Hold a Baby Lamb

I'm a sucker for cute baby animals - who isn't? So I love this upcoming event - "Hold a Baby Lamb!"

The Lambing Barn at Enjoy Pioneer Farm is open on Fridays and Saturdays in March from 9am-3pm for kids - and parents - to see what it's like to hold a baby lamb. And this year, the Farm also has chickens, chicks hatching, goats, rabbits, piglet and a llama to see and hold.



Lambing Days are an opportunities to get up close to a sheep and feel their wool, and kids can learn about where their wool clothes come from by watching a sheep shearing demonstration.

And while you can't take any of these cute little animal babies home, you don't have to leave empty handed. The farm sells seasonal products and produce, including farm fresh eggs.

Admission is $5 per person, or a maximum of $11 per family. Enjoy Pioneer Farm is located at Enjoy Pioneer Farm is located 17 N 400 Big Timber Rd., Hampshire. Find more information on the web site at www.enjoypioneerfarm.com.

Halloween Fall Fun

It's a crisp Monday and it sure feels like Fall... time to start thinking about Halloween!

There are lots of great pumpkin farms around the Chicago area that transform into full-on fun Halloween destinations. (Interestingly, many of them also turn into mini-zoos, which may not have much to do with Halloween but it sure is fun for the kids.) You can visit the ChicagoKids.com Halloween Zone for details on dozens of great Halloween activities and events. Here's just a sampling below. And make sure you check ahead regarding specific dates for activities, as some of the fun might happen only on weekends or certain dates.

Goebbert's Farms Pumpkins and More
2 locations - South Barrington and Hampshire
Halloween activities at Goebberts include wagon rides, pony rides, camel rides, pig racing, a corn stalk maze and a little straw town maze for your tiny ones. There's also Animal Land, where kids can get up close to animals you'd expect to see on a farm, like cows, pigs, goats and baby chicks, plus camels, kangaroos, llamas, zebras, lions and a giraffe. Admission is free, but some attractions require ticket purchase.

Dollinger Pumpkin Farm and Fun
7502 E. Hansel Rd., Channahon
At Dollinger Pumpkin Farm, pick a pumpking and then carve, decorate or make a pie. Then check out the Corn Maze, Petting Zoo, miniature steam train, horse drawn hayrides and more. Pumpkin farm entry is free, ut some activities like the train rides, corn maze and hayrides may require a fee.

Bengston Pumpkin Fest 2010
13341 W, 151st St., Homer Glen
At Bengston Pumpkin Farm, you can experience an animated Haunted Barn, a giggling animated Fun Barn, the "famous" action-packed Pig Races (running 10x a day on the 1/2 hour), an adorable Petting & Feeding Zoo, The Giant Crazy Corn Maizey & Pony Rides, plus a variety of entertaining animation throughout the barnyard and farm. Treats available for purchase include hot apple cider, funnel cakes, chili in a bread bowl, kettle corn and nore. Admission is adult $13, 3-11 $12, 2 and under Free.

Didier Farms Pumpkinfest
16678 W. Aptakisic Rd., Prairie View - Lincolnshire
Featuring mechanical rides, a corn maze, fresh donuts, an educational barn, farm animals, a petting zoo, hayrides, Indian teepees, a pony ride, crafts and more. Woody's Menagerie has over 200 creatures including lions, tigers, a bear, and a liger - a cross between a lion and a tiger (now THAT is scary!) Free admission but most activities require ticket purchase.

North Shore Pumpkin Patch
1024 Lake Ave, Wilmette
North Shore Pumpkin Patch is a non-profit pumpkin patch in Wilmette, with all proceeds going to support a local homeless shelter, Good News Partners, and a program to feed needy children in Senegal. Featuring a kiddie play area, scarecrow making, and weekend pumpkin painting, crafts and story time. Free.

Find more fall and Halloween fun in the ChicagoKids.com Halloween Zone.

Got a favorite fall or Halloween spot? Let's hear about it!

