Toronto Museums for beginners
(Russian version here)
Toronto has many museums, each and every one of which is bragging of being the most entertaining, engaging, immersive and interactive. I spent a year visiting them on a regular basis, with two young children in tow. Here is my takeaway on which ones are worth their money, and why.
As a parent, I want a museum to be accessible, both in space and in time. I want it to be open when I’m off work and to be reachable by public transportation.
As a customer, I want it to be reasonably priced.
As users, my kids want a museum to be interactive. They couldn’t care less about the history or geography unless they can press, push, touch and feel.
Unfortunately, with Toronto museums you rarely can get all three of these parameters.
There are three big places where family membership is worth its money, albeit with caveats. Ontario Science Center is the most interactive and can be relatively cheap, but is poorly accessible. Royal Ontario Museum is accessible and not-too-expensive, but the interactive component is sorely lacking. Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada is pricey, but it’s open late and is reasonably interactive, with a playground onsite and lots of exhibits to tinker with.
There is a number of smaller places, like Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Textile Museum, Aga Khan Museum (of Islamic arts), Bata Shoe and Art Gallery of Ontario, which one can visit for free with a pass from the Toronto Public Library. They are also free on Wednesday evenings (all but Textile Museum). Bata Shoe is free on Sundays.
Aaand there is such a thing as Toronto Zoo. Well. It’s located far, far away. Getting there on public transport is possible but tricky, getting there by car takes a lot of urban driving and $14 for parking, even if you have a membership. My son loves animals, so we go there. Otherwise, the joy I get from watching the otters and tigers wouldn’t compensate for the hardships of logistics.
Above was the short overview of the museums we visit regularly. Below, I’ll go into details of the good, the bad and the ugly of each.
Ontario Science Center.
Good:
1) Super-interactive. Tons of stuff to touch, press, pour, blow and throw. Kids love it.
2) New exhibitions arrive regularly, most of them interactive, too. The Bug Lab was awesome, the Ice Age good, the Indigenous Ingenuity decent.
3) Have regular onsite drop-in programs like Hair-Raising Experience or Spooky Science, providing kids with the additional exposure to science.
4) Big nice cafeteria with tasty pizza and icecream.
Bad:
1) Science Arcade is vehemently anti-science. You need to bring your own physicist with you to explain what’s going on. Otherwise, the explanations on the exhibits only leave you with the feeling that you’re supposed to guess things that humanity spent centuries to devise.
2) Work hours are horrible. Mondays and Tuesdays the place is closed; for the rest of the week it’s open 10-4. So, it’s impossible to go there on weekdays if you kids are at school and you’re at work. This means the whole Toronto goes there on weekends, resulting in --
3) Crowds. If you can go off-peak hours, do it. Last two hours before closing work best.
4) Not very accessible. You need to use the subway and a bus to get there. Located close to Aga Khan Museum of Islamic Art.
Royal Ontario Museum
Good:
1) New exhibitions arrive regularly
2) Hours are 10 to 5:30 (closed on Mon and Tue).
3) The second floor (biodiversity and Dawn of Life) are somewhat interactive. Kids can draw, try wings and capes on, build an ecosystem, touch animals’ horns, skulls and feathers. They also have extra kids activities on Sundays.
4) Location. ROM is super close to two other museums (Bata Shoe and Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art). Also, there are two picturesque old city districts there (the Annex and the University of Toronto central campus), which makes it a good spot to visit with the guests of the city.
5) Runs ROMWalks: free guided tours through historic places of Toronto running from April to September.
Bad:
1) Not very interactive. Most halls don’t have any interactivity at all.
2) Closed on Mons and Tues (but opens in summer)
Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada
Good:
1) Accessibility! Walking distance from Union station. Open till 7 pm in winter, and even till later hours in summer.
2) Decent interactivity. There are lots of little exhibits where kids can press a button or turn a handle for something to happen. You can also touch shrimps and stingrays.
3) Boasts an onsite playground and a cafeteria.
4) Doesn’t depend on the weather conditions: you can reach Aquarium via PATH.
Bad:
1) Pricey compared to other places. The staff needs to snap a picture of you to print your membership card, which is a hussle when you have 2 kids who already got glimpse of the fishies. Still, you go through it once and after that you just go in bypassing the line.
Bata Shoe, the shoe museum
Good:
1) Free with Museum+Art pass from Toronto Public Library. Free on Sundays.
2) Kids always get a bag with some craft to try.
3) Kids can try on various funny shoes in the lower gallery
4) Cool new exhibitions arrive sometimes
5) Makes an excellent combo with a ROM visit or a walk around the Annex
Bad:
1) Repeatability. My daughter loves shoes, so I go there often and combine it with ROM. Otherwise, I wouldn’t go there more often than twice a year.
Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art
Плюсы:
1) Free with Museum+Art pass from Toronto Public Library. Free on Wednesdays after 6 pm.
2) It has a pad for kids on the second floor. The scenic elevator is awesome.
3) Cool exhibitions arrive regularly.
4) Makes a good combo with the walk around the Annex or UofT central campus.
