Autumn break 2026 is around the corner: this blog shows you simple ways to keep your child connected to Dutch.

The autumn break is a welcome moment to slow down. No school runs, no homework and, for many families, a chance to travel, spend time together or simply enjoy a quieter week at home.

But if your child is learning Dutch, you may also notice something else.

Perhaps they have only just started using Dutch words at school. Maybe they are beginning to read in Dutch. Or perhaps Dutch is one of several languages in their life, and you know that, as soon as the school doors close, almost all of their Dutch exposure disappears too.

Parents sometimes tell us: “She has finally started using some Dutch words, and during the holiday she will hear almost no Dutch at all.”

That does not mean you need to turn the autumn break into a week of Dutch lessons. Quite the opposite.

A holiday should still feel like a holiday. But a few small, enjoyable moments of Dutch during the week can help keep the language familiar and present, even if you do not speak much Dutch yourself.

When is the autumn break in the Netherlands in 2026?

The recommended dates for the Dutch autumn school holiday in 2026 are:

• North region: 10–18 October 2026
• Central region: 17–25 October 2026
• South region: 17–25 October 2026

These are advisory dates for the autumn break, so individual schools may choose different dates. Always check your child’s school calendar before making plans.

Whether you are staying in the Netherlands or travelling abroad, the autumn break offers plenty of opportunities to keep Dutch part of everyday life without making it feel like school.

Does my child need to practise Dutch during the school holidays?

Not necessarily in the traditional sense of practising. Children need rest, play and unstructured time too. A week away from worksheets will not undo all the Dutch your child has learned. What can change temporarily is the amount of exposure.

For an international child who learns Dutch mainly at school, the difference can be quite large. During a normal school week, Dutch may be everywhere: the teacher, classmates, playground, reading books and instructions. During a holiday abroad, that environment can suddenly disappear.

The same applies to Dutch-speaking children growing up abroad. Dutch may be a home language, but it often competes with a much stronger community or school language.

You therefore do not necessarily need more lessons during the holiday. What helps is keeping Dutch present.

That can be as simple as a story before bed, a Dutch children’s programme, a conversation during a walk or baking something together using a Dutch recipe.

Go outside and talk about autumn in Dutch

Autumn itself gives you plenty to talk about. Go for a walk in the park or forest and look for bladeren (leaves), kastanjes (chestnuts), eikels (acorns), paddenstoelen (mushrooms), takken (branches) and perhaps lots of regen (rain).

With younger children, you can keep it very simple:

• What colour is this leaf?
• Can you find a brown one?
• Is this leaf big or small?
• How many chestnuts did you find?

You do not have to speak fluent Dutch to do this. Choose five or ten words beforehand and use them repeatedly.

For young children, Kleuteridee has an interactive autumn picture, songs, vocabulary cards and other activities around themes such as rain, wind, chestnuts, acorns and mushrooms.

The goal is not to teach your child twenty new words during one walk. It is to give Dutch a small, natural place in something you are already doing.

Read together in Dutch

Reading is one of the easiest ways to keep Dutch in your child’s life during a school holiday. You don’t necessarily have to understand every Dutch word yourself.

With younger children, look at a picture book together and talk about the illustrations. Ask your child what they recognise. If your child understands more Dutch than you do, let them explain something to you. That role reversal can be surprisingly motivating.

You could choose an autumn story such as De Blaadjesdief or simply visit the library and let your child choose a Dutch book that appeals to them.

For children who are just learning to read, short and achievable reading moments are usually more helpful than asking them to read a large amount at once. Ten relaxed minutes can be enough.

And if reading Dutch books together is already part of your routine, keep it going during the holiday — perhaps in the morning instead of at bedtime, in a café, on the train or during a rainy afternoon.

Watch Dutch television without making it homework

Screen time can also become Dutch-language time. There is a great deal of high-quality Dutch children’s content available online. The key is choosing something that fits your child’s age and interests.

Schooltv has educational videos on a wide range of subjects and ages. For older primary-school children, Het Klokhuis is a wonderful way to combine Dutch with science, history, society and everyday questions. And children who are interested in what is happening in the world can watch the NOS Jeugdjournaal.

For younger children, songs, stories and programmes such as Juf Roos can provide lots of repetition and accessible vocabulary.

You do not need to test your child afterwards. Simply ask one question:

What was it about?

Or:

What did you find funny or interesting?

That short conversation often adds more language value than turning the video into an exercise.

Sing Dutch songs

Songs are particularly useful for young children because repetition happens naturally.

Children may happily listen to the same song twenty times, something most of us would struggle to achieve with a vocabulary worksheet. Autumn songs also introduce seasonal words in context: wind, regen, blaadjes, bos, koud and paddenstoel. If your Dutch is limited, singing along is still possible. Find a video with lyrics and learn together.

