peer reviewed ; The paper explores children’s perspectives of distance education, their learning experiences and school satisfac- tion in Luxembourg, Germany and Switzerland during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The data stem from an online questionnaire completed by 1773 primary and secondary school children aged 6–16. While the paper uses quantitative and qualitative data, it aligns with the qualitative research tradition and predominantly uses an inductive approach. The findings show that teachers offered varied types of distance education and that parents supported children. The children’s contact time with teachers and their time spent on schoolwork var- ied within and between countries. Their school satisfaction dropped in the three countries. The paper calls for training and development on distant education. ; COVID-Kids I