Day trip from Amsterdam?

I loved walking around Leiden for a day. With kids, I would not discount the Hague--whether for running around on the beach or visiting the amusement park. My husband has been several times for work and he always enjoys his time there. You could check out Delft in the morning and then while away the afternoon.

This might not be what you're looking for, but we really enjoyed our visit to Zaanse Shans. https://www.dezaanseschans.nl/en/

Some people complain that it is not "authentic," and I guess they're technically correct, as some of the windmills have been moved there, for example.

BUT, it's very pretty and charming, and it has a working windmill. There's a wooden shoe museum and a small canal. I think kids would like it.

I just got back from Amsterdam two days ago. Since I kept changing the dates of my trip, by the time that I settled on when I was going, the tickets for the Anne Frank House were already long gone. I believe the tickets start selling at 10:00 a.m. Amsterdam time on the Tuesday six weeks before the date and apparently they go incredibly fast. The same advice goes for the Van Gogh & Rijksmuseum - book well in advance!

As I had been to Amsterdam for a short visit prior to my recent visit, I wanted to explore some other areas. I took a day trip to Haarlem and went to the magnificent St. Bavo church. The information from the Rick Steves Netherlands guide book did a really good job of explaining some interesting things about the church. I also went to the Corrie Ten Boom house (which also requires pre-registering for the free entrance ticket).

Leiden was another day trip that I took and I really enjoyed it. I only stayed a few hours since I had a ticket for Keukenhof later that day. I walked around the canals, went to the Wednesday market and to the Leiden Castle (which is now a city park). Leiden is a very pretty town and I think I enjoyed the atmosphere of it better than Haarlem, but Haarlem was nice, too.

For my last day in the Netherlands, I went to Zaanse Schans and despite it being crowded and "touristy", I thought it was very pretty and interesting. I think your kids might enjoy going there as wel.

I really like the cities mentioned so far, but I would like to propose Haarlem combined with Zandvoort. Haarlem is a 15 minute train ride away from Amsterdam central station. Haarlem is a great city to just walk around in, see the market square, try some beers in the church turned brewery; Jopenkerk https://www.jopenkerk.nl/haarlem/en/
Don’t forget to check out some of the 20 “hofjes” which Haarlem is famous for. See here for some info about these hofjes https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofjes_in_Haarlem
After that you can hop back on the train and continue to Zandvoort. Zandvoort is a seaside town only an 11-minute train ride from Haarlem. Zandvoort was severely damaged during WW2, so I’ll be the first to admit it isn’t the most beautiful place. But it is a great spot to relax, walk along the beach and watch the sun set into the sea.

But whatever you decide; make sure to book your tickets to the Anne Frank house and the Van Gogh Museum well in advance. Every Tuesday at about 10 am local Amsterdam time tickets go on sale for the week that starts 6 week from then. So tomorrow, the Tuesday of week 16, tickets go on sale for the entire week 22; Monday May 27 up to and including Sunday June 2. Make sure you know when tickets for your days here go on sale and double check to verify.
Tickets for the Van Gogh museum for July, can already be bought now and some days in July are going fast!!
The Rijksmuseum is less of a worry. To put things in perspective, the Van Gogh museum is sold out until May 5 while the Rijksmuseum still has loads of tickets available for tomorrow.

Thank you all! This is so helpful.

I just bought tickets for the museums and have a phone reminder for the Anne Frank House tickets. My daughter recently read the Diary of Anne Frank and it is a must visit for her.

@Dutch_traveler that brewery is right up our alley!! Thank you :)

If you like breweries and plan to go to Haarlem, also try Uiltje Bar (https://www.uiltjebrewing.com/en/venue/uiltje-bar/) with more adventurous/explicit flavours than Jopen. They are just 5 minutes apart. There are quite few bars with up to 40 draft beers (like https://bierlokaaldeuiver.nl/biermenu/).

Thank you!! Would also love any brewery recommendations in Amsterdam you may have!

Most breweries in Amsterdam are described here: https://www.iamsterdam.com/en/see-and-do/restaurant-and-bars/best-breweries-in-amsterdam. My personal favourite beer bar is In de Wildeman (https://www.indewildeman.nl). So many interesting beers being brewed at the moment, so a lot to sample!

cps2913, note that most of the (many!) daytrips from Amsterdam are to smaller cities, not to the countryside. Even Amersfoort, which I like a lot, is a low-rise small city, around a lovely restored historic core. You are not proposing to visit any wooden villages that the Band of Brothers just left. (I don't think Amersfoort is the best use of the day YOU describe, but I thought I should mention it.)

There are a few historic and partly-faux historic places, that is larger historic cores, which are important places, as well as centers of tourism. For example, Delft, but also the cheese towns like Alkmaar and Gouda. You already have a really good list; I just don't want you to think you are going anyplace remote from civilization. One nice thing about Delft is that it's right beside Den Haag, in case you get bored with Delft, or feel you've "done it" enough.

I personally like Utrecht and Leiden, because each cannot be exhausted in just one day. But unlike you, I like museums a lot. They are both very urban experiences, if lovely places.

Delft was one of our favorite day trips from Amsterdam.

We were in Amsterdam in February and did day trips to both Gouda and Delft. We loved both! In Delft, we went to the Royal Delft Museum/Factory and really enjoyed that. With kids ages 10/12 that may or may not be of interest, but I know our daughter at that age would have enjoyed it so I thought. I would throw it out there;)

Fyi-
The Corrie ten Boom house in Haarlem now books up several months in advance.

but a nice place to walk around, experience a different spot in the Netherlands, and have an afternoon drink or pint in a fun area. Is there one town you would recommend?

Out of left field, but...

I usually suggest RIDING through and out of Amsterdam as a GREAT way to see something besides the cities and larger towns. With long July days, you can ride, relax, ride, relax, ride... for quite a bit and see so much beyond what you see just going from A->B on the train, walking a bit and then returning B->A. Taking the train is very efficient and will get you to the suggestions others have offered, but I think you can also have a really fun time and get a decidedly different perspective with a family ride into the countryside.

Here's one trip we loved that combined a bunch of fun elements. We booked a canoe tour with Waterland Safari (in the RS book), and rode our bikes from the hotel downtown, to the ferry by the train station, crossed by ferry to N Amsterdam, & followed a series of well marked paths out to the start of the canoe trip in Watergang . After the very fun canoe adventure, we rode on to Broek in Waterland where we had coffee and cake from a church sale. Onward to the east to the coast and Ultdam (a bit south from Marken) where we turned right and followed the route along the water through Durgerdam until eventually returning to the outskirts of Amsterdam. Brouwerij 't IJ was on the final stretch and a great place to have a beer and some tasty food. Probably about 3 segments of 10 miles each (all flat, almost all completely safe from cars) - Amsterdam -> Watergang, Watergang to Ultdam, and Ultdam -> Amsterdam. Definitely a full day for a family, but also one hard to recreate many other places. Except for the reservation with the canoe guide, nothing else was planned and it still fell together easily.

We did a similar but slightly shorter ride from downtown out to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel (also for cake and coffee), plus rides even closer in like to Sloterplas.

We wouldn't have walked to these places, nor would we have taken a train or rented a car, but the bikes and great network made it so easy it was usually a no brainer option for us of how to add in something different beyond our planned museum and restaurant plans. I'd also add that there are likely a wide variety of rental bike options - kid bikes, cargo bikes, ebikes, maybe even tag-a-long or tandems - so that may make things easier considering the ages of your kids.

Have fun!