Beat Kitchen's Concerts for Kids Block Party, sponsored by ChicagoKids.com

Beat Kitchen's Concerts for Kids!
Kick-off Block Party this Saturday, September 11
ChicagoKids.com is excited to sponsor this family concert series!

In a past life, I was a huge local live music fan who couldn’t wait to flip through each new issue of The Reader to find out where my favorite bands were playing that weekend. Flash forward to my current life, where I’m still a huge live music fan but my most preferred genre has certainly changed. Never would I have imagined the last time I was at the Beat Kitchen that I could get as excited as I currently am about their upcoming schedule of acts, which will be attracting audiences in the 36-48” height range!

That’s what happens when we grow up and have kids. Beat Kitchen owner Robert Gomez has 2 kids of his own now, and the idea for hosting kids concerts came to him after attending a Wiggleworms class with his then 2-year-old daughter. Beat Kitchen’s Roscoe Village neighborhood is teeming with families and small kids, so it seemed like a logical idea – and something that lots of little budding rockers will love!

The first concerts started at Beat Kitchen and then began to include some shows at Gomez’s other venue, Subterranean, in Wicker Park. This year, the schedule is full, with a show every weekend from September 19 all the way through Memorial Day (with some breaks for holidays.)

Kick Off Block Party
The series kicks off with a rockin’ block party this Saturday, September 11, from 11:30am – 5pm at Beat Kitchen. Family activities include maraca building with Easel Art Studio, punk rock hair styling by Psycho Baby, drum building with Bucktown Music, The Children's Learning Place Tot Zone and fun Penguin decorating crafts with yours truly, ChicagoKids.com! Admission is $7 and the event will be held indoors in case of rain.

Say Hello to ChicagoKids.com and ENTER TO WIN!
Stop by and say hello to me in the ChicagoKids.com area, where we’ll be doing fun Penguin decorating, and you can and enter to win a an adorable, oversized stuffed golden retriever donated by our friends at Building Blocks Toy Store! “Ruff Ruff” is 36” tall with lifelike details, ready to be a devoted companion to some lucky winner. We're also giving away passes to Fantasy Kingdom, one of our favorite indoor play places.

Saturday's Schedule
12:00: Mr. Singer and the Sharp Cookies
1:30: Human Tim + Robot Tim
2:30: Bucktown Music Kindermusik Family Fun Time
3:30: Little Miss Ann Band

This Season’s Schedule

Sept 19: Mary Macaroni - Beat Kitchen
Sept 26: Human- Tim + Robot-Tim - Beat Kitchen
Oct 3: Shana Sings! - Beat Kitchen
Oct 9: Laura Doherty - Subterranean
Oct 10: Super Stolie & the Rockstars! - Beat Kitchen
Oct 17: Jeanie B! - Beat Kitchen
Oct 23: Poochamungas - Subterranean
Oct 24: Mr. Singer & the Sharp Cookies - Beat Kitchen
Oct 30: Little Miss Ann Band's Halloween Party - Subterranean
Nov 6: Jeanie B! and the Jelly Beans - Subterranean
Nov 7: Little Miss Ann Band - Beat Kitchen
Nov 13: AmeriKid Idol hosted by Andy Moy - Subterranean
Nov 14: Karen 4 Kids! - Beat Kitchen
Nov 21: Kara Kesselring & Sugarcreek Road @ 4PM - Beat Kitchen
Nov 21: Suzi Shelton and Little Miss Ann Band
Upstairs at SubT, show at 11am - Subterranean
Dec 5: The Dreamtree Shakers - Beat Kitchen
Dec 11: The Boogers - Subterranean
Dec 12: Mary Macaroni - Beat Kitchen
Jan 9: The Okee Dokee Brothers - Beat Kitchen

Get more details at chicagokids.com.

Tall Ships at Navy Pier

Tall Ships sailed into Chicago earlier this week, and you can still get tickets to see these ships - and maybe even set sail - through Sunday.

More than 20 majestic and historic tall ships from around the world will be docked at Navy Pier, and you can view all of them, board up to 12 of the vessels, and even take daily sails aboard five of the tall ships.

