Madrid - itinerary help.

Federico Barroso (spainfred.com) is a Rick Steves tour guide in Madrid.
I have met two "life changing" tour guides in my travels....Federico is one of them.
Absolutely the highest recommendation. He sings, too!

I believe it is a mistake to do Toledo as a day trip. Because everyone does it as a day trip. So you are there when it is at its very worst: very crowded (and very hot, in the summer). Instead arrive late afternoon, enjoy the afternoon and evening when all the crowds have left, stay overnight in the old city, enjoy the morning before the crowds show up, then leave when they do.

What happens after Day 4?

1. I would consider Mercado San Miguel for lunch on Day 3. You could also cruise Puerto del Sol after lunch.
2. As an alternative to your proposed schedule, consider the late Friday afternoon train to Toledo and spend two nights and the Saturday in between there. Take the Sunday morning train back to Atocha station, where you will have to go anyway to catch the train to Sevilla. If you are going this June, you need to start booking rooms now.

You don't mention your hotel location, which could influence your options. However, I'm not a fan of bus tours, nor am I keen on slogging it in a museum on Day #1.

Day 1 – Wednesday (arrive mid morning)
Stroll thru Retiro Park
Explore the historic La Latina district
Mercado San Miguel (for drinks and snacks)

Day 2 – Thursday
am...City Walk

Temple of Debod
Plaza de Espana
Plaza de Oriente
Plaza Mayor (morning coffee)
Puerta del Sol
Metropolis Bldg
Plaza de Cibeles
Puerta del Alcala

Lunch in the Salamanca district
pm...Prado Museum

Day 3 – Friday
am...Royal Palace
Visit Basilica San Francisco el Grande, then lunch on Plaza Santa Ana.
pm...Reina Sofia Museum

Day 4 – Saturday
Day trip to Toledo

I, too, prefer overnighting in Toledo (which I like more than Madrid), but not everyone has time for that, especially if they are interested in Madrid's large art museums.

I agree with David's proposal that you basically just walk around outdoors on your arrival day. One or more of your group is highly likely to be sleep-deprived and severely jetlagged that day. If I sat down on a bus on Day 1, I'd be asleep within 10 minutes. And an art museum? No way. I spent some time at the Botanical Garden on my arrival day in 2016, and that worked well for me. However, I was staying in a nearby hotel, so it was an especially practical choice.

Check locally to be sure that the Temple of Debod has reopened. It was closed last year for some structural work, I think. It's in a slightly out-of-the way location, so you don't want to head over there if you can't get in.

When I was 11, the next-to-last thing I would have wanted is to spend hours in a museum looking at paintings. The last thing is to be dragged to another museum for hours of more paintings.

Mercado San Miguel is for eating - graze through a late breakfast, anytime for lunch, all evening for dinner. On both my visits, I stayed at a hotel on Puerto del Sol, can't think of anything to see there.

We just returned from a 2-week vacation in Spain with my 2 kids, ages 13 and 12. We only spent an afternoon in Madrid (my personal preference based on previous trips; to each his own).

With respect to kids in art museums, I had my daughter pick a painting that might interest her (she chose "Guernica"). At home, prior to the trip, she spent time researching the painting: historical context, the painter's biography, history of the painting itself, etc. When we got to Madrid, she was excited to actually go to the Reina Sofia and see the painting itself; it was a lot more interesting than just a picture on a wall. After seeing "Guernica," we wandered through the museum looking at other art for about an hour, and then she was all done and we left in a good mood. So, we grownups got a taste of the art museum, and she didn't feel like we were torturing her. You could do the same for a piece or two at the Prado.

I would also encourage you to stay longer in Toledo. It is a wonderful place to "settle in" and feel like you are really in Spain. Consider traveling directly there from the airport and staying in Toledo and then doing a day trip to Madrid (depending on how much you want to see in Madrid). As the above poster said, it is easy to travel from Toledo to Sevilla, since you have to go through Atocha anyway. We did this on our trip (Toledo to Sevilla), and it was very efficient.

Also consider staying in an apartment vs. a hotel. Not sure how long your trip is, but we found that having the extra space in apartments was really nice; family closeness is great, but it's nice to have rooms to escape to for a little alone time on a longer trip! My kids especially liked retreating at the end of busy days for some quiet time in their rooms. And I found apartments to be really economical; our apartment in Toledo was an especially good bargain (and we loved it): https://www.casadelosmozarabes.com/

Make sure you don't miss San Gines in Madrid for churros and chocolate (just off of the Plaza Mayor)!

DAVID from Brisbane has sound suggestions.

I, too, agree to save the Reina Sophia for another day. It is huge. Everyone will be jet-lagged, so take it easy on arrival day. If you're nearby, the Royal Botanical gardens are nice to walk around. I went to Toledo as a day trip in late September, we had a nice time and saw what we wanted to see. I agree it would be nice to spend a day and a night there, though. Enjoy Madrid, it's wonderful!

I am a super museum geek, and even I can't imagine spending a full day in the Prado/El Retiro Park. You should have time for something else on Day 2.

You might as well walk a short way from the Prado and check out the Naval Museum. It costs about 2 Euros and has the first known (to Europeans) map of the Western Hemisphere.

I've got three suggestions for your art experience with an 11 year old....

1) Consider the Prado in the evening when it's free (I think they do that still). It's not cheap, and with an 11-year-old you won't feel the pressure to "get your money's worth" if you go when it's free. Then you can take the suggestion someone made above to have your child research a painting or two.

2) Consider hiring a private guide who specializes in children/families to tour the museum with us. We did that in Florence and it made an enormous difference. The guide had little anecdotes to tell about the paintings and the kids listened to the guide (at least in part because he wasn't a parent telling them what to do, but a teacher sharing information). It really made summer art galleries in Florence do-able. When we get to the Prado this year, we're doing this again for sure.

3) Consider visiting the Joaquin Sorolla museum instead of the bigger museums. He is a master impressionist and his museum includes his studio, which any child interested in art or painting might enjoy. Furthermore, it's small and manageable. :-) No doubt the other museums have more famous masterworks, but will an 11-year-old care? Sorolla painted beaches and sunlight. He really is one of my favorites.

At any rate, enjoy! Madrid can be an enchanting city if you give it a chance.

Thanks for the info. As a family we enjoy going to Art museums. We have been bringing our daughter since she was about 3.

Puerto del Sol is close to the Mercado so you can see it as you are walking. FYI, I had a flat near Sol and apart from the famous statue and La Mallorquina bakery, there isn't much to see except big brand stores.