Toronto From the Kids' View: Museums, Rides, Zoo, and More

Children who accompany their parents to the APA annual meeting in Toronto will discover a stimulating array of sights and activities certain to entertain and educate.

A must-see for children of all ages is the Ontario Science Centre in the southeast section of the city. The center offers three pavilions full of child-friendly theaters-a dozen in all-plus live demonstrations and other exhibits that illuminate discoveries in science and technology. Open every day, the science center charges $7.50 admission, but waives that charge after 5 p.m. Friday is the day to take advantage of that policy, when the museum is open until 9 p.m.; on other days, it closes at 6 p.m.

Are your children more intrigued by sports than science? Then you'll want to head for Old Toronto not far from the downtown hotels, where the Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum beckons. Located in a structure built in 1885 to house a branch of the Bank of Montreal, it displays the historic-in the form of the original Stanley Cup-to the modern-exhibits of hockey equipment and a reproduction of the Montreal Canadiens' locker room. The museum is open daily and charges admission of $8.75. It, too, has late hours on Fridays.

For children and parents free from any fear of heights, a trip to the top of the world's tallest freestanding structure, the CN Tower, may be just what the doctor ordered. After the one-minute elevator ride to the observation level of the 1,815-foot tower, visitors can gasp at the view from either indoor or outdoor observation decks or pay an extra $3 and head even higher to the Space Deck, from which the mists of Niagara Falls are sometimes visible. The observation decks are open every day and stay open late on Friday and Saturday nights. The $12 admission package allows visits to the observation decks and one ground-level amusement area.

Back on the ground, children will certainly enjoy the amusement park and children's theater at waterfront Ontario Place. The vast complex also houses a theater with a six-story movie screen and a museum in what was once a World War II vintage destroyer. Admission is $5, and the complex is open every day.

A walk through the North America's largest Chinatown will provide a unique-and free-cultural experience for children. Centered around Dundas and Spadina streets in downtown Toronto, the area is home to many of the city's still-growing population of Chinese immigrants, who now number more than 100,000, recently boosted by a large influx of Hong Kong Chinese.

And of course there is the big-city stand-by, an impressive zoo. The Metro Toronto Zoo, located in a residential area in the city's northeast suburbs, features animals in their natural habitats and extensive botanical exhibits. The grounds can be toured by a train that weaves its way through the zoo's dramatic terrain.

In the same area as the zoo is the David Dunlap Observatory, for those children and parents in search of creatures somewhat more other-worldly. Open to children aged 8 and older, the observatory features free educational lectures on Wednesday mornings and star gazing Saturday nights for a $2.50 charge.

More Activities for Kids and Teens