Celebrating her 7th birthday my grandaughter was able to tap into her creative side and make two…read moremasterpieces with great pride! The encouragement and gentle leadership from Robin allowed us to share an experience that will surely be a core memory forever. I highly recommend Painted Penquin!!

Good place where you can take a stress off, enjoy the art that you make and feel comfortable. The…read morePainted Penguin at Water Tower Place it's for kids and grown-up have enough assortment of sculptures, nice paint material and friendly employees. I was excited to spend there are almost whole day and I made my beautiful sculpture:)

Perfect place to have your toddler's party!…read more There's a reason Purple Monkey keeps popping up every time I looked up toddler birthday party! I was a bit hesitant for the price of the venue but it was so worth it. First, it's private. Just for your kid(s) and their friends. It's a large room with a section that has tables and a kitchenette for the food and cake part and the rest is for the kiddos. There's a play kitchen, train set, a slide, all the things any toddler would love. Even my 11 year old enjoyed it because it reminded him of his younger years. I love that you get a "helper" with the part packages. Ours was Shannon and she was great. Helped decorate a bit. Cut the cake. All the things you need help with that you may not have time for and feel bad asking someone else to take charge of. Overall we had a great party. Couldn't ask for more.

Food was great and the helper was very attentive .we will definitely come back for another round!!!read more

We had the opportunity to visit Fit City Kids for a private birthday party. The facility is…read morespacious, sectioned off by activity, and has a nice party room. At the entrance, they have tables/chairs and many cubbies for shoes/coats. Make sure you have socks as shoes must be removed in most of the play areas. A waiver needs to be filled out in order to participate. I liked that you could do a paper version, use a tablet, or scan a QR code and do it on your phone. That helped the line move fast! They have a little toddler section, a basketball court, soccer area, gymnastics area, and slides! So, there's something for littles and the big kids...and they are sectioned off. There are benches in between all areas for parents/grownups to sit. The party room has an area to set up food and then the area with tables. I loved that it was a private event. I'm assuming this is an available option after hours, as this party was at 7PM. My daughter had so much fun and wants to have a party there now. If we were in the area, we'd love to check out their classes and other offerings. They also have a free parking lot which is a huge plus in the city!

It has been super cold for the last week or so and a friend and I decided we needed to get our kids…read moreout so they could have fun and run wild. I've seen Fit City Kids, having lived fewer than two miles away, but this was our first visit and it was great. The entrance fee wasn't bad, especially since one can stay for the full open play time. They have several different areas for play. There is a basketball court area, a play soccer field, gymnastics space, and an indoor playground. There's also a small area that is specifically designed for children aged three and under, although we were told that kids can play in any section (except for the bounce house, which is for the private parties). Our one year olds mostly played in the soccer area, having fun just running around. There's one half of the place where you can wear shoes or not (the basketball/soccer areas) and then in the other half you may not wear shoes. There are one or more party rooms in the back of the facility. (I'm not sure if they overlap parties or not; there were four happening on the day we were here.) Food is not permitted in the facility except for in the party rooms or in the front "lobby" area. They have a few snacks for sale, and based upon the water I bought for my babe the prices don't seem ridiculous. I really appreciate that they don't appear to have any restrictions on bring your own snacks and water, just asking that you respect the areas in which you can eat them. They don't have a water fountain (unless I just wasn't looking in the right places) so bring your own drinks. One downside is that I found only one changing station in the entire place. Don't look for it in the women's room (or probably the men's room, either, I'd expect) but in the individual gender neutral bathroom. With the number of children who might be here at any time and the age ranges they welcome, I was really surprised to see just the one. On the other hand, it was an actual changing table rather than a station that is bolted into the wall and folds down, which always make me a little nervous. They also don't have much space for parents to sit. There are some tables in the "lobby" and a few benches outside the various play areas, but it might be difficult for someone who needs a chair/seat, or someone who's disabled, especially if they want to be closer to the activity areas and keep an eye on their children. Another thing they need to work on is the parking lot. Their parking lot is really large, especially for Lincoln Square--and it's free!--so that's all to the good. Ideally they'd have straight parking spaces since that allows for the most spots; the lot is a bit narrow, so they've opted for diagonal with a few straight. But they need to paint the lot! Driving through this lot was difficult because people parked like they've never parked before. We will definitely return. There are several indoor playgrounds around and I'd like to try the different ones that offer entrance to kids as young as mine in part so we can figure out which are our favorites. But after my experience here I imagine we may be purchasing a membership in the future.

This was terrific! Had our 6 year old's birthday party here. First they went over some rules and…read morestarted the pizza dough. Then they decorated their aprons, mixed cupcake batter, prepped the pizza dough and put on toppings. Finally they made the cupcake icing and decorated them and ate everything! Well run and the kids had a great time.

Chef Laura is great! Both of my kids (9 and 11) love coming here and have been for years. The…read moreweekly class is engaging and fun and the camps are perfect for school closure days and summer break!

This place is good to host a party. There is enough space to play and run around for the little…read moreones. The staff is helpful and available. They provide a lot for parties and work with you in setup. The space looked clean and staff wiped down toys.

We hosted our 2 year old's birthday party here. We wanted something that he would enjoy for his…read morespecial day, and this place did just that. Little Adventures was a hassle free, no stress way to host the party. They give you 30 minutes prior to your party for you and 2 other adults to set up your party. They provide you with two tables, plates, cutlery, napkins, garbage bags and cups. It was intimate, clean, spacious, and fun. I will definitely host again here in the near future!