Your pronunciation does not have to be perfect. What matters most is that Dutch becomes something you share rather than something your child only encounters at school.

Cook or bake together in Dutch

Cooking is one of my favourite ways to bring language into everyday life because there is a real reason to read, talk and follow instructions. Autumn is perfect for making soup, apple cake, pancakes or something with pumpkin.

Find a Dutch recipe and look at it together. What ingredients do you need? Can your child make the shopping list? What does snijden mean? What happens after you roert? How many gram or eetlepels do you need?

For children who are learning Dutch, these are useful everyday words. For children who already speak Dutch well, you can make the activity more challenging by letting them read the recipe aloud or explain the steps in their own words.

And at the end, you have something to eat. That helps too.

Dutch activities for beginning readers

If your child has only recently started learning to read in Dutch, you may be tempted to keep practising intensively during the holiday. Try to keep it light.

Beginning reading requires regular exposure, but motivation matters enormously too. You could:

• look for letters on signs while you are outside;
• play a simple letter or word bingo;
• write a postcard to someone in Dutch;
• make labels for things in a holiday home;
• read the menu in a Dutch café;
• play I spy using Dutch words;
• let your child write three sentences about their day.

A child who writes: Ik zag een eekhoorn. We gingen naar het bos. Het regende. has practised spelling, sentence building and vocabulary without completing a single worksheet.

What about apps for learning Dutch?

Apps can certainly be useful, particularly during travel or on rainy days. But I would not fill a child’s autumn break with educational apps simply because they are educational.

Choose an app when it supports something your child is already learning and enjoys using.

For younger children, letter, vocabulary and early-reading apps can provide extra repetition. Children who are learning to read may enjoy apps that practise letter sounds, word recognition or short texts. The most useful question is not: Is this app educational? But: Does this particular app fit what my child is learning right now?

Twenty minutes with the right activity can be more useful than working through several apps that are either too easy or too difficult.

Older children and teenagers: Dutch does not have to look like a lesson

With older children, language activities need to grow with them. A twelve-year-old is unlikely to be enthusiastic about an autumn vocabulary worksheet designed for young children. Instead, start with their interests.

Watch a Dutch football video. Follow Dutch creators online. Read an article about a subject your child likes. Listen to Dutch music. Watch the Jeugdjournaal and discuss one news story. Ask your child to plan part of a day trip using Dutch websites.

If your family is travelling, your child could keep a short Dutch travel diary or send a Dutch message to grandparents. Dutch remains the language, but the content becomes age-appropriate. That distinction is important.

What if I don’t speak Dutch myself?

This is one of the questions international parents often have. How can you help your child learn a language you do not speak?

You do not have to become your child’s Dutch teacher. You can create opportunities.

Put on a Dutch audiobook. Visit the library. Encourage your child to order something themselves in Dutch. Watch a programme together. Ask them what a Dutch word means. Arrange contact with a Dutch-speaking friend. Let your child teach you five autumn words.

Showing interest in the language sends an important message too: Dutch matters in our family, even if we don’t all speak it yet.

For children learning Dutch as a second or third language, that support can be very valuable.

Use the autumn break to create experiences your child can talk about

At Dutch for Children, we often notice how much richer a conversation becomes after a holiday. A child has something real to tell.

They went to the forest. Visited grandparents. Took a plane. Saw a football match. Stayed home and baked a cake. Travelled to another country. Found an enormous spider.

Those experiences give language a purpose.

In an online lesson, a teacher can use photographs, objects or stories from the holiday to work on speaking, vocabulary, sentence structure and writing, at exactly the level that suits that child. That is very different from learning a random list of vocabulary.

Language becomes the tool a child needs to tell their own story.

Autumn break and Dutch: small moments are enough

You do not need to organise a Dutch programme for the autumn holiday. Your child does not need a worksheet every day. And a holiday does not become more educational simply because every activity has a learning goal attached to it.

Instead, look for small opportunities to keep Dutch alive.

Read a story. Watch something together. Find five autumn words during a walk. Bake a cake from a Dutch recipe. Call grandparents. Ask your child to tell you what happened in a Dutch programme.

Those moments add up.

And, perhaps even more importantly, they help Dutch become part of your child’s everyday life rather than a language that exists only inside a classroom.

Would you like to know how your child can develop or maintain their Dutch in a way that matches their age, language level and educational background? At Dutch for Children, we provide personalised online Dutch lessons for children aged 4 to 17 living in the Netherlands and around the world.

You are very welcome to book a free introductory meeting to discuss your child’s situation and what would suit them best.