Best itinerary with kids Germany/France

If you are in the Rhineland, check out Berg Maus. It's a fairly easy hike (about 20 min) up a mountain to the castle to see the birds of prey demonstration. It's all in German, but the birdmeister likes kids and tries to make it special for them. Always brings his giant owl around for each of them to touch. The view over the river is stunning. It could be a good afternoon outing as a stop on a Rhine boat ride. I always drove there, so not certain if boat stops there, but that should be easy to find out.

Advice from someone who doesn't travel with kids (so grain of salt) and based on not moving around too much:
In Munich, the Deutschesmuseum there (the Smithsonian of Germany, basically) is a must. From there, I'd day trip or overnight in Salzburg or Berchtesgaden to check out The Eagle's Nest, Salt Mine, and just the natural beauty of the area. Castles near Fuessen seem like a logical next stop, can be done as a long day trip from Munich) or you could stay overnight in the area on your way to the next stop. The luges there would be a good family activity (there's also luges near Salzburg I think). My next stop would be Lake Constance. You can take a boat ride to Austria or Switzerland, there's a falconry show right across the border from Lindau in Austria, there's a great water park in the area for kids, some nice towns with historic old centers, the flower island of Mainau in Konstanz...oh and I almost forgot, the Zepplin museum in Freidrichshafen! My husband and father-in-law acted like little boys while they were there. All those places are relatively close together, so you could base in Lindau or Meersburg. Where to go next is a little trickier. To maximize time the region in France that would make sense is Alsace (going through the Black Forest which has some kid-friendly stuff, too) but I don't really think of Alsace as that enjoyable for kids, as it's most known for it's wine route and charming villages. But it turns out in Southern Alsace there are a few kid-friendly attractions, like a cool train museum in Mulhouse, as well as a car museum, an educational theme park, and a monkey preserve. Also, WWI trenches. Cont.

A potential stop before heading into Alsace would be Stuttgart. I usually don't recommend going out of your way here for adult tourists, but for kids it's actually surprisingly good. If your kid likes cars, the Porsche Museum and Mercedes Museum are both excellent (way better than the BMW museum in Munich according to my husband). We have one of the finest zoos in Europe, the Wilhelma, which was created by a king and has a lot of beautiful gardens and neo-Byzantine/Moorish architecture in addition to some very cool animal exhibits. There's also a planetarium in a large park near the train station, which has a cool interactive exhibit for kids on the controversial Stuttgart 21 train project. If you did decide to stop in Stuttgart, one night would probably be fine, then I'd go onto Alsace, where you could base in Colmar (I would recommend Strasbourg but Colmar is closer to the kid-friendly sites I mentioned in my previous post) and just visit Strasbourg from there. Are you flying out of Munich as well? You'd have a relatively easy trip back to Munich from Alsace, or if you're doing open jaw you could fly out of Frankfurt and maybe done a Rhine cruise and see some of the cool castle ruins in that area (I think for kids, the natural playground created by castle ruins might be more fun than restored castles!) Or you hit one of the amuseument parks, like Tripsdrill or Europapark. Hopefully people who have traveled with kids will weigh in with their own suggestions.

I have a couple of sons like that! Here are some things they have enjoyed in Germany. Munich: Deutsches Museum, like the German version of the Smithsonian with tons of machines, inventions, etc. BMW Welt. Zugspitze cable car. Trier area: There are a number of mines with tourist visits. We went to the slate mine at Fell. Tours only in German, but a wonderful back door place. Only 2 other people there. Our kids loved it. There is also a gemstone mine at Edelstein. Rhine: Special recommendation for the kid scavenger hunt at Rheinfels as it is particularly well done. And creeping through tunnels with a candle is just wicked cool. Berlin: Technical Museumtransport, tech, all kinds of "how the Germans make things work" exhibits. My "boys" could barely be dragged out the door. Outside of Berlin, the "Niederfinow Schiffshebewerk." This is a ship lift on a canal to the Elbe that raises boats 30 meters. You can ride on a boat through the lift and back down again! There is a dam up the road you can visit too. Dresden: Transparent VW factory. Well-described in Rick's German book. Otherwise, Dresden is a bit boring for a 7 y/o. Second the vote for a dip into Austria for salt mines and a ride on a summer luge track. Unbeatable for kid thrills unique to the area.

Regarding Ruth's Burg Maus suggestion - the falconry show is a great idea, but that place has closed. Visit Reichsburg Castle in Cochem on the nearby Mosel River for a great falconry show if you're in that area. http://www.falknerei-reichsburg-cochem.de/fotobuch.htm If you're sticking to Bavaria, you might head across into Austria; visit Hohenwerfen Castle in Werfen, which also has a falconry show: http://www.salzburg-burgen.at/en/werfen/erlebnisburg-hohenwerfen/impressionen/index.htm You might also want to visit the Franconian Open Air Museum in Bad Windsheim, north of Munich, not far from Rothenburg. http://www.stripes.com/military-life/travel/bad-windsheim-time-travel-at-franconian-open-air-museum-1.102354

Falconry show at Reichsburg (Cochem) was also kaput when we were there in late June. Don't know if it has been reinstated. The castle is excellent, though!

If you end up going to/staying in Colmar: there is a butterfly and a protective stork sanctuary in Hunawihr village. There are apparently buses that apparently ply to Hunawihr from Colmar (in case you are not driving) Not sure if they'll hold the interests of a 7 year old, but we are planning to travel with our three and a half year old to Colmar in mid-Sept and it is on my list! Also, there are boat trips available in Strasbourg that may be of interest to kids.

Are you interested in France at all? The title says France, but your text says Germany. If you're interested in France, there are a lot of places that could interest your son. Near the top of my list would be Clos Lucé - the final home of Leonardo da Vinci. There are large size mockups of some of his inventions that children are able to actually work/play on. It was a huge hit with my kids. There are some other neat chateaux in the area. Your son may also be interested in touring a wine cave (my kids liked Cave des producteurs in nearby Vouvray). I could recommend other things for other areas of France if you're interested.

"Falconry show at Reichsburg (Cochem) was also kaput when we were there in late June. Don't know if it has been reinstated. The castle is excellent, though!" Were you there on a Monday? It's dark on Mondays. There is a comment in German on Tripadvisor from a visitor claiming to still be excited about his visit to the falconry show two weeks after he visited IN JULY THIS YEAR. I have seen nothing online at the castle or town website to indicate it is closed except for your comment.

The Falconry show in Cochem was going on when I visited in a weekend in July, fyi

Glad to hear the Cochem falcon show is up and running! I speak German and the staff were quite clear that there were no falcons to be seen in June. They implied that there was trouble getting the birds and were not sure when the show would resume. (We were not there on a Monday.) I guess they worked it out!