NYC children “travel” to the Netherlands with Little Learning..

Little Learning is an early childhood program on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and while our academic year focuses on child development and early literacy, our June program is called LL Summer Voyage. Each year, we “travel” to one country each week and learn about the cultures through food, language, dance, traditional clothing, and indigenous animals. This year we “traveled” to the Netherlands!

While planning our trip, I was thrilled to come across the Netherland Club of New York.  Veerle was so helpful and enthusiatic. In addition to being a wealth of information all things Dutch, she generously allowed us borrow traditional clothing of Volendam (a favorite was the pointed lace bonnets and colorful aprons), and connected us with Dutch chef Kim Hoedeman, who made a special visit. 

Some highlights from our trip include:

·  We "arrived" in the Netherlands just in time to participate in the Flag Day Celebrations at the harbor of Scheveningen! In preparation for the celebration, we made our own Netherlands flags. The children were very excited to learn that the colors of the Netherlands flag are red, white, and blue- just like the American flag! We learned that on this very popular holiday the townspeople gather to decorate all of the boats with flags before the fishermen leave to catch loads of herring. 

· We learned about the abundance of tulips in the Netherlands and the children were most excited to discover the tulips grown in the Netherlands are among the tallest in the world! 

· We took a field trip to The Met where we visited the exhibit In Praise of Painting: Dutch Masterpieces at The Met. We talked about Piet Mondriaan and made our interpretation of his abstract paintings. 

-The children tried authentic stroopwafels, and hagelslag (both huge hits)! Our oldest children were treated to a food tasting by Dutch foodie Kim Hoedeman, where they tried Gouda kaas, dropjes, and speculaas koek. What a treat to have Kim as our cultural guest!

We thank you for sharing your rich culture and joyful way of life, and hope one day our little voyagers will take a trip in person to visit the Netherlands!

Echt heel erg bedankt!

By Karen McLaughlin
Founding Director Little Learning Inc. @littlelearninginc

For the NLCLUB.NYC

July 22th, 2021