: Walk-ins from 13.15 pm -16.15 pm (every Saturday and Sunday during the summer holidays)
Language: Dutch and English
Cost: get your free ticket at the service desk of the museum.
Everyone under the age of 19 may visit the museum for free all year round. Don't forget to buy or reserve a ticket in advance! Will we see you around?
Paint your own: Holiday landscape (7+)
Tuesday 22nd & 29nd of July and 5th of August
It’s holiday time! Where are you travelling to? Are you staying in The Netherlands or exploring a different country? Not everybody could travel in the 17th century. Luckily there were great painters like Vermeer, Ruysdael and Avercamp. They made beautiful landscape paintings. During this workshop you’ll learn everything about 17th century landscapes. The Mauritshuis collection has it all: sea, frosty lakes, the forest, villages and cities.
Seen enough, then it’s time to get started! You’ll be painting your own holiday landscape at the Artwork place. Which holiday landscape will you paint? The forest, the beach or maybe the city? Will you paint a house, a hotel, a tent or a boat? Who are joining you during this holiday? What are you doing? All important elements to make your masterpiece! If the painting is finished then we hope it gets a nice place at home.
Time: 13.15 pm – 14.45 pm
Duration: 90 minutes
Dates: Tuesday 22nd & 29nd of July and 5th of August
Age: 7+
Costs: € 8,50 per person. If you can present a 'Ooievaarspas' you’ll have a 50% discount on your ticket.
Language: English
Paint your own: Flower portrait (7+)
Tuesday 12th, 19th and 26th of August
Flowers are often placed together with other flowers in a painting. Suppose a flower were to get its own painting. What would that flower look like? What shape? What colour? With leaves and a stem? In a vase? In the Artwork place we are going to make a portrait of a flower. You can invent the flower yourself or paint one of our examples we have on the table. You can also paint a creepy crawly. When the work is finished, take it home and hang it in a nice place.
Time: 13.15 pm – 14.45 pm
Duration: 90 minutes
Dates: Tuesday 12th, 19th and 26th of August
Age: 7+
Costs: € 8,50 per person. If you can present a 'Ooievaarspas' you’ll have a 50% discount on your ticket.
Language: English
Regular Activities
Set off on your own adventure and discover the most beautiful, exciting and funniest paintings in the museum with the free audio tours in our Mauritshuis app.
For families: Animals in the Mauritshuis Audio Tour.
Will you join us to find all the animals in the Mauritshuis? Download our free app and choose the theme tour 'Animals in the Mauritshuis'. Forest ranger Tim, Auke Florian from museum Naturalis and staff from Blijdorp Zoo will take you on an adventure. So bring your headphones and enjoy the tour!
Download the free Mauritshuis app from the App Store or Google Play.
Scavenger hunts through the Mauritshuis (4+ and 7+)
Go on a treasure hunt through our museum together! For children from 4 years upwards, you will go on a search for the animals in the paintings together. Get tips from forest ranger Tim, biologist Auke-Florian and, of course, Maurits Mouse!
For children aged 7 and over, you will explore, look and talk together. You may not have noticed before, but there are many children in the paintings. What are they doing? What are they talking about? Is everything you see correct?
Get free activity books from the service desk in the Foyer. Don't forget to pick up a little surprise at the service desk afterwards.
