Hands-on Montréal museum activities
Museums Culture, arts and heritage
There is more to Montréal museums than their blockbuster exhibitions: many give access to online collections and content, as well as offer on-site workshops and activities related to their exhibits, which allow for some hands-on experiences.
What museum exhibitions are currently in Montréal?
More than 15 million visitors explore Montréal museums each year. For locals and tourists looking for the top things to do in Montréal, click here for your Montréal museum guide to the city’s must‑see exhibitions.
What museum activities are currently available in Montréal?
Here is a rundown of some workshops and activities related to exhibitions in Montréal museums which allow for some hands-on experiences:
Downtown and Golden Square Mile
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in the Golden Square Mile hosts their Art Hive, a community-oriented monthly creative rendez-vous where participants of all ages work with supplied art materials with the assistance of an art therapist and a museum mediator. The museum also offers The Golden Art Hive for 65 and up.
The MMFA also hosts a multitude of online and in-person activities, and much of the museum’s priceless collection can be viewed online. While the MMFA Library and Archives are not open to the public, reference services are offered via email.
McCord Stewart Museum
The McCord Stewart Museum in the Golden Square Mile offers a varied cultural program of lectures, round-table discussions, screenings and special events, as part of the exhibitions on display or related to the Museum’s collections. There is also a family program of activities.
Researchers can access part of the Museum’s collections at the Archives and Documentation Centre, while the rest of us can search the Museum collections online.
Redpath Museum
Located at McGill University, the Redpath Museum of natural history opened in 1882, an architectural jewel that looks like it came straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. Its permanent collection contains some three million objects, including Ancient Egyptian mummies, a Charles Darwin exhibition, and its jaw-dropping Gorgosaurus dinosaur in the museum’s Beaux Arts main gallery.
Visitors can access the collections by appointment under supervision. All requests will be considered, but priority is given to students’ projects during the academic year. The Museum also offers events and activities, notably their educational kiosks that feature interactive games and activities for all ages. Kiosks are free, bilingual, and do not require a reservation.
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC)
The Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal – widely known as The MAC (or “Le MAC” in French) – offers a cultural program of creative workshops, conversations with artists, conferences and other special events at the downtown Place Ville Marie shopping mall and other locations during the museum’s current $57-million renovation. Click here for tickets and directions. The new MAC will open in 2028.
Canadian Centre for Architecture
The Canadian Centre for Architecture in Shaughnessy Village is not just an architectural jewel in the heart of downtown Montréal, but a world-renowned museum of architecture and international research institution that believes “architecture is a public concern.”
The CCA offers such public activities as discussions, seminars, book launches, film screenings, and guided tours to complement their exhibitions. Researchers can access the CCA collection and the CCA Research Network.
As CCA founder Phyllis Lambert says, “We’re not a museum that puts things out and says, ‘This is architecture.’ We try to make people think.”
Plateau-Mont-Royal
Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal
The Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal in the Plateau-Mont-Royal explores the 300-year history of Montréal’s first hospital, Hôtel-Dieu, along with that of the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph, a pioneering community of women who laid the foundations of the healthcare system in Montréal. The museum also offers educational activities such as outdoor day camps for children in the monastery garden, family activities and guided tours.
The museum is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Quartier des spectacles
MEM – Centre des mémoires montréalaises
The MEM – Centre des mémoires montréalaises – widely known as The MEM (or “Le MEM” in French) – is located in the heart of the former historic Red Light District of Montréal in the Quartier des Spectacles. Their temporary exhibitions tell the stories of Montréal, and the permanent exhibition Montréal asks what is, who is Montréal?
The MEM offers many cultural activities, such as workshops, round-tables and guided tours, as well as educational activities for children and teenagers. The MEM also hosts a French-only online encyclopedia.
Old Montréal and Old Port
Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Archaeology and History Complex
The Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Archaeology and History Complex in Old Montréal offers educational activities like Digging in the Future for school children interested in archaeology, and the all-ages Archaeo-Adventure workshop in which participants experience a simulated archaeological dig.
Also, more than 20,000 objects from the museum’s ethnohistorical collection can be researched online.
Families will also enjoy Pointe-à-Callière’s permanent Come Aboard! Pirates or Privateers? interactive exhibition.
