Things to do in Chicago with kids
Written September 2026
The museums worth a whole morning, the free zoo, the lake, the winter days and somewhere to eat near each of them.
Picture it: one kid who wants dinosaurs, one who wants a beach, and a city that gives you both within about two miles of lakefront. So where do you start? Most visits come down to two neighborhoods. The Museum Campus, south of the Loop, is the Field Museum, the Shedd and the Adler sharing one stretch of lakefront, with Maggie Daley Park and the Bean a walk up the shore. Lincoln Park, a few miles north, is the free zoo, the nature museum with the butterflies and North Avenue Beach. Pick one per day. Trying to do both is how you end up carrying a sleeping five-year-old up Michigan Avenue.
Then there's the weather question. Chicago in July is beaches and fountains. Chicago in January is the Garfield Park Conservatory, a museum that takes a full day and an ice rink in the middle of downtown. This page has both, and says which is which.
Every entry covers restrooms, changing tables, stroller access and whether it's free, and each part of town gets somewhere to eat nearby. Staying over? There's a short list of hotels at the end, and a longer one on its own page.
How we picked
These are the places we'd send a friend with a four-year-old and a seven-year-old. The yes and no answers under each place come from its own site, its visitor and accessibility pages, and its Play Day listing. If one's missing, we couldn't confirm it either way (not that the answer is no).
We kept it to what works for kids under about ten. That rules out the skydecks and the architecture cruises (great, but they're mostly for grown-ups), the chain play places you can find in any town, and anything that only makes sense with a membership.
The Museum Campus and downtown
The Field, the Shedd and the Adler share one peninsula on the lake, so you park once (or get off the bus once) and pick one, maybe two if your kids are older. Maggie Daley Park and Millennium Park are a mile or so north along Grant Park, and the Chicago Children's Museum is out on Navy Pier.
Field Museum
Museum Campus
Start with SUE, the T. rex, because that's what everyone came for and it's worth doing before the crowds. After that the halls are huge and it's easy to wander for hours: mummies, the stuffed animals of Africa and the Evolving Planet dinosaur hall, which is really the whole history of life in one long walk.
Toddlers and preschoolers get the Crown Family PlayLab, built for about ages 2 to 6, with a dig pit, a music room and real specimens to handle. It's included with admission and has a nursing room. The PlayLab closes earlier than the museum, so do it first if you've got a napper.
You're allowed to bring your own food, which is not a given on the Museum Campus. Pack lunch and save yourself the cafe line.
Illinois residents get free days through the year. They're listed on the museum's ticket page, and they're busy.
- Free entry
- No
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Shedd Aquarium
Museum Campus
The one most kids ask for by name. The big draws are the Caribbean Reef tank in the middle of the old building, the beluga whales and dolphins in the Abbott Oceanarium, and the sharks in Wild Reef.
Under-sevens get Polar Play Zone, built for ages 2 to 7: a sea star touch pool, a penguin suit to climb into and a kid-sized submarine. In summer there's a stingray touch pool too. There's a snack cafe right inside Polar Play Zone, which is handy when someone melts down at 11am.
Buy tickets ahead, a day or more if you can. Strollers are allowed, but on busy days a small one gets through the crowds a lot more easily than a double.
- Free entry
- No
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Adler Planetarium
Museum Campus
The one people skip, and honestly, with a space kid, you shouldn't. Planet Explorers is built for ages 3 to 8: a two-story rocket to climb, a space station with a robot arm and a Planet X surface to search for signs of life. It's the reason to come with little ones.
The dome shows run about half an hour to 45 minutes. One World, One Sky stars Elmo, so that's the one for preschoolers. Strollers stay outside the theaters, in the stroller parking by each door.
No outside food here (unlike the Field next door). And walk out to the end of the point before you leave, because the skyline view from the Adler's lawn is the best free view in the city.
- Free entry
- No
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Maggie Daley Park
Loop
This is the playground downtown, and it's more of a playland: three acres of rope nets, slides, mirrored paths and a big play ship, with a zone for ages 2 to 5 and another for 5 to 12. It sits just east of Millennium Park, over a footbridge.
In winter the skating ribbon, a loop of ice that winds around the climbing walls, is the best skate in Chicago. In summer the same ribbon turns into a path for scooters and little bikes, and there's a splash pad for hot days.
It gets very busy on warm weekends. Weekday mornings are when you get the play ship to yourselves.
- Restroom
- Yes
- Water play
- Yes
- Picnic tables
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Millennium Park
Loop
You're going to the Bean. Everybody does, and kids love finding themselves in it (then lying underneath it and looking up).
The better stop for kids is Crown Fountain, right next to it: two glass towers with faces that every so often purse their lips and spit water onto a shallow plaza. From late spring to early fall that plaza is basically the city's most famous splash pad. Bring a towel and a change of clothes.
