Went here for a birthday party and had a great time! My kids had fun and I became my younger self…read moretoo lol and enjoyed it!

I'm so glad we found The Gymnastics Shop. After wanting to take our three-year-old daughter to an…read moreopen gym for ages, we finally went a few months ago, and it was fantastic! The open gym hours from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM- which is unbeatable--most places don't offer this extended time. The facility is nice, and the staff is wonderful! A special shout-out to the friendly front desk member- she made us feel right at home. Our daughter had a blast running around on the equipment, including two tumble tracks, five trampolines, and a giant 40x40 area. They have a bunch of high beams and low beams, they have 4 sets of uneven parallel bars. Plus, the two vaulting runways and the rope to swing into the pit were a huge hit. In another room attached to big gym there is a baby gym. It's a smaller space with equipment designed just for little ones. It was perfect for our daughter to explore safely while still being part of the larger gym environment. We're excited to keep coming back to The Gym Shop for more fun and playtime! If you're looking for a great place for kids, this is it!

GYMNASTICS BIRTHDAY PARTY My daughter had her 6th birthday…read moreparty here in 2007. It was great! Easy registration. Affordable. Received a phone call from the organizer the week before. They were very helpful and pleasant. They provide you with a big room to store coats, etc. and have food and cake. We had about 20 kids - almost an even number of boys and girls - and they split them up into two groups. The instructors were fun, organized, and somehow kept the kids in two lines doing all the gymnastics the whole time. The gymnastics equipment is clean. The huge gym is safe and cool - padded floors, lots of equipment, and a big foam-filled pit for the kids to jump into! All the kids had a lot of fun and my daughter loved it!

Fun place with accommodating staff. Great place for a kids party. Rooms are large enough for a…read moreparty of sixty or more.

Great program, knowledgeable coaches, and clean facilities! Very happy with this program!read more

My 3 year old daughter went here for 2 months until an instructor mocked her and made her cry. I…read moredon't pay for my child to be mocked and bullied by an adult. She left and said I dont want to come here anymore. Its a nice place but I would expect more professional instructors. The instructors are very young (they look like they're 15) except for the mean overweight one. If you don't like kids you shouldnt be working with them. I am disappointed and I honestly believe a park district would treat my daughter better than these instructors. Dont waste your time here.

The coaches are great and they have a great team program. I drive far bc I the one I live next to…read moredoes not care about the girls like Flips! They want to see them succeed and do well!!

My son attended Flips Gymnastics when he was 3 and 4 years old. It is a very nice gym with a lot…read moreof professional equipment, where older kids train for competitions. Being a past gymnast myself, it was nice to see good equipment and teachers letting little kids use it (carefully). They also have a toddler section where little ones spent most of their time. My son loved it there, however was at times he would get bored because some little kids who didn't want to participate were essentially wasting other kids time/turns. It wasn't the kids fault by any means, the teachers just didn't handle tantrums and bad attitude very well. Instead of letting those who don't want to participate sit out, they spend more individual one-on-one time with that kid, while other just waited their turn. Which was not fair to the other kids who were ready go and their thing. Thankfully this didn't happen too often. But when it did, it was very annoying to see. Another major gripe I have with flips is the location of their changing area. It's located right next to the main lobby, with doors that open directly to the outside. The dressing space is pretty tiny, and when one group finishes class and goes to change while the next group arrives to change for their class, there is literally no place to stand. And then, little kids have to walk by the exit doors in order to get to the gym area, which is always in use because people leave and enter all the time. So when it's winter time and freezing temps, barefoot and leotard clad little kids are very cold having to walk by the open doors and then stand in the lobby (10 feet away) waiting for their teacher to come get them for their class! Aside from these two negatives (for me), it's really a very accommodating and fun place for little kids to develop their physical abilities.

This review relates to a wedding reception held at the Takiff Center. The reception has only been…read moreover for a few hours, and I feel so strongly about the experience that I'm writing before I even get to bed. These folks are top notch! I wasn't involved in the planning or budgeting, so I can't speak to those aspects, but from the moment we got into the property to set up to the last moments of tear down the staff was nothing short of exceptional. They were consistently able to help us with any questions we had. They assisted us when the layout needed a few modifications. They went out of their way to make us feel welcome and cared for while we prepared. They were available exactly when promised, as was the space. After the event they were so helpful with tear down. Giving us good directions about what we needed to do and how we should proceed. We couldn't have had such a successful event without their assistance!! And I haven't even described the venue itself! It is lovely. The room we used was spacious enough for all of our tables and a dance floor too. The kitchen was ample and situated nearby. The outdoor area was perfect for cocktail hour and cool respite from dancing. The light fixtures in the event room are gorgeous and the ceilings are high. We had a terrific event and would recommend it to anyone having an event.

This center offers yoga and other exercise classes. They function as a community center but the…read moreprices are not low for a park district. There are conference rooms, fitness studios and a community hall.

