You know the Saturday morning spiral. Kids are already awake, already restless, and you’re lying in bed Googling “things to do in Toronto with kids this weekend” like it’s going to give you a different answer than last time.
It doesn’t. You end up at the same three places. Or you spend 45 minutes researching, can’t decide, and everyone ends up at the park again.
I did this every single week for years. So my friend and I fixed it.
What Play Day Passport Is (and Why It’s Different)
We’ve been working on Play Day Passport for six months, and I want to explain it properly because a 30 second reel on Instagram just doesn’t do it justice.
It’s 50 scratch-off cards for Toronto and GTA families. Here’s what each card actually gives you, because it’s not just a single destination:
- A featured spot (kid-tested, mom-approved)
- 3–4 bonus stops nearby so you can build a full day around it
- Kid-friendly eats in the area
- Tips so you’re not walking in blind, things we think are important to know like where to park, what age it’s best for, and perhaps what to bring
One scratch and the whole day is figured out. No Googling, no tabs, no negotiating with a four-year-old about where to have lunch!
I spent months testing every single spot with my kids before it went into the deck. Nothing made it in that I wouldn’t personally take them to.
What a Real Play Day Passport Day in Toronto Looks Like
Let me show you instead of telling you.
We scratched a card on a Sunday morning and it landed on Allan Gardens.
The featured spot: Allan Gardens Conservatory. Free to enter, open year-round, six greenhouse rooms full of tropical plants in the middle of the city. It’s also perfect as a rainy day activity in Toronto or a cold winter morning, and we love that it’s FREE!
What we did after:
- Bulldog Coffee on Parliament Street for their rainbow hot chocolate. This is exactly as good and as fun as it sounds. The owner is also a hoot and makes the most incredible baked goods.
- Little Canada, just a few minutes away. A miniature Canada exhibit with tiny replicas of cities across the country.
- Prehistoria Museum & SkullStore is genuinely one of the coolest stops for curious kids filled with skulls, bones, crystals, weird taxidermy, and even dinosaur bones. My 7 year old always talks about this place.
The tip: Start at Allan Gardens first since it’s indoors and works in any weather. By the time you’ve done the conservatory, grabbed drinks at Bulldog, explored Little Canada, and spent too long in Prehistoria, you have a full, full day. No planning required beyond the initial scratch off card.
That was our whole Sunday, planned in three seconds with no tabs open and no “I don’t know, what do YOU want to do?”
Why We Made This
I travel with my kids a lot and you’ve probably seen the reels. But the hardest days aren’t the big trips. They’re the ordinary Sundays in Toronto when you want to do something good and you just can’t figure out what.
My friend Jess from Guess Where Trips felt exactly the same way. We’ve travelled the world together with our kids (you know … the kind of trips that are equal parts magical and completely chaotic) and we both have a knack for planning really good travel itineraries. We believe deeply in the value of getting out there, even when (especially when) it’s messy. But we also know firsthand how hard it is to just get out of the house on an ordinary weekend. At some point we looked at each other and said: let’s fix this.
So for the past six months, Jess and I have been working on Play Day Passport together. As Toronto moms, we know how hard it is to actually get out of the house, and how quickly “let’s do something fun today” turns into a 45-minute Google spiral that ends with everyone at the same park you always go to. We wanted to make it genuinely easy for families to discover Toronto-area spots they might never have thought to try. Not a list but something you could actually use, spontaneously, on a random Tuesday or a grey March Saturday.
Toronto is one of the best cities in the world for families. We have neighbourhoods, green space, museums, markets, farms, trails, and waterfront all within 70km. Most Toronto families barely scratch the surface of what’s here.
That’s what we built Play Day Passport to change.
The Details
- 50 scratch-off cards
- Toronto + GTA coverage (within ~70km of the city)
- Every spot curated and tested by me personally
- Great for kids ages 2–12
Olga Valentin is a Toronto-based family travel creator and mom of two. Follow along at @mini.jetsetter on Instagram. Play Day Passport is a collaboration with her friend Jess from Guess Where Trips.