Summer evenings bring free concerts at the Pritzker Pavilion, and the lawn is a pretty good place to let a toddler roam while you eat.
- Free entry
- Yes
- Restroom
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Chicago Children's Museum
Navy Pier
Three floors on Navy Pier, and the answer to a rainy day downtown. Dig for bones in Dinosaur Expedition, climb the three-story schooner, and get very wet at WaterWays (bring spare socks).
The babies and toddlers have their own spaces in Treehouse Trails and Kids Town, which has a real CTA bus and a mini grocery store. The museum really suits under-eights. Older kids tend to run through it in an hour.
It's inside the pier itself. Come out, and the Ferris wheel and the carousel are right there, if you've got the budget and the patience.
- Free entry
- No
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Lincoln Park
The zoo, the nature museum and the beach are all inside the same lakefront park, about a mile north of downtown, and you can walk between them. The 151 bus runs up from the Loop along the edge of it.
Lincoln Park Zoo
Lincoln Park
One of the last free zoos in the country, and no reservation needed. That changes how you do it: pop in for an hour, see the lions and the gorillas, and leave when someone's done. No guilt about the ticket.
Head for Farm-in-the-Zoo first with little ones. There's a barn with cows, goats and chickens, and the chicken and cow feedings are free. The Pritzker Family Children's Zoo has bears, otters and red wolves at kid height. The carousel and the little train are the only things that cost money, and they help keep the rest free.
The only real sting is parking. The lot is expensive after the first half hour and doesn't take cash, so come by bus or walk up from the beach if you can.
- Free entry
- Yes
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
Lincoln Park
The butterfly house is the reason. The Judy Istock Butterfly Haven is a big warm greenhouse with more than a thousand butterflies flying loose, and they will land on you (and on your kid, which is the whole point). Every afternoon there's a release of newly hatched butterflies.
For ages 8 and under, Nature's PlaySpace has more than 25 things to climb, dig and splash in, all built to feel like outdoors. It's a great combo with the zoo, which is a short walk south, and it's a warm place to be in February.
- Free entry
- No
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
North Avenue Beach
Lincoln Park
Wide sand, a gentle slope into the lake that works for small waders, and a beach house built to look like a docked ocean liner. The skyline is right behind you, which never gets old.
Swimming is allowed only in beach season, roughly Memorial Day to Labor Day, and only when the lifeguards are on. The rest of the year it's a sand-and-skyline walk. There's no playground, and it gets packed on hot weekends, so arrive early and bring shade.
It's a walk from the zoo along the lakefront path, and from the Old Town hotels.
- Free entry
- Yes
- Restroom
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Oz Park
Lincoln Park
A neighborhood park built around The Wizard of Oz, with bronze statues of the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow and Dorothy with Toto. Kids go hunting for all four. Dorothy's Playlot, the fenced playground, has plenty to climb and swing on for small kids.
It's in the middle of Lincoln Park proper, west of the zoo, so it's where local parents actually go. No restroom, so plan around that. Pequod's is a few blocks away when it's time to eat.
- Restroom
- No
- Fenced
- Yes
- Picnic tables
- Yes
Further out, and worth the trip
Hyde Park is about 20 minutes south of the Loop on the Metra Electric or the bus, the conservatory is on the Green Line to the west, and Chinatown and the 606 are an easy hop from downtown. These are the ones locals send visitors to.
Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
Hyde Park
The one that takes a whole day, and honestly, it's the best rainy day in Chicago. There's a real German U-boat from World War II inside the building, a coal mine you ride down into in an old cage elevator, and a giant model railroad that runs from a miniature Chicago all the way to Seattle. Everyone still calls it MSI.
The Idea Factory, for kids 10 and under, is the place for little ones, with water play (rain slickers provided), simple machines and building. There's a nursing room right next to it.
Know before you go: the coal mine and the submarine tour are extra tickets, and the coal mine isn't stroller accessible. You can see the U-boat without the tour, and plenty of kids are happy with that.
Strollers are rented at the museum, which helps if you came by train and left yours at the hotel.
- Free entry
- No
- Restroom
- Yes
- Changing table
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
Garfield Park Conservatory
Garfield Park
The January answer. Walk in from a gray, freezing afternoon and it's suddenly warm, green and humid, with giant ferns, palms and a lily pond. Kids who don't care about plants still like the heat.
The Children's Garden has a 20-foot net climber, a slide and a toddler area. It takes its own 30-minute reservation on top of the conservatory ticket, so book both together.
It's right off the Conservatory stop on the Green Line, about 15 minutes from the Loop, so there's no need to drive.