Brought my infant and ended up pulling her out within 3 weeks of being there and ended up needing…read moreto quit my job because there were no other openings for infants in nearby daycares and we don't have family nearby to help out. They over-promised in the tour and under-delivered. They told us they would have someone watching the infants sleeping at all times, and I never saw anyone in that area of the room. Also, they let babies cry without helping them and the teachers don't know developmental milestones and do developmentally inappropriate activities with infants. The teachers ask you for heads up before you arrive, and I quickly realized why the one time I didn't give a heads up. They were neglecting my 3 month old daughter. The director, Amber, defends the staff who spends lots of time on their phones rather than caring for the infants. Beware of bringing your infants to this place.

Poor communication, high turnover, classrooms constantly out of ratio. The Regional Director does…read morelead. Our child was without a Lead Teacher for three months and we were told every few weeks they were going to have someone new join. They never did. It put the children's development at risk.

We now have our 2-year-old second grand-daughter in this program, and like the first one, it is…read moregiving her a great start to fitness, athletics, and sportsmanship in her life.  The program is well run and organized, and with consistent, well-trained, youthful, friendly, and energetic instructors. The negative feedback from a couple older Yelp reviews for Lil' Kickers Northbrook are 5+ years old, and look outdated along with outdated website and corporate info as well (for which I have also submitted corrections).  I may also be an overly generous old-schooler though on the rating of any toddler sports program having myself come up through the self-taught youth program provided in the side streets and alleys of Chicago with pick-up games and no coaches or uniforms...  but probably not.  I do have a lot of personal experience with various formal youth sports programs in the upbringing of my own kids.    The current toddler program here is different from 2 years ago in that the current pandemic era one is conducted outdoors only and at nice Clarkson Park at 1950 New Willow Road in Northfield.  Currently, adults need to have a mask and it's one attending/participating adult only per child.  The older grand-daughter had her Lil' Kicker soccer class at their nice indoor Athletico Center facility at 1900 Old Willow Road in Northbrook.  The current class size is 4 so the kiddos get a lot of attention.  I think the older grand-daughter's class size was about 7 back in more normal times, and it can go up to 12, and it is still a good and fun learning environment. The price for their Thumpers' classes (2-3 years old) is $17.75 per 50 minute class with a $40 annual fee, and this includes a uniform.  It's more expensive than say a Park District program, but the attention and training is a lot more personal.  Recommended!

Some things are just better in the city & Lil' Kickers happens to be one of them. Back when we were…read morecity dwellers we signed my daughter up for Lil' Kickers* at Bradley Place. She had a blast running around "playing" soccer. And we loved getting pictures of her in her adorable uniform. The class was very consistent- same instructors every week and same exact activities so she always knew what was coming next, which (like all toddlers) made her feel comfortable. A few months ago I decided to check out this Lil Kickers in the burbs. I was bummed to hear they don't give you a uniform like they do in the burbs. If you want one you have to actually buy it, but fortunately ours still fit from the city days. My husband went to the majority of the classes and said he wasn't nearly as impressed. There seemed to be a different instructor each week, there wasn't much structure and the class wasn't able to keep my daughter's attention for very long. When I finally took her to class I had to agree with all my husband's sentiments. There's not much organization here. In fact, when my stepdad took my daughter last weekend she insisted that she was in a different class than she actually is...and no one seemed to notice there that she was in the wrong class of much older kids. It definitely is a good option if you want your kid to run around for 45 minutes (especially in the winter) and for that reason I won't be opposed to giving Lil' Kickers another shot with my son when he's old enough. However, they could definitely use a few organizational tips from their city sister. * http://www.hifivesportsclubs.com/wordpress/northshore_18_months_k/northshore_lil_kickers/

We have had such a great experience with the Gardner school so far! Ms Allison is approachable,…read morekind, and transparent. My almost 4 year old loves going to school. His teachers ms. Kassy and ms Jess are very knowledgeable and caring. He has invited them for dinner multiple times haha! We have seen so much growth in our son in the few months that he's been there. Thank you to all the staff at the Gardner school :)

Had a terrible experience with the Gardner school…read more Pay attention if you want to enroll in this school as it has three major risks: 1. Lack of skilled teachers. 2. Really short of staff, only within a few days, we've seen a class with 1 teacher taking care of 16 students, also the director had to take care of the class and clean the kitchen by herself, therefore, refusing to talk to parents. 3. Manager in this school is very impatient and not friendly/professional upon issues. We'd been there only a few days until my daughter was bitten by a random kid full of blood on the face (still with scare after 3 months). Faculties were buck passing saying this happen in 2 secs without any possibility to stop that. Later we realized my daughter was bitten at two separate spots, which can't be done in 2 secs, at least they are lying and shirking off their negligence of duty. Nevertheless, we tried to work with the Director of the school trying to resolve/reduce risk in the future, the Director was very impatient not only documenting inaccurate incident reports but also refusing to make any accommodations. We requested multiple times for updating the report but only got "I will work to fulfill your request" yet never did it nor responding emails for 2+ months now. As we've hoped this school can improve itself in the future, but it's been a terrible experience for us.