Kids and children in Munich have it good. Here's a selection of links and suggestions of things to do, all collected in one place.
Family Life Forum on TT -- this section collects most of the new chat topics having to do with families and family living in Munich. Includes such topics as:
- Child friendly sightseeing in & around Munich, Things to do with a 2.5 year old in tow?
- Child or toddler friendly restaurants & shops, Places to eat and shop on a rainy day
- Baby friendly shops and restaurants in city center, Changing tables, etc.
You can go up the Olympic Tower or go up the tower of the Old Peter Church in the city center. German names: Der Fernsehturm im Olympiapark / Der Olympiaturm, Alter Peter. Ice skating on the Canal at Schloss Nymphenburg in winter. Ice skating at Stachus / Karlsplatz in winter.
A biergarten / beergarden with a playground (Augustiner, Taxigarten) is a very Munich thing to do.
Legoland in summer and a few days in winter
The Bayernpark is a small amusement park. Open only in summer.
Oktoberfest is good for kids, lots of rides and special kiddy rides too.
Schloss Neuschwanstein - Day Trip from Munich -- model for Disney's Cinderella castle. 'Nuff said.
Therme Erding -- a small water park, mostly indoors so also suitable in winter.
Marionettentheater in Munich, or the Augsburger Puppenkiste is a very famous marionette theater and only a short train ride away. Both websites are only in German, all performances at both are only in German.
Circus Krone spends the winter in Munich in their home in the Arnulfstraße. Take public transportation to Hackerbrücke, one stop away from the main train station. (Gen remarks: I've also seen the Bayrischer Rundfunkorchester play the soundtrack to Ben Hur live during the film's Easter showing. That was great.)
Don't forget, you can always type in the addresses into the Munich Public Transportation website to get bus, tram, s-bahn etc. routes to any of these attractions.
External Sites with more links and recommendations:
Muenchen.de's tourism pages in English
Muenchen.de's daytrips pages (in German, but much more complete than the English pages)
pomki.de Munich's children's portal (in German) with a weird navigation concept.
Muenchen.de's kid tourism pages (in German) -- now I get it, pomki is for kids to use, that's why it doesn't have so much information on it. It doesn't want to be overwhelming.
Pomki's list of Animal Parks in the area includes: Tierpark Hellabrunn (the zoo), Botanischer Garten München-Nymphenburg (Botanical Garden at Nymphenburg Palace), Kinder- und Jugendfarm (Children's Farm), Der Wildpark Poing (Wild Animal Park Poing) -- with deer and wild boars etc. Then also the Märchenwald im Isartal - Fairy Tale Forest in the Isar Valley, with figures that move around. Opening hours, directions, prices, and everything are on the Pomki site.
Pomki's list of Museums that kids like includes only the Valentin Musäum, about Karl Valentin and Liesl Karlstadt (famous cabaret artists in the 1930s) and the Museum Mensch und Natur, the Museum of Man and Nature in Schloss Nymphenburg. Opening hours, directions, prices, and everything are on the Pomki site.
Also good are the Children's Science Museum at the Main train station Kindermuseum, Firefighters' Museum (Feuerwehr Museum), Doll Museum (Puppenmuseum), the Hunting and Fishing Museum with genuine Wolpertinger, and of course the Deutsches Museum (German Museum), which is the Museum of Science and Technology and has its own children's area. All those latter links also include opening hours and the link "Stadtplan" will get you to a map.
Spielzeugmuseum (The Toy Museum): kati wrote: "Regarding the toy museum at Marienplatz: I hated it when I was a kid because it's just a lot of old toys and you're not even allowed to touch them." So the success of this trip is not guaranteed, but will depend very much on the kid.
Muenchen.de's list of Museums for Children -- lots more than listed here. In German.
Kaltenberger Rittertunier -- Knight's Tournament every July. Daytrip with the S-Bahn and bus.
Freilichtmuseum Glentleiten -- This is a collection of old farmhouses, all moved to one spot. The farm buildings are mostly from the 18th century, and there's also a smithy, demonstrations of various traditional crafts and preindustrial manufacturing like weaving and whatnot. Basketweaving sometimes, wood-oven bread baking, potterymaking, etc.