- Restroom
- Yes
Ping Tom Memorial Park
Chinatown
A riverside park just north of Chinatown, with a playground full of Chinese motifs, a pagoda-style pavilion and big stone benches to watch the boats and the lift bridges go by.
In the warm months the Chicago Water Taxi runs here from downtown, and for a kid who likes boats that ride is the outing. Then it's the playground, and dim sum a few blocks away.
Get in at 19th Street and Wells.
- Restroom
- Yes
- Picnic tables
- Yes
- Wheelchair access
- Yes
The 606 (Walsh Park)
Bucktown
The 606 is an old rail line turned into a 2.7-mile elevated trail across the Northwest Side. Walsh Park, at the Ashland Avenue end, is where you want to start with kids, since it has a big play structure and ground jets you set off with a button.
The trail itself is great for a scooter or a first bike, though weekend cyclists move fast, so keep little ones to the side. There's no restroom at Walsh Park.
Margie's Candies is a short walk from the trail's west side, which is a pretty good reason to walk that far.
- Restroom
- No
- Fenced
- Yes
- Water play
- Yes
Where to eat nearby
Somewhere to eat near each part of town, and yes, one of them is deep dish.
Eleven City Diner
South Loop
A big old-school Jewish deli and diner on Wabash, with booths, a soda fountain, hand-spun milkshakes and a candy counter in the corner that kids clock the second they walk in.
It's the easy lunch or dinner on either side of a Museum Campus day, and it's open from breakfast on. Order a milkshake to split and let the kids pick something from the candy counter on the way out (or don't, your call).
- Kids' menu
- Yes
Mon Ami Gabi
Lincoln Park
A French bistro in the old Belden Stratford building, across from the park and a short walk from the zoo. It's loud and busy, and that's a good thing when your toddler is too.
The kids' menu does grilled cheese, mac and cheese and chicken fingers with frites, and every kids' plate comes with green beans and apple slices. It takes reservations, which helps on a weekend night.
- Kids' menu
- Yes
- Reservations
- Yes
Pequod's Pizza
Lincoln Park
If you're doing deep dish once, do it here. The pan pizza comes out with a ring of dark, crackly, caramelized cheese baked onto the crust, and kids tend to peel it off and eat it first.
It's two floors on Clybourn, casual and loud. The catch is that a deep dish takes the better part of an hour to bake, so reserve a table, and order an appetizer the minute you sit down.
- Kids' menu
- Yes
Valois
Hyde Park
A cafeteria on 53rd Street, running since 1921, with the motto See Your Food. You carry a tray down the line and point, which is exactly how a four-year-old likes to order. It's also where Barack Obama ate breakfast when he lived nearby.
It's cash only and there are no reservations. Go before MSI, since a big cheap breakfast is how you get through a whole museum day.
- Reservations
- No
MingHin Cuisine
Chinatown
Big, bright, Cantonese dim sum on Archer Avenue, with ordering on an iPad at the table and a picture for every dish. That makes it easy to let a kid pick the dumplings (and the egg tarts).
It's a few blocks from Ping Tom Park, and the round tables are made for big groups.
Margie's Candies
Bucktown
An ice cream and candy shop on Western Avenue that's been going for more than a hundred years. The Beatles came in after a show in 1965, and the photos are on the walls to prove it.
Sit in the old booths and order a sundae. They're famously oversized, so one is plenty for two kids. It's close to the west end of the 606.
- High chairs
- Yes
Where to stay
Stay near the part of town you'll be in most. These four cover the Museum Campus, the Magnificent Mile, Lincoln Park and Hyde Park, and there's a longer list of Chicago hotels for kids on its own page.
Hilton Chicago
South Loop
The Museum Campus base. It's on Michigan Avenue facing Grant Park, and the Field, the Shedd and the Adler are a walk from the door.
There's a heated indoor pool with a hot tub, which is what you want after a museum day in March. The hotel says it has cribs and connecting rooms.
- Pool
- Yes
Loews Chicago Hotel
Streeterville
The one that plans for kids. Loews offers connecting rooms it guarantees, free cribs and a bedtime story program, and Navy Pier and the Children's Museum are a short walk east.
- Cribs
- Yes
- Connecting rooms
- Yes
- Fridge
- Yes
- Pool
- Yes, indoor
- Free breakfast
- No
Hotel Lincoln
Old Town
Across the street from Lincoln Park, a walk from the zoo and less than a mile from North Avenue Beach. If your trip is mostly the north side, this is the easiest base.
The one-bedroom suites have a separate living area with a sofa sleeper, which is the room to ask for with kids. There's no pool.
- Cribs
- Yes
- Fridge
- Yes
- Pool
- No
- Free breakfast
- No
The Study at University of Chicago
Hyde Park
On the University of Chicago campus facing the Midway Plaisance, about a mile from MSI. Stay here if you're giving Hyde Park a whole day (or two) and don't want to ride back downtown.
