Family Activity in Toronto: 7 Real Things to Do With Kids

The best family activity in Toronto depends on age and weather, but Riverdale Farm, the Toronto Islands and the Royal Ontario Museum's dinosaur floor are safe bets for any visit. Most of these cost little or nothing and work well together as a day out with kids of different ages.

What is a good free family activity in Toronto?

Start with Riverdale Farm at 201 Winchester Street in Cabbagetown. It’s a real working farm right inside the city, and

Riverdale Farm is a working farm located in Toronto’s downtown Cabbagetown neighbourhood, with 7.5 acres of gardens, ponds and livestock, cows, pigs, sheep, goats and chickens among them. The farm is open daily from 9am to 5pm, including holidays, and admission is free. There’s no ticket, no line, you just walk in.

Little kids like it best for the animals up close: goats, cows, turkeys, rabbits. Older kids can wander the ravine trails behind the barns, about 3 kilometres of them, where herons and turtles hang around the ponds. The nearby Riverdale Park West has a wading pool in summer, so bring swimsuits if it’s hot. Tip: skip weekend mid-afternoons if you want the animals to yourself, mornings are quieter.

What's the best day trip for families in Toronto?

Take the ferry to the Toronto Islands. Round trip tickets run about 9.57 Canadian dollars for adults, 6.15 for students and seniors, 4.51 for kids aged 2 to 14, and free under 2. The ferry itself is part of the fun, a 15 minute ride across the harbour with the skyline behind you the whole way.

Once you’re on Centre Island, Centreville Amusement Park has no entrance fee, you only pay for rides. An all day ride pass runs about 35 Canadian dollars, or buy individual tickets at 1.80 each if your kids only want two or three rides. The park is aimed at younger children, with a carousel, a small Ferris wheel and a log flume, nothing too scary. It runs from early May through September. Tip: go on a weekday if you can, weekends get packed by early afternoon, and bring cash for the food stalls since not all of them take cards.

Where can families see dinosaurs and mummies in Toronto?

The Royal Ontario Museum on Bloor Street West has a whole floor built for kids, the Patrick and Barbara Keenan Family Gallery of Hands-on Biodiversity plus the dinosaur galleries one floor up, both are usually the first stop families make. General admission for adults runs around 26 Canadian dollars, kids under 4 are free, and it’s open daily except a few holidays, generally 10am to 5:30pm. The museum suits ages 4 and up comfortably, younger toddlers tend to get more out of the hands-on biodiversity gallery than the fossil halls. Tip: buy tickets online ahead of time, weekend mornings sell out for timed entry slots.

What's a good market for families in Toronto?

St. Lawrence Market on Front Street East is a proper food market, not a tourist trap, locals shop there for groceries on Saturdays. The main building is open Tuesday to Saturday, roughly 8am to 5pm (Saturdays until 4pm), closed Sundays and Mondays. There’s no entrance fee, obviously, you just pay for what you buy. Kids like the peameal bacon sandwiches at Carousel Bakery, a Toronto classic since the 1970s, and there’s usually a bit of theatre with vendors calling out and slicing cheese. Suits any age, strollers fit fine on weekdays but Saturdays get crowded, so go early if you have a toddler in a stroller.

Where can families walk or bike together in Toronto?

High Park in the west end has a small, free zoo with bison, llamas and capybaras, plus playgrounds, a pond for feeding ducks, and in spring the cherry blossoms near Bloor Street draw crowds. The zoo section is always open and always free. Trails suit strollers and bikes, and there’s a proper adventure playground near the Grenadier Restaurant that’s good for ages 3 to 10. Tip: park is huge, about 400 acres, so grab a map at one of the entrances or you’ll spend your first twenty minutes just getting oriented.

What's a good rainy day family activity in Toronto?

Evergreen Brick Works, in a converted 19th century brick factory near the Don Valley, runs a Saturday farmers market and has indoor exhibits plus outdoor trails and a skating rink in winter. It’s largely free to wander, though some workshops charge. Suits families with kids of any age since there’s a mix of indoor quiet space and outdoor running-around room. Tip: combine it with a walk along the Lower Don Trail if the weather cooperates, the site connects directly to it.

Is there a scavenger hunt for families in Toronto?

If your kids like puzzles more than plaques, World City Trail runs a self-guided scavenger hunt through downtown Toronto, past the Art Gallery of Ontario, Nathan Phillips Square, Old City Hall, the Hockey Hall of Fame, Union Station, Scotiabank Arena, Roundhouse Park, Ripley’s Aquarium, the CN Tower and Rogers Centre, with a riddle to solve at each stop using your phone. It works well as a family activity in Toronto because it turns an ordinary walk into a hunt, no guide or app download beyond your browser needed, and you go at your own pace.

Where	Downtown Toronto and the Toronto Islands, Ontario, Canada
Best season	Late spring to early autumn for the Islands and farm; year round for the museum and market
Cost	Free (Riverdale Farm, High Park Zoo) to about 26 to 35 Canadian dollars per person for ROM or Centreville rides
How long	Half a day per stop, a full day if combining two

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