Toronto Family Activities by Age
A toddler and a fourteen year old rarely want the same afternoon in Toronto, and the city has enough range to give each one a genuinely good day separately.
Toddlers and preschool
High Park’s free zoo, playgrounds, and Grenadier Pond cost nothing and forgive a short attention span; the cherry blossom bloom in late April or early May is worth timing a visit around. Riverdale Farm, also free, lets the smallest kids meet cows, pigs, and chickens without a ticket line anywhere. Little Canada’s indoor miniature model attraction is fully weatherproof, useful when a naptime schedule does not survive an outdoor plan.
School age
Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada, at the base of the CN Tower, carries kids under sharks and green sawfish on its Dangerous Lagoon walkway; adult tickets run roughly $40 to $45 CAD (ripleys.com ). Book a Ripley’s Aquarium ticket on GetYourGuide to secure a timed slot before you land. The Royal Ontario Museum’s dinosaur and Egyptian galleries hold attention just as long, with adult admission from about $26 to $30 CAD (rom.on.ca ). The Toronto Zoo in Rouge Valley is worth most of a day at roughly $33 CAD adult and $23 CAD for children age 3 to 12 (torontozoo.com ).
Tweens and teens
The Ontario Science Centre now runs from its interim home at Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West, with KidSpark, an Innovation Station, and a space exhibit across roughly 86,000 square feet; admission is $15 CAD, free for ages 2 and under, and the centre is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00, closed Mondays (ontariosciencecentre.ca ). Older kids handle the CN Tower’s height better than little ones; LookOut admission is $47 CAD, and EdgeWalk, the hands-free ledge walk, opens to ages 13 and up from $199 CAD, seasonal only. Compare CN Tower ticket tiers on Viator before choosing a level for the whole group.
Rainy day, any age
Little Canada and the Ontario Science Centre’s interim site both stay entirely indoors, and the Art Gallery of Ontario runs family workshops alongside its main galleries, free for Ontario residents under 25. Centreville Amusement Park on the Toronto Islands is seasonal and outdoor only, reachable by the City ferry (adult return $9.57 CAD, youth and senior $6.15 CAD, child age 2 to 14 $4.51 CAD) from the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal or a private water taxi, since there is no bridge; check the forecast before committing a whole day to it. For a downtown anchor day that pairs well with any age group, see the Toronto sightseeing guide .
Buy Ripley’s and ROM tickets online before arrival day. Both sell timed entry that keeps a family from waiting in a walk-up line with tired kids in tow.