Bad:
1) Poor interactivity, almost nothing for kids to do. It gets better around Christmas: visitors can try their hand with clay.
Textile Museum of Canada
Good:
1) Free with Museum+Art pass from Toronto Public Library.
2) Interactive. Visitors can try working on a loom and crafting something out of bright pieces of felt.
3) Nice exhibitions arrive sometimes. I love the quilt one.
4) Located close to AGO, can be combined with the visit there.
Bad:
1) Very small. I don’t go there more often than twice a year.
Art Gallery of Ontario, AGO
1) Free with Museum+Art pass from Toronto Public Library. Free on Wednesdays after 6 pm.
2) Extended hours on Fridays, which is good for the Annual pass holders, as there are less crowds.
3) Annual pass is only $35
4) Cool exhibitions (Obsidian is awesome)
5) Galleria Italia is beautiful.
6) For kids, there is an entire underground floor dedicated to crafts and learning. You can get there if you walk past the coat check and down the stairs.
Bad:
N/A
Aga Khan Museum of Islamic Art
Bad:
1) Free with Museum+Art pass from Toronto Public Library. Free on Wednesdays after 6 pm.
2) Interactive: Bellerive Room on the main floor has a number of things for kids to do and books for adults to check out.
3) The museum grounds are lit beautifully on summer evenings. Good location to have a leisurely stroll with a friend.
Bad:
1) Hard to get to it. The only thing nearby is the Ontario Science Center. They can be combined if you have a pass to Aga Khan and a membership at OSC.
Toronto Zoo
Good:
1) LOTS of animals
2) Good to visit year round. The place has four tropical pavilions, and there are next to no visitors there in winter.
3) Kids love the carousel and GET CRAZY over zoomobile
4) There are spots with pizza and icecream in summer
5) Somewhat interactive: sometimes there are stands with animal skulls, fur, claws etc.
6) Free with Museum+Art pass from Toronto Public Library. Good luck getting it.
Bad:
1) It takes forever to get there, bus or car
2) The parking is not included in the membership and gets super crowded in summer.
3) The interactive component is unpredictable.
All these places will spam you with their special programs, classes and camps. In my opinion, no on-time program or class will give you the same value as regular visits. If your kids are anything like mine, they don’t want a lecture on a topic they didn’t choose; they want to lay their hands on that thing right there right now.
In other words, kids need to sate their curiosity first. They need to get oversaturated with the regular exhibits on display. This will also give the parents the opportunity to notice what their kids are interested in most. For example, my son is into animals, my daughter is into science demonstrations, and both of them love water play at KidSpark!
So, regular visits come first. Special offers can wait until you know their true worth for your family.
Toronto has many museums, each and every one of which is bragging of being the most entertaining, engaging, immersive and interactive. I spent a year visiting them on a regular basis, with two young children in tow. Here is my takeaway on which ones are worth their money, and why.
As a parent, I want a museum to be accessible, both in space and in time. I want it to be open when I’m off work and to be reachable by public transportation.
As a customer, I want it to be reasonably priced.
As users, my kids want a museum to be interactive. They couldn’t care less about the history or geography unless they can press, push, touch and feel.
Unfortunately, with Toronto museums you rarely can get all three of these parameters.
There are three big places where family membership is worth its money, albeit with caveats. Ontario Science Center is the most interactive and can be relatively cheap, but is poorly accessible. Royal Ontario Museum is accessible and not-too-expensive, but the interactive component is sorely lacking. Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada is pricey, but it’s open late and is reasonably interactive, with a playground onsite and lots of exhibits to tinker with.
There is a number of smaller places, like Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, Textile Museum, Aga Khan Museum (of Islamic arts), Bata Shoe and Art Gallery of Ontario, which one can visit for free with a pass from the Toronto Public Library. They are also free on Wednesday evenings (all but Textile Museum). Bata Shoe is free on Sundays.
Aaand there is such a thing as Toronto Zoo. Well. It’s located far, far away. Getting there on public transport is possible but tricky, getting there by car takes a lot of urban driving and $14 for parking, even if you have a membership. My son loves animals, so we go there. Otherwise, the joy I get from watching the otters and tigers wouldn’t compensate for the hardships of logistics.
Above was the short overview of the museums we visit regularly. Below, I’ll go into details of the good, the bad and the ugly of each.
Ontario Science Center.
Good:
1) Super-interactive. Tons of stuff to touch, press, pour, blow and throw. Kids love it.
2) New exhibitions arrive regularly, most of them interactive, too. The Bug Lab was awesome, the Ice Age good, the Indigenous Ingenuity decent.
3) Have regular onsite drop-in programs like Hair-Raising Experience or Spooky Science, providing kids with the additional exposure to science.
4) Big nice cafeteria with tasty pizza and icecream.
Bad:
1) Science Arcade is vehemently anti-science. You need to bring your own physicist with you to explain what’s going on. Otherwise, the explanations on the exhibits only leave you with the feeling that you’re supposed to guess things that humanity spent centuries to devise.
2) Work hours are horrible. Mondays and Tuesdays the place is closed; for the rest of the week it’s open 10-4. So, it’s impossible to go there on weekdays if you kids are at school and you’re at work. This means the whole Toronto goes there on weekends, resulting in --
3) Crowds. If you can go off-peak hours, do it. Last two hours before closing work best.
