Layover in Amsterdam

I think that it would be fairly easy to take the train to Amsterdam Central, walk across the street, and take a 1 hour canal boat tour of the city. These leave every 15 minutes and are a relaxing way to get an overview of the city.

We did what Carol suggests and still have time for some walk in the downtown and some coffeehouse. Train is the fastest way to get from the airport and goes very often.

The train is the fastest method into the city center. There is a tour company at the airport that specialized in city tours for folks with layovers. But you can easily walk around the city independently. This scenic intersection is just a five minute walk from Centraal Station:
https://goo.gl/maps/eAuherYJCDn

This FAQ will answer all your questions:

http://tinyurl.com/h9m2kq3

You know, I was going to sy that there is probably no tour from the airport...but Google proved me wrong, if you search you could find a number of option. Cost may be an issue, and you can certainly just take a train into Amsterdam Centraal, walk up Damrak to Dam Square, and then explore from there. You could easily hit one or two museums, but just walking and exploring is the best part of Amsterdam, maybe hit the Flower Market or other market, have a nice meal, maybe a beer or wine.

I'd say take the train and have a leisurely walk. You'll probably love the area around the Brouwersgracht and the Noorderkerk (to your right when you leave the Centraal Station).
Print a map before you go. This www.orangesmile.com/destinations/img/amsterdam_map_big.jpg is good enough for your purposes.

Becky, there's plenty of fairly quick sights to see in Amsterdam on your layover. I too would vote for taking the train in to Centraal. If you do end up in the Noorderkerk area make sure you stop for apple pie at Winkels 43 - across the street from the church. They have markets outside the church on Saturdays and Monday mornings that are interesting to browse through.
To get a taste of what Amsterdam used to be like you might enjoy visiting one of the canal houses. I highly recommend Museum Van Loon and Willet-Holthuysen canal house museums. You might also consider a visit to Our Lord in the Attic. Enjoy wandering the canals! If you really want to do a walking tour I can also recommend Mark Law of ThatDamGuide. We thoroughly enjoyed a city walking tour with him.