The Double University View rooms have two beds and look over the campus, which works well for a family of four.
- Cribs
- Yes
- Fridge
- No
- Pool
- No
- Free breakfast
- No
Put a day together
Museum Campus day: the Shedd when it opens, lunch you packed on the Field's steps (or inside), SUE after lunch, and Eleven City Diner for dinner. Lincoln Park day: the farm at the zoo in the morning, the butterflies at the nature museum, North Avenue Beach if it's warm, and Pequod's to finish. Downtown day: Maggie Daley Park, the Bean and Crown Fountain, and the Children's Museum if it rains. Hyde Park day: breakfast at Valois, then MSI until everyone's done.
Chicago in winter
It's cold, and it's still a great city with kids. Skate the ribbon at Maggie Daley Park, warm up in the Garfield Park Conservatory and the nature museum's butterfly house, and save MSI and the Field for the worst days, since each one takes a whole day. The zoo stays open all year, and a lot of the animals are indoors anyway.
Getting around without a car
You really don't need one. The Museum Campus is a walk from the South Loop hotels, and the 146 bus runs there from Michigan Avenue. The 151 bus goes up to the zoo. The Green Line stops at the conservatory, and the Metra Electric runs to Hyde Park for MSI. In the warm months, the water taxi to Chinatown is transport and an outing in one. Parking downtown and at the zoo costs a lot, so leave the car at the hotel if you have one.
Questions
What is free to do in Chicago with kids?
Lincoln Park Zoo, every day, with no reservation. Maggie Daley Park, Millennium Park and Crown Fountain, North Avenue Beach, Oz Park, Ping Tom Park and the 606 cost nothing either. The Field, the Shedd, the Adler and MSI all have free days for Illinois residents through the year, listed on their own sites.
What can you do in Chicago with kids when it's cold or raining?
MSI takes a whole day and has the Idea Factory for under-tens. The Field Museum has SUE and a toddler PlayLab, the Shedd has Polar Play Zone, and the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier is built for under-eights. For warmth and green in January, the Garfield Park Conservatory and the nature museum's butterfly house.
Which Chicago museum is best for toddlers?
The Chicago Children's Museum, if you only pick one, with Treehouse Trails and Kids Town for the smallest. After that, the Shedd's Polar Play Zone (ages 2 to 7), the Field Museum's PlayLab (about 2 to 6) and Planet Explorers at the Adler (3 to 8).
Can you swim in Lake Michigan in Chicago with kids?
Yes, in summer. The city's beaches open for swimming from about Memorial Day to Labor Day, and only while lifeguards are on duty. North Avenue Beach has a gentle slope in, a beach house and restrooms, and it's a walk from the zoo.
Is the Museum Campus or Lincoln Park better with kids?
Do both, on different days. The Museum Campus is the big paid museums (the Field, the Shedd and the Adler), best for a full day in any weather. Lincoln Park is the free zoo, the butterfly house and the beach, better for a sunny day and for little ones who need to leave when they need to leave.
Where should you stay in Chicago with kids?
The South Loop, at the Hilton Chicago, if the museums are the trip. Streeterville, at the Loews, for Navy Pier and the Magnificent Mile. Old Town, at Hotel Lincoln, for the zoo and the beach. The longer list of Chicago hotels for kids has pools, suites and kitchens.
Photos
Field Museum: Jay Malone from Casselberry, FL, USA (CC BY 2.0) · Shedd Aquarium: Sage Ross (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Adler Planetarium: Ildar Sagdejev (Specious) (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Maggie Daley Park: Cole Camplese from Hinsdale, USA (CC BY 2.0) · Millennium Park: Beyond My Ken (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Chicago Children's Museum: chicagochildrensmuseum.org (Business website) · Lincoln Park Zoo: Alanscottwalker (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum: Brian Johnson & Dane Kantner (CC BY 2.0) · North Avenue Beach: King of Hearts (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Garfield Park Conservatory: victorgrigas (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Ping Tom Memorial Park: Warren LeMay from Chicago, IL, United States (CC BY-SA 4.0) · The 606 (Walsh Park): Daquella manera (CC0 1.0) · Eleven City Diner: David Wilson from Oak Park, Illinois, USA (CC BY 2.0) · Pequod's Pizza: Goose Green Photography (CC BY 4.0) · Valois: davidwilson1949 (CC BY 2.0) · MingHin Cuisine: JetpacApp (CC BY 2.0) · Margie's Candies: Stephen Hogan from Chicago, United States (CC BY 2.0) · Hilton Chicago: Michael Coté (CC BY 2.0) · Loews Chicago Hotel: GualdimG (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Hotel Lincoln: AlphaBeta135 (CC BY 4.0)
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