Wandering around Toronto with your children in the summer is so much fun. Every neighbourhood has its own unique characteristics and every weekend is a different festival (or 3). You do NOT need to spend a lot of money to entertain your children.

A Toronto library card is your key to FREE arts and culture!

Seriously, all you need is one of these magical cards and… BOOM… your kids are setup better than butter – even those fancy kids who require trips to the zoo and the science centre. 

Toronto Museum and Arts Pass Program:

The program I am talking about is called the Sun Life Financial Museum+ Arts Pass Program (MAP). It’s a wonderful program that makes arts and culture available to everyone.

Here’s how it works:

1. You walk to your local library with your magical library card in hand.
2. You approach the person at the check-out desk and you choose what you would like passes to from the following list (NOTE: all passes are good for 2 adults and up to 5 children):

• AGO – Art Gallery of Ontario
• Bata Shoe Museum
• Black Creek Pioneer Village
• Casa Loma
• City of Toronto Historic Museums:
  • Colborne Lodge in High Park
  • Fort York National Historic Site
  • Gibson House Museum
  • Mackenzie House
  • Montgomery’s Inn
  • Scarborough Museum
  • Spadina Museum: Historic House & Gardens
  • Todmorden Mills Heritage Site
• Gardiner Ceramics Museum
• Museum of Inuit Art
• Ontario Science Centre
• ROM – Royal Ontario Museum
• Textile Museum of Canada
• Toronto Zoo

3.   You wave your magical Toronto library card around like a wad of cash and you walk off like a bandit with your shiny new pass.

Does this sound too good to be true?

This is the real deal. In addition to the process I have described above, however, there are some things to keep in mind:

• New passes are released each Saturday morning. You’ll need to arrive before the library opens to ensure you have a good chance of getting some of the more popular passes (i.e. ROM, Science Centre, Toronto Zoo).
• Passes run out quickly. Each library may only have 1 – 5 passes for each museum/location.
• Not all passes are available at all library locations (see here for details). 
• You can choose a maximum of 1 pass per week.
• You are required to wait 3 months before choosing the same pass twice.

Conclusion:

If you like the zoo, the science centre, museums, and arts in Toronto (and you’re a cheapskate like me), get out your google calendar and schedule yourself a Saturday morning trip to your local library. Take advantage of the Toronto Museum and Arts Pass Program. You won’t regret it. It’s magical!