People in the Netherlands have been making the most of the cold weather by ice skating over the country's frozen waterways.

Footage from the capital Amsterdam and the city of Delft showed children and adults donning their winter clothes, as they used ice skates and modified skateboards to glide over freezing canals.

Others chose to take a stroll along the ice.

Ice skaters skate on frozen canal during icy weather in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. REUTERS/Michael Kooren

The Netherlands' national weather institute KNMI has issued two code yellow warnings over the cold weather, with forecasts of temperatures dropping below minus 15 degrees Celsius on Friday, according to local media reports.

The body has predicted that the ice will begin to thaw on Sunday.

Countries across Europe have been feeling the effects of a cold snap, dubbed the “Beast from the East”, as freezing winds from Siberia have travelled across the region.