Well I'd really like to give this five stars out of convenience, but I understand not many people…read morelived literally next door to this place like we did (though it's right near the 77 bus and not too far from the brown line). Even without that nice perk, it was still a great place to take our son. They cover a large range of ages, and his first class was when he was little under a year and a half and couldn't quite walk yet. At that young, it's mostly teaching them how to listen to instructions, play on the equipment and tumble around. He was a little too young to directly socialize with the other kids but still had a blast. For younger ones parents are expected to be in the class with their child so be sure to keep that in mind. They often have "Parents Night Out" events where kids can be dropped off for an evening, but your boy was too young for those. Probably the best thing about Little Gym is how flexible they are with make up classes. Kids get sick, vacations come up, etc. and the make up system is really simple - basically as long as you let them know you're missing a class before it starts, you get a make up class in the bank that you can use. Since there are multiple instances of a class running in a week you just need to find a day that works for you and can use up those classes whenever. The staff here is great and the classes are always well structured. We'll definitely miss taking our little one but hopefully this can get others to take a trial class here.

We've been going to Little Gym for over a year and absolutely love it. Our son is now 2 and we…read morestarted him in classes just after he started walking. I love that it's a mixture of structured and unstructured play, which is the perfect fit for our kiddo. It's been amazing to see what skills he has picked up from class. All of the coaches we've had have been wonderful (shoutout to Anna, Daniel, and Vanessa). Every week they have a theme and focus on different skills and give you ideas of what to do at home to continue the theme. The staff is super friendly and helpful. If we can't make it in or need to schedule a makeup class, it's easy to do via text or phone call.

We had our kiddo's bday party here and it was fantastic! I highly recommend. While the price isn't…read morecheap (nothing is in the city), they really do take care of everything for you. The staff was super engaging with the kids which is so important. They led the kid through activities, had them laughing, and they all had such a great time. We did a party at Lil' Kickers last year and it was fine, but the staff leading the party was not good at all. My Gym far exceeded my expectations. It was the best birthday party we've had yet and I would definitely sign up for their classes.

We had a wonderful 4th birthday party for my son here! Even the almost 8 year old sibling friends…read morethat attended had a great time! The call before with staff was very organized and the staff at the party were EXCELLENT! They were both engaged the entire time and made the party very interactive and engaging! We did a party here two years ago for my daughter and the staff at that time were not nearly as engaged during the party. We were super impressed this time with the whole experience!

I just want to add that after re-opening during this time of COVID-19, they have done a great job…read moremitigating infection risk at their summer camps. They require the kids to wear their own masks, provide shoe covers and face shields, put up walls between computers and spread them out, limit class sizes, check temperatures on arrival, require parents to fill out a form asserting their child is not infected or exposed to infected people (to their knowledge), and keep parents outside during pick-up/drop-off. Also, my son said they made him wash his hands 5 times today haha. They are doing everything I could think of and more to help us feel safer and prevent the spread of coronavirus. Oh, and my son still likes the classes too.

My son loved digital adventures! For a long time I've wanted my son to get out of the consumer…read moremindset and shift to the developer mindset. I believe that shift is now underway D.A. does a phenomenal job of integrating the fundamentals of coding with his favorite video games, Roblox and Minecraft. The prices are also quite reasonable. I was very impressed with my son's progress and we were looking to give him a more specialized focus in terms of his interests and strengths with the classes they offer. I was so impressed seeing the 4th graders code full robotics applications after only 1 year of these classes. My son also enjoyed bonding with the kids there, and seem to enjoy working with them more than the kids at his school. He made some friends. I highly recommend this place.

Omg I definitely recommend this it's so fun! Definitely one of the best birthday parties a girl…read moreeven said best day ever!

From the owner: Chicago's biggest, best and most reliable foam party provider. We bring, set up and operate…read moreeverything so you can focus on your guests!

I love the concept of the Music Playhouse of Chicago. I love music and wasn't sure how to expose my…read moredaughter to it since I don't want to force her into Suzuki strings or something, and the Wiggleworms program at Old Town School appears to be geared toward slightly older babies (mine is just two months). In the newsletter for Family Picnic there was an advertisement for the fall term of The Music Class for Babies, which is led by an employee of Music Playhouse at various locations. I was a bit on the fence about going (why is everything for babies/small children in the early hours of the morning--have some sympathy for those of us who aren't early birds!). Luckily Family Picnic is only a few blocks away and I'm so glad went. At this weeks' session there were two other families in attendance and the children ranged from two to six months. This particular class is geared toward children aged 0 to 18 months. It was led by Miss Juliet, who had a variety songs to sing; rhythmic patterns to explore; as well as shakers, sticks, and scarves to dance and play with. We did activities whilst standing and sitting, including various songs and dances. It was great fun and my little one seemed to enjoy it as well. After leaving, we signed up for two more drop-in sessions; though the term is 10 weeks long, I unfortunately have to return to work in a couple weeks so I won't be able to attend a Friday morning class. I wish they had late afternoon or weekend sessions so that we could participate more often. The only negative thing I have to say is that the class took place sitting on the floor or standing. I am not the most limber and I was able to get up and down but it was really uncomfortable for me, both sitting on the floor and trying to get up from it (and I'm not sure how it would work if there were many more people there). I didn't really feel as though I had the option to sit on a chair as opposed to the floor. I'm not sure how it would work for someone who, unlike me, truly cannot sit on the floor for whatever reason, so I'm not sure if it's fully accessible.

Love, love, LOVE Ms. Erin!…read more We've been taking our son to Ms. Erin's classes on Saturday mornings and he loves the songs. Classes have been outdoors at Tuco and Blondie and they are socially distanced. Ms. Erin provides instruments or seating if you forget yours. Everything is cleaned before and after you use it. I would highly recommend the music classes for littles who love movement and singing.