Toddler Takeover

It's Wednesday, and you realize you're out of fresh produce. Instead of waiting for the weekend, this guide has you and the family visiting Ravenswood for their mid-week farmers market, jumping on bouncy houses, and having a picnic in the park.

Start your day at a sustainable farm, picking up fresh produce and sipping local coffee. Then, step into a neighboring nature preserve for an easy stroll or a longer hike through a tall grass savanna. End the day at a family-owned brewery, with craft beer paired with a delicious brisket sandwich.

This week's guide takes you to Garfield Park in search of a bit of inspiration. The first stop is to one of the oldest and largest conservatories in the country, where you'll wander through 4.5 acres of indoor gardens and let the vast rooms of tropical plants and small ponds help you de-stress. Afterward, you'll visit a restaurant with a socially conscious mission of supporting men and women to overcome poverty and homelessness. Here are the highlights. 

Young kids in daycare learn to make friends. But my guess is you're learning to do the same with other parents too. With that in mind, we've planned a casual playdate with your new parent friends. You'll pick up Cambodian fried chicken sandwiches and then take it down the street to a tap room that kind of looks like a daycare on Saturday afternoons.

Getting a slice of pie is the answer to a lot of situations. Kids being exceptionally well-behaved? Reward the family with pie. Kids running roughshod over the house, and have you ready to pull your hair out? Well, don't you deserve pie for all your troubles? This guide has you having lunch at what looks like a classic small-town diner, and then you follow it up with some playtime at a library across the street.

Do you recall your first live theater show? Maybe it was on a school field trip to watch The Nutcracker, or perhaps it was a big Broadway production later on in life. No matter the age, there's something magical the first time you see the lights turn down and the show begins. For this guide, you're taking the kids to a nationally-acclaimed children's theater known for its original shows and high-value productions. Before that, you'll visit a Saturday farmer's market hosted inside a park where your kids can grab some eats and burn off some energy before the show.

For this guide, take the family to Bridgeport to fly kites and have a picnic at a giant rock quarry turned park. But first, you'll have everyone stretch their legs and take a short stroll through the neighborhood to gather all the necessary picnic provisions: tavern-style pizza and paczkis for dessert.

There is no shortage of outdoor markets when summer rolls around. For today's guide, we'll visit a wonderful farmer's market in Woodlawn, just south of the University of Chicago campus. You'll stroll through the market with your family and pick up fresh produce, pies, and a smorgasbord of items from a local French chef. After feeding our bodies, you'll feed our minds at the Museum of Science and Industry nearby.

This guide has the family walking through fields of wildflowers and exploring an island nature preserve on the South Side. But before that, you'll grab brunch and beignets at a French cafe and then head down the block to a basement bookshop where you'll find books to take along your nature walk. Here are the details.

This guide takes you on a mini-Swedish adventure in Andersonville that works as a leisurely Sunday morning outing. This is a historically Swedish neighborhood on Chicago's Far North Side, and we'll be doing our best to immerse ourselves and our kids into the food and culture. Here are the highlights.