Free To Be

Kids aren’t the only ones who get bored. 

Finding affordable and family-friendly things to do indoors (but outside the home) are at a premium. 

Come with us as we take you on a fabulous tour of free—or almost free—fun around the city and slightly beyond. It’ll be a (cost-effective) breath of fresh air for you and the kids, both literally and figuratively.

It’s not the whole ‘Night at the Museum’, but the ROM’s Half-Price Friday Nights from 4:30 pm to 9:30 pm are pretty hot tickets. Kids aged 3 and under are free, ages 4 to 14 are $8 and adults are $12. The Bat Cave, the Hands-On Biodiversity area and the Discovery Gallery will hold great appeal for kids of all ages, along with thousands of other awe-inspiring wonders.

The kids might be surprised to find that you’re actually encouraging them to watch movies—but in this case, it’s educational, too. The National Film Board of Canada Mediatheque offers hands-on animation classes for kids (aged 3 to 13) and families. Some workshops are free, others cost on average $5 per participating child. Kids get to create their own claymation characters, then be a part of making a short claymation film. The movie is then emailed to you so your kids can watch their directorial debut over and over.

Don’t pack their swimsuits, but be prepared to shed some clothing (read: layer the kids) at the Wings of Paradise Butterfly Conservatory in Cambridge, about a 45 minute drive from the city. Inside the conservatory, the temperature ranges from 24 to 28°C with high humidity. Expect to see any (or all) of 2000–3000 species of live, free-flying butterflies and over 12 species of exotic birds, as well as various bugs, spiders and snails. There’s also a honeybee hive where you can watch the bees hard at work making honey. It’s a great place to let young kids loose with a disposable camera and see how many butterflies they manage to catch on film. For $6.50, it’s a tropical paradise when the weather outside is not so balmy.

Toronto Botanical Gardens is one of our favourite Toronto secrets, but we especially love that they offer free storytime in the Weston Family Library every Monday at 11 am for children aged 6 to 36 months.

Allan Gardens, another one of our favourites, offers 16,000 square feet of indoor beauty in six greenhouses, including the children’s conservatory—perfect for kids of all ages to explore, from babes-in-slings to just-learning-to-walk toddlers, or a grade-schooler with a green thumb.
 
The Air Canada Centre may seem like a great place to spend money, but savvy moms know there’s free fun for young and not-so-young sport-enthusiasts approximately an hour before each Raptors or Leafs game in the concourse outside the Centre (between the ACC and Union Station). You don’t have to attend the games to join in. Kids can shoot baskets, watch pick-up games, take shots on goalies, play air hockey and hockey fuzeball. 

It’s good to know that free time can be well spent with your kids.

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