Peuterspeelzaal & voorschool in Amsterdam

🎨 One thing, three names

• Peuterspeelzaal is the old name most Dutch people still use: a playgroup for toddlers, a few mornings a week.
• Peuteropvang is the national name since 2018, when playgroups and daycare were put under the same law and the same quality rules.
• Voorschool is what Amsterdam calls it. Almost 300 childcare centres in the city run a voorschool programme, and the municipality says it plainly: the voorschool is for all Amsterdam children aged 2 to 4.
• What happens there: a small, stable group, a lot of language (songs, books, talking), playing together, and a gentle routine that makes the step into basisschool at 4 much easier. Programmes have names like Piramide or Uk & Puk.
• Some children get a voorschooladvies (also called a VVE indication) from the consultatiebureau, usually around 14 months, when there is a risk of a language gap. It changes the price, not the group: the child sits in the same room as everyone else.

📋 How to register (and when)

• You can register from your child's first birthday. Children attend from 2 until they start primary school at 4.
• You register with the location, not with the city. Pick a voorschool, call or use their online form. Addresses and phone numbers are in the official Amsterdam School Finder (Schoolwijzer); in the nursery list, locations that run a voorschool are tagged Preschool.
• Register early. Locations near you and locations attached to a popular primary school fill up. Around the first birthday is normal, not neurotic.
• Ask two practical questions on the phone: how are the 16 hours spread over the week here? (some do mornings, some whole days inside a daycare) and is there a waiting list for a 2-year-old starting in month X?
• If your child has a voorschooladvies from the consultatiebureau, mention it when you register. The location arranges the municipal contribution for you.

🕘 The 16 hours

• The Amsterdam standard is 16 hours a week, over at least 3 days, 40 weeks a year. Think school weeks: most locations follow the primary-school holidays.
• Fewer hours? Possible, talk to the location. More hours? Possible, you pay for the extra hours; if you are entitled to kinderopvangtoeslag you can claim it for those hours too.
• A 2-year-old usually starts with a settling-in period (wennen): a couple of shorter visits with you nearby, then the first mornings alone.

💶 What it costs in 2026

Two routes, depending on your situation. Both start from the same maximum hourly rate of €11.23 (2026) and the same basis of 16 hours a week, 40 weeks a year, which is about €599 a month before any allowance.

• You (or your partner) work or study? You claim kinderopvangtoeslag from the Belastingdienst, exactly as for daycare: up to roughly 96% back for lower incomes, less as income rises. The voorschool must be in the national register (LRK), and in Amsterdam they are.
• Not entitled to kinderopvangtoeslag? The municipality pays a contribution instead, and the location applies for it on your behalf. What is left for you, per month, for 16 hours in 2026:

• The full table has 32 income bands; the official page linked below has all of them. With a Stadspas you never pay more than €24 a month for the 16 hours.
• Low income? Amsterdam also has Kindtegoed voorschool, an extra credit you apply for each year.
• Rule of thumb from the table: for most expat households the voorschool costs somewhere between a cheap lunch and a nice dinner per month. It is one of the best-value things the city does for families.

⚖️ Voorschool or daycare (KDV)? Honest comparison

• Cheaper? Usually yes, because you buy far fewer hours and because non-working parents get help that daycare does not offer. Per hour the price is the same.
• A replacement for daycare? No. Sixteen hours over three days does not cover a job. It covers a toddler's need for other children, a routine and Dutch words before school starts.
• Combining is normal. Many Amsterdam daycares are voorschool at the same time, so the 16 hours simply happen inside the daycare days. Others run separate voorschool groups in the morning. If you use a KDV two days a week, ask whether the voorschool programme is included or whether you can add a voorschool group on a third day.
• One quirk to expect: voorschool follows school holidays. If you work, those 12 closed weeks are exactly when a regular babysitter earns her keep.

💛 What I look at as a teacher (and what you can ask)

I am not the municipality and not your accountant; for the numbers, use the calculator above. What I can tell you is what a good voorschool group looks like from the inside.

• The same faces. Ask how many different pedagogisch medewerkers your child will see in a week. Two or three regulars beats a rotating cast, every time.
• Talking, not just watching. Sit in for ten minutes. Are the adults on the floor, naming things, asking questions? For a child learning Dutch this is the whole point.
• Your language is welcome. A good group does not ask you to stop speaking your own language at home. Children need a strong first language to build a second one on.
• Read the GGD inspection report. Every registered location has one, free, in the national register. It tells you whether the rules are met; your own eyes tell you whether it feels warm.
• Wennen is not optional. A location that wants your 2-year-old to stay a full morning on day one is telling you something.