Montréal Science Centre
The Montréal Science Centre in the Old Port of Montréal has many interactive installations and exhibitions year-round, including the immersive Nanualuk – Northern Expedition which offers more than 20 missions to accomplish, each featuring a different theme related to life in the Arctic, such as learning how to use a harpoon to “read” the ice, and finding your way using the stars. Every mission has a different level of difficulty.
Marguerite Bourgeoys Historic Site
Visitors are transported back through time at the Marguerite Bourgeoys Historic Site which houses the Chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours in the heart of Old Montréal. Canonized by the Vatican in 1982, Bourgeoys was the colony’s first teacher back in 1653 and is buried in the chapel.
Built in 1771 over the ruins of an earlier chapel, the Marguerite Bourgeoys Historic Site offers the Digging in the Future activity in which school children become archaeologist apprentices for 90 minutes; as well as pastoral pilgrimage walking tours in the chapel and surrounding Old Montréal neighbourhood.
PHI
The PHI in Old Montréal is a not-for-profit organization offering the best of world contemporary art. Their Education Department offers creative workshops and educational kits and activities for families and elementary schools, as well as guided tours for elementary, high school, CEGEP, university and community groups. Group visits can be combined with a creative workshop.
PHI also presents Habitat Sonore in one of Montréal’s only spatial audio listening rooms.
Château Ramezay – Historic Site and Museum of Montréal
Originally built in 1705 by Montréal’s then-governor Claude de Ramezay as his personal residence, the Château Ramezay in Old Montréal is the oldest private historical museum in Québec. It also served as the Canadian headquarters of the American Revolutionary Army in 1775-1776; Benjamin Franklin stayed here when he tried to persuade Montréal to join the American Revolution.
In addition to permanent and temporary exhibitions, the Château Ramezay offers guided tours and school programs. Its iconic and historic Governor’s Garden is a peaceful oasis in the heart of Old Montréal where visitors can take a relaxing stroll (free admission). Many activities are offered in the walled garden during summer.
The Château Ramezay welcomes visitors daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Governor’s Garden is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Beyond downtown
Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal
More than 2 million people visit Montréal’s famed Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal and its museum each year. Known as the Miracle Man of Montréal, Saint André of Montréal, known locally as Brother André, is credited with thousands of miraculous healings. Canonized in 2010, Saint André’s remains lie inside the Oratory.
The Oratory offers guided tours; the Roland-Gauthier Archive and Documentation Center is of particular interest to students and researchers, and open by appointment only; the Oratory Museum is open to all daily; and visitors who wish to embark on a pilgrimage must make reservations in advance with Visitor and Pilgrim Services.
Espace pour la vie
Montréal Espace pour la vie is the largest natural-sciences museum complex in Canada, and comprises the Jardin botanique, Planetarium, Biosphere, Insectarium and famed Biodôme. All offer educational workshops.
The Insectarium presents Insectarium Areas, a multi-sensory circuit where visitors can sense the environment the way insects do, for a total immersion in the insect world.
Over at the Biosphere, their interactive Emolab exhibition is designed for youth and families to explore the science of climate emotions, to help visitors understand and navigate the emotional responses stirred by the challenges of climate change.
Purchasing fixed-time tickets online is highly recommended.
The Ecomuseum Zoo
The Ecomuseum Zoo is the only outdoor zoo on the island of Montréal and offers visitors a unique and natural experience to observe 115 animal species – including Black Bears, River Otters, Turtles, Canada Lynx and Eagles – found in Québec’s Saint Lawrence Valley. The popular 11-hectare zoo located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue is a 30-minute drive from downtown Montréal. There is also free on-site parking for all guests.
The Ecomuseum Zoo offers guided tours and educational activities popular with school children: Breakfast for the animals and Zookeeper for a day. Each summer their Nature Camp offers kids aged 6 to 12 a whole week of unforgettable adventures.
The Ecomuseum Zoo is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The last admission of the day is at 4 p.m. Tickets must be purchased online in advance.
Richard Burnett
Richard “Bugs” Burnett is a Canadian freelance writer, editor, journalist, blogger and columnist for alt-weeklies, mainstream and LGBTQ+ publications. Bugs also knows Montréal like a drag queen knows a cosmetics counter.