This place is absolutely phenomenal. We have been members for several years and my kids have grown…read morefrom the baby classes to older kids tumbling classes. They love free play and everything Fit City has to offer. Both of my kids also attended the preschool program, Learn and Play PreK, at Fit City Kids and we have been so happy with the early childhood educational experience the preschool offers. The unique program blends creative play with age-appropriate academic learning. Students make friends while learning in a safe, fun, and creative environment. Ms. Daye and Ms. Vanessa provide outstanding structure, guiding students to burn off their energetic wiggles and teaching preschool academics that prepare them for pre-k 4 and kindergarten. My 3-turning-4-year-old has mastered all her letters and numbers, can do basic addition, and writes her name and other words. My first-grader, who attended the preschool there several years ago, was more than prepared for elementary school. The unique environment lets students release their toddler- and preschooler-level energy in the indoor play space during cold Chicago winters. In warmer weather, students enjoy the outdoors at a local park or the outdoor field right at the school. You should check this place out! Next year, they will offer a full-day option, and you can customize morning, afternoon, or full-day attendance to create a schedule that works for you. So much more to offer than a traditional daycare.

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!

I love this climbing gym! There's a surprisingly large parking lot here (despite being in the…read moremiddle of the city), and there's even some bike parking where cyclists can securely lock their bikes. Coming from a different gym, we had to get certified for belaying. Fortunately, through their membership system, we were able to take an extremely informative class, then take the belay test at our convenience at our next climbing session. These walls are probably the tallest I've seen in my cimbing time! Even my more experienced friends say they often get exhausted around 3/4 of the way through a route. Certainly a welcome challenge for top roping. With a membership (or day pass), you also have access to the full gym and bouldering upstairs. Members also have access to a host of yoga classes at different times. The locker room is super convenient with built in locks that you need to input a numeric combination. There are plenty of bathrooms and clean showers. Definitely worth checking out!

ALWAYS a great time at First Ascent Avondale! To celebrate my brother's birthday, he and a friend…read morebouldered and my friend and I auto belayed. We all had a great time! My friend and I are excited to take a belaying class at First Ascent so we can tackle even more climbs!

Blazing Star is a unique and nurturing learning environment. My daughter has loved the summer camps…read moreand day off camps she has participated in. She comes home bubbling over with ideas and inspiration. Claire really understands how to set up an environment and activities so that children's learning is organic and rich. I'm so happy Blazing Star is an option for my children.

From the owner: Child-led learning in a small group environment. Fun, hands-on learning for homeschoolers and…read moresummer campers.

Terrible communication. Signed up for this camp & never received a confirmation email or any…read moreinformation on what we needed to bring or what the weekly themes were. I thought maybe I missed the email, so I tried calling them to get information and couldn't get through on the phone. My son has complex allergies, and there wasn't a professional system in place to handle those needs and medication. It seemed like they expected us to just show up and let one of the 18 year old staffmembers know in person, hand over his lunch box and epipen, and call it a day. Then the actual camp. My son hated it... thought the activities were boring, that it was basically like school with having to sit and pay attention to mandatory projects that weren't very fun. When he didn't want to participate, no alternative activity was available to him so he just sat in a corner and cried. We were told this at pick up, but no one thought to call us during the day to let us know that our kid was distraught for hours. After 2 or 3 days the site manager called us to let us know that our child wasn't welcome back because he was too difficult, and they "weren't able to accommodate children with additional needs." The difficulty was he refused to participate in science projects he found boring. My child also had no diagnosed or reported additional needs, but they came to that conclusion themselves. I could also hear my child in the background: they actually called us and told us that he was difficult and they suspected he had special needs *in front of him*. My husband obviously rushed to pick him up from that awful place. At pickup she actually yelled at my son to stop wriggling in the chair in front of my husband, and he told sternly told her that he would take care of his child's discipline from that point on. I would never recommend any child be sent to this place. Especially if your child has an ounce of personality and opinions about what they like to do. He is going to a different day came in the area this year (that actually costs less), and the difference has been like night and day. I actually got a phone call from the owner to personally go over his allergies ahead of time---can't describe the relief of feeling that my child is actually with a responsible, caring adult.

I actually had no issues with pick up for camp, as Larry, below mentions. It's possible they…read morestreamlined things. It's a tough place to do pick up and drop off Middlefield is busy, especially at 9 AM, making it a little chaotic. But, I found them to be overall pretty organized. But sadly my daughter thought the camp wasn't very good. And that's my main parameter for deciding on the success of the camp. If the kid is happy in the summer, then mom is happy. And she wasn't. It was an African Safari theme and I think she expected more from it. It seemed very loosely themed. I had a lot of trouble getting her to go in morning after the first day. She also complained that all the kids in her group were younger than her, which may or may not have been true, but her perception was that she wasn't really with kids her age. That's kind of out of their control as they have to set age ranges for the camps, but she said it felt babyish. She did like water day but she could have had that at other camps too. I specifically signed her up for Safari camp because she is a huge animal lover and we were disappointed.

Had my 4 year-old's birthday party here today and all the kids and parents had a blast. Alexis and…read moreMegan and Ava (I hope I got your names right) we're great at planning, preparing and hosting.

