City: Chicago, IL

Category: Parks & Recreation

Telephone: (312) 744-5472

Address: 5801 N. Pulaski Rd.

Insider Pick:

Description: Once you discover this friendly 46-acre natural haven northwest of downtown, you’ll return again and again for wanderings along rustic trails that weave through the nurtured savanna, wetlands, prairie, and woodlands. You’ll have them practically to yourself on cool days, and on summer visits the beehives buzz with mesmerizing activity—watch them work up close, but not too personal, in the glass-enclosed hive inside the center’s small main building. In here you’ll also find a collection of fossils for hands-on exploration, and the library where children’s books about nature and animals fill shelves of a cute nook, and a bin full of animal puppets provides mini-imaginations with all they need to put on a show through the curtains of a little play puppet theater. During special events like the maple festival, “city wilds,” winter solstice, and harvest festival, a variety of folk bands, storytellers, arts and crafts, and outdoor vendor booths attract an increasing number of fans. Most events and activities are free. The nature center is typically open daily 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.