Looking for Toddler/preschool Activities

First thing I think of is the play area in malls. I know Woodfield has one. I'd also suggest you check out the Museum Pass at your library. There's a website for it, so you can see what's available, but the library should have a brochure too.

Hi J.,

You definitely need to check out www.kidwinks.com. There's an Events Calendar with many free activities, and there's also a Kids Eat Free Calendar so you can click on a day to find out where kids eat free that day. There's a link on the home page for free museum days, and if you become a member (which is free) you can sort all search results by distance from your house so you can easily find what's nearest to you. Also make sure to sign up for the free weekly emails (it's part of becoming a member), because each Monday morning you will get an email with some hand-picked events and activities for the coming week, and there is always a link to free events for that week. Kidwinks also has a bunch of online Guides that help you easily find what you're looking for, like Indoor Play Places, Birthday Party Guide, Children's Theater & Live Events Guide, Summer Camp Guide, seasonal guides and more.
Kidwinks also has two facebook pages, one of which is FreeThingsToDoInChicagoWithKids, and if you "like" that page, you'll get their daily posts of free things to do with your kids in your facebook newsfeed. Here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/#!/FreeThingsToDoInChicagoWithKids

Kidwinks also runs many contests for free tickets, birthday parties, toys and more.

Hope this helps!

J.

Call the local library and ask if they have a section for toddlers. Since it is cold a lot of times they have spots where little ones can go and do puzzles, feel things, etc. Call your city hall and find out what things are around.

Most libraries have story times 3-4 times a week. Also, if you can afford the initial investment most year long memberships are actually a really good deal. We are members at lego land in Schaumburg(Adults $40 and kids under 3 FREE). My kids 3 and 1 LOVE it there. We also belong to Brookfield Zoo which the passes start at $80 for a family with parking. We also belong to the MOrton Arboretum in Lisle. $135 for family pass with parking plus 2 guests each time. The Children's garden is unbelievable. I have to literally pull my kids away. We don't have a ton of money, but I spread the purchase of these memberships throughout the fall/Winter so that by Spring/Summer all of our activities are "FREE." We are also members at Cosley Zoo in Wheaton $50 for a family pass(you get discounts at over 100 zoos/aquariums across the country with this pass). However, Cosley Zoo is only $2 per adult w/o membership. Kids are Free. The other cool perk about memberships to all these places is that you get invited to all sorts of special events for FREE or for a very small fee. I love looking through my wallet to see which pass we will use each day :) Also, maybe the local pool pass. We live in Bartlett and we have an indoor pool as well, so we really get use of a yearly pass. Our splurge is when we take the kids to The Treehouse in Lake Zurich. It's $10 a kid(expensive) but it is soooo clean and perfect for our age kid. It's like a much larger McDonalds play land, but super clean and much safer because you can see your child at all times because all the obstacles are see through. It's very mom friendly too. It gets super crowded on weekends though. Hope this helps!!!! Good Luck. Happy Spring!