Such an amazing studio! Awesome classes you creative children. The camps are SUPER fun for kids and…read moreconvenient for parents, and the Birthday parties are out of this world (affordable, low stress for parents, and kids get to take their projects home). Truly a quality experience!

A true 10/10 experience! My two year old had a BLAST at the one hour tots class. He was able to…read morechop veggies, mix Rangoon filling, wash dishes and... EAT! It was a fast paced class to keep kids' interest, but everything was clear and perfectly tailored to toddlers. As a former early childhood teacher myself, I was highly impressed! I'm sad to know their brick and mortar is closing at the beginning of next month because I want to sign my son up for a thousand more classes! If you can squeeze in a class while they're still open, it's absolutely worth the money!

My brother and sister in law sweetly got me a gift certificate for classes here for my birthday…read more Their thought was I could use it for virtual cooking classes with my 10 year old son. I reached out initially to them via email and Kallie replied since they hadn't posted their fall schedule mid summer but she promised to email me as soon as they released. A month later she sweetly sent me an email notifying me (I was impressed she remembered!). Unfortunately being west coast based, the live class times were too early for us on weekends and my son wasn't keen on an on demand class. I wasn't too sure what to do with the gift certificate and Kallie explained that although their focus isn't on retail sales there were some items they stock and she sweetly took pictures and my gift certificate was able to cover some lovely items (including recipe cards for my son's gluten free diet). I was so impressed how Kallie went so above and beyond that if we were living in Chicago would be frequenting this spot often given their exemplary level of customer service.

Our daughter loves Tutu School and we look forward to our time together stretching and dancing on…read moreSaturday mornings! Our teacher, Ms. Suzzanah is delightfully poised and patient for a room filled with toddlers.

We love Tutu School Chicago! Our daughter loves the storybook aspect and her teacher is super…read morepatient and fun! We look forward to coming each week.

We sent our 4-year-old to this camp for the entire summer of '18 and we are pleased. There are few…read moreoptions in Chicago for a full day of summer care for kids under 5. The staff were all fantastic! There were over 200 kids at camp everyday and they knew us and our child pretty quickly. The camp is somewhat unstructured, there are not naps. There are several themed rooms the kids can choose to work/play in. If I recall correctly there was a singing/recording room, a game room, a programming room, fashion studio, cooking, and a couple others. They can also play outside. Every Friday had a dress up theme. Frequently there was a bouncy house, water apparatus, or other fun structures for the kids to play in. I think the total cost was about $2700 or $3000. Recommended!

Steve & Kate's camp is AWESOME! The camp allows the children to choose which activities that they…read morewant to engage in which, I find very creative & inspiring for children. The counselor are really cool too. They are vibrant, energetic, patient and kind. My daughter likes this camp so much that she didn't want to go anywhere else soooo, it's our 2nd consecutive year! Thank you Steve & Kate's Lakeview family, you're the BEST !!

Over the past few months I took 3 sewing classes at Sew Crafty and LOVED IT!…read more I started with the Machine Sewing Basics class to brush up on my skills. I had sewn as a teen so it was easy to dive back in, but there were also brand new beginners in my class that seemed to do really well too. After Basics, I felt confident enough to sign up for Hemming and Alterations (a set of 2 classes), where we reviewed measuring and different types of hems/clothing modifications. We even got to bring in some of our own clothes to work on while supervised by the teachers :) Since then, I've been able to hem a bunch of items I've always wanted to wear, so I'll call it a success! The staff was soooo knowledgeable and patient (shout out to Anika who led both of mine!), making the total of 6 hours I spent there really efficient. The studio was tidy, well organized and had all the equipment we needed to thrive. Plus, the classmates were all super kind, so I guess it draws in nice people! 10/10 recommend!

We LOVE Sew Crafty! My daughter has been going there for 2+ years - she's done after school, summer…read morecamp, and day off camp. The staff is wonderful! My daughter has not only learned how to sew well, but she's loving her ability to choose projects, fabrics, and designs and has gained so much confidence in her ability to sew. Most recently, Alina helped my daughter sew a full skirt over multiple sessions - I can't thank her enough for all she did to teach and guide my daughter. I highly recommend Sew Crafty!

For purely mini golf and old school style of date, this was a good time! My wife and I went on a…read moreMonday and it was still fairly busy. Make sure to have cash! They have multiple ATMs on location but also there is a Bank of America in Skokie/Lincolnwood and also a Chase across the street if you use those banks. Anyway, a lot of awesome obstacles and even if they've been opened for decades some of the decor is updated! Make sure to press the yellow foot pedals for really cool mechanical additions to the hole you're at. Although it is about $14 per person after 12 pm, I can see why! A huge location, cool mechanical additions, lights at night, arcade, and batting cages too. So a lot that goes to cost but still memorable. Make sure to support local businesses!

Like a lot of reviewers here, I spent some time here as a kid and thought it was magical; but now I…read moresee it through adult eyes. The good: the cost for the batting cage and the golf isn't outrageous. I'm told there are cheaper mini golf but also more expensive. The bad: they have decided everyone who goes on the course has to pay, even if you are just watching your children. I suspect this is because some "people" only paid for two admissions but two other people took turns. The ugly: They have been around for three quarters of a Century and they have no incentive to change their business model and only accept cash. Once the owner passes to the great beyond, his heirs will likely sell the place to developers so enjoy while you can.