4) Not very accessible. You need to use the subway and a bus to get there. Located close to Aga Khan Museum of Islamic Art.
Royal Ontario Museum
Good:
1) New exhibitions arrive regularly
2) Hours are 10 to 5:30 (closed on Mon and Tue).
3) The second floor (biodiversity and Dawn of Life) are somewhat interactive. Kids can draw, try wings and capes on, build an ecosystem, touch animals’ horns, skulls and feathers. They also have extra kids activities on Sundays.
4) Location. ROM is super close to two other museums (Bata Shoe and Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art). Also, there are two picturesque old city districts there (the Annex and the University of Toronto central campus), which makes it a good spot to visit with the guests of the city.
5) Runs ROMWalks: free guided tours through historic places of Toronto running from April to September.
Bad:
1) Not very interactive. Most halls don’t have any interactivity at all.
2) Closed on Mons and Tues (but opens in summer)
Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada
Good:
1) Accessibility! Walking distance from Union station. Open till 7 pm in winter, and even till later hours in summer.
2) Decent interactivity. There are lots of little exhibits where kids can press a button or turn a handle for something to happen. You can also touch shrimps and stingrays.
3) Boasts an onsite playground and a cafeteria.
4) Doesn’t depend on the weather conditions: you can reach Aquarium via PATH.
Bad:
1) Pricey compared to other places. The staff needs to snap a picture of you to print your membership card, which is a hussle when you have 2 kids who already got glimpse of the fishies. Still, you go through it once and after that you just go in bypassing the line.
Bata Shoe, the shoe museum
Good:
1) Free with Museum+Art pass from Toronto Public Library. Free on Sundays.
2) Kids always get a bag with some craft to try.
3) Kids can try on various funny shoes in the lower gallery
4) Cool new exhibitions arrive sometimes
5) Makes an excellent combo with a ROM visit or a walk around the Annex
Bad:
1) Repeatability. My daughter loves shoes, so I go there often and combine it with ROM. Otherwise, I wouldn’t go there more often than twice a year.
Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art
Плюсы:
1) Free with Museum+Art pass from Toronto Public Library. Free on Wednesdays after 6 pm.
2) It has a pad for kids on the second floor. The scenic elevator is awesome.
3) Cool exhibitions arrive regularly.
4) Makes a good combo with the walk around the Annex or UofT central campus.
Bad:
1) Poor interactivity, almost nothing for kids to do. It gets better around Christmas: visitors can try their hand with clay.
Textile Museum of Canada
Good:
1) Free with Museum+Art pass from Toronto Public Library.
2) Interactive. Visitors can try working on a loom and crafting something out of bright pieces of felt.
3) Nice exhibitions arrive sometimes. I love the quilt one.
4) Located close to AGO, can be combined with the visit there.
Bad:
1) Very small. I don’t go there more often than twice a year.
Art Gallery of Ontario, AGO
1) Free with Museum+Art pass from Toronto Public Library. Free on Wednesdays after 6 pm.
2) Extended hours on Fridays, which is good for the Annual pass holders, as there are less crowds.
3) Annual pass is only $35
4) Cool exhibitions (Obsidian is awesome)
5) Galleria Italia is beautiful.
6) For kids, there is an entire underground floor dedicated to crafts and learning. You can get there if you walk past the coat check and down the stairs.
Bad:
N/A
Aga Khan Museum of Islamic Art
Bad:
1) Free with Museum+Art pass from Toronto Public Library. Free on Wednesdays after 6 pm.
2) Interactive: Bellerive Room on the main floor has a number of things for kids to do and books for adults to check out.
3) The museum grounds are lit beautifully on summer evenings. Good location to have a leisurely stroll with a friend.
Bad:
1) Hard to get to it. The only thing nearby is the Ontario Science Center. They can be combined if you have a pass to Aga Khan and a membership at OSC.
Toronto Zoo
Good:
1) LOTS of animals
2) Good to visit year round. The place has four tropical pavilions, and there are next to no visitors there in winter.
3) Kids love the carousel and GET CRAZY over zoomobile
4) There are spots with pizza and icecream in summer
5) Somewhat interactive: sometimes there are stands with animal skulls, fur, claws etc.
6) Free with Museum+Art pass from Toronto Public Library. Good luck getting it.
Bad:
1) It takes forever to get there, bus or car
2) The parking is not included in the membership and gets super crowded in summer.
3) The interactive component is unpredictable.
All these places will spam you with their special programs, classes and camps. In my opinion, no on-time program or class will give you the same value as regular visits. If your kids are anything like mine, they don’t want a lecture on a topic they didn’t choose; they want to lay their hands on that thing right there right now.
In other words, kids need to sate their curiosity first. They need to get oversaturated with the regular exhibits on display. This will also give the parents the opportunity to notice what their kids are interested in most. For example, my son is into animals, my daughter is into science demonstrations, and both of them love water play at KidSpark!
So, regular visits come first. Special offers can wait until you know their true worth for your family.