Ships will be docked in three places at the Pier - Nautical Mile (North Dock), Canada Cove (NW Wall at the front of the Pier) and America Alley (SW Wall at the front of the Pier). In addition to the ships, you can enjoy other activities at the Children's Village including international entertainment at three festival stages, and nightly fireworks shows.

You can make a day of it, and grab a bite, take a whirl on the ferris wheel, or even float away on the Aeroballoon.

Tickets for Tall Ships start at $9 and are available at www.navypier.com.

Chicago area water parks

With temperatures expected to rise into the 90s again this week, I thought I'd post details on some Chicago area water parks that can help you beat the heat. This information was originally sent out in the regular ChicagoKids.com weekly newsletter a couple of weeks ago. If you're not already subscriber, make sure you sign up now so you don't miss important information like this! Here we go....

KeyLime Cove Water Resort, Gurnee
Avoid crowds here and book a room, as this waterpark is only for resort guests. Splash around in this 65,000 square foot indoor waterpark with wild rides for the older kids and adults and a play pond kiddie pool for the little ones. Check web site for rates.

Hall Quarry Beach, Batavia
Hall Quarry Beach occupies a former stone quarry owned by the Batavia Park District. It features a sand bottom swimming area covering 60,000 square feet that includes islands, slides, and a diving area. Admissions: $10, $7 resident.

Pelican Harbor, Bolingbrook
Relax on the Lazy River, experience the thrill of water speed slides, head into the diving well and let the little ones play in the zero-depth entry pool or spray playground. Admission $13, $7 residents, under 2 free.

White Water Canyon Water Park, Tinley Park
Five acres of wet family fun, with a zero depth entry interactive children's play area, diving board, 3-meter drop slide, continuously flowing lazy river, interactive fountains, water cannons and more. $13 nonresident, $7 resident.

Raging Waves Waterpark, Yorkville
Kids’ splash area, a family interactive play structure, a lazy river, wave pool, the Boomerang tornado ride—featuring a four-story drop and a 60-foot tunnel. Over 48" $26.99; Under 48”: $18.99; 2 and under free.

Dolphin Cove Family Aquatic Center, Carpentersville
Zero-depth beach area with geysers and slides for infants and toddlers; "Rip Tide" body slide, "Typhoon" tube slide, 12 foot deep diving well and more. Residents $5, nonresidents $7.50; resident child 3-9 $4, nonresident child $6.50, 2 and under free.

Adams Water Playground, Chicago
This is a little gem in the city, a Chicago park with a small water play area that's perfect for a hot day when you don't want to trek to a crowded water park. Located at 1919 N. Seminary Ave. in a shady area of Lincoln Park. Read my recent blog post about this park. Free!

See our complete listing of local Water Parks by clicking here.

Adams Playlot- Big water fun in a small city park

The recent heatwave has sent thousands of Chicago parents to the ChicagoKids.com Water Park page to find some relief from the heat! I also looked for a way to cool off with my daughter Mia, and we headed over to a local water playground that I hadn't yet tried called Adams Playlot, located at 1919 N. Seminary. It's a nice sized park, tucked away in a shady little area of Lincoln Park, and it's a water oasis in the city.

We've got a few water options in our neighborhood (Wicker Park) including some spouting bears at Wicker Park, and a tall bursting water pipe at Dean Park. However, Adams Playlot provided some serious water fun on a day when we really needed it!



The water area was essentially like a large jungle gym with water spouting from a variety of sources, providing different levels of water fun for different kids. Mia was actually a bit afraid of most of the spouting water, but she did enjoy stomping and splashing around in the water puddles and pouring out buckets of water that I filled up for her. Other kids were clearly having a blast, and quite honestly if it had been appropriate, I might have run through some of the water streams and headed down that slide myself.

The rest of the park was also pretty wonderful, providing lots of shade which was much appreciated on a hot day like this. There's also an enormous sand box, which we'll have to try another day, but it's unlike any I'd seen at other city parks I've been to.

For a little park in the city, I was impressed and I definitely plan to head back there again on another hot day. Overall, it is a great option for a hot day in the city!