MUST-SEE ATTRACTIONS
Chicago Children's Museum
This three-story interactive museum scores high on the kid-o-meter. A replica of an 1850s schooner has a real crow's nest and deck for climbing, a rope bridge, a gangplank, and a slide down to the aquarium. Preschoolers can explore the Tree House Trails and the city hospital, complete with its own ambulance. Playmaze, the news broadcast center, and the art studio are fun, too. Face to Face, an important video presentation dealing with prejudice and discrimination, is riveting. The two 50-foot towers have some awesome exhibits: one about air, the other about water. Your kids can fuel an airplane, set a propeller spinning, and pilot a plane at Terminal 2, designed to resemble part of O'Hare International Airport. There's so much more for kids to do here: pull on raincoats in the water tower, where they pump and shoot water to move waterwheels and fill streams; dig for dinosaur bones in a real excavation pit; and stop by the Inventing Lab to create their own inventions. No admission charge on Thursday evening. On the Navy Pier, 700 E. Grand Ave., Chicago; (312) 527-1000.
Brookfield Zoo (Chicago Zoological Park)
This wonderful zoo is one of the largest in the country, with more than 2,700 animals, many from Africa and Asia, living in natural habitats that cover 216 acres. Highlights include the Fragile Rainforest, which showcases life in the humid rain forests of Asia; the Fragile Hunters section, featuring jaguars, Siberian tigers, African lions, Amur, and snow leopards in outdoor environments; and the Fragile Desert, which reveals the sometimes easily overlooked life forms that live in desert sands. These three areas make up the Fragile Kingdom, and offer a quick and effective lesson on how all species depend on one another to protect the chain of life.
In Tropic World, A Primate's Journey, children walk right into a rain forest and see a plethora of creatures living together in the jungle. It really rains in here, but the primates, mammals, and birds (and the 50-foot-high trees) are the only things that get wet.
Habitat Africa! The Savanna is a new exhibit where kids can see giraffes, birds, reptiles, and zebras gather at a water hole in a five-acre savannah. The zoo also features many other exhibits, including the Swamp and Salt Creek Wilderness. Each exhibit lets kids experience up close the particular critters that inhibit that land.
Check schedules posted throughout the zoo for times for the daily dolphin show at the Seven Seas Dolphinarium. Arrive early enough to check out the noisy sea lions, seals, and walruses outside. There's an extra charge for this show.
There's no admission charge Tuesday and Thursday during October through March. Fee for parking. First Ave. and 31st St., Brookfield; (708) 485-0263, ext. 267.
Sears Tower
This is the tallest building in the United States, towering 110 stories over the city. The observation deck on the 103rd floor is the highest observatory in the world--1,353 feet up! Watch the seven-minute film, then load everyone on for the quick 55-second trip up to the observation deck on an elevator that travels at 1,600 feet per minute. (Hint: Have everyone chew gum. Your ears are going to pop.) The glass-enclosed observation deck has been revamped to include an indoor museum exhibit of the history of Chicago, a four-foot-tall "mini Chicago" for children to explore, state-of-the-art sound and lighting, and new telescopes. Your kids will be able to tell their friends that they saw three states from one spot--Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Expect a wait to get to the observation deck; the crowds are lightest in midweek, early in the day. The good news is that once you get up there, you can stay as long as you like. 233 S. Wacker Dr., Chicago; (312) 875-9696; The Sky Deck.
Please keep in mind that phone numbers, addresses, and prices are subject to change. Updated July 2005.
