Close to the city of Chicago, the Chicago Botanic Garden offers fun for kids and families. Come to the north shore for a family outing, with free activities that entertain young and old alike. Find a perfect Garden for an indoor or outdoor walk or to enjoy nature photography. Let the children run and smell the flowers while you enjoy the serenity and beauty of the ever-changing views.
Categories
Scouts and Schools:
Scouting
Museums:
Botanical Gardens
Outdoor Kids Activities:
Plants/Gardens
Other Details
Average Price:
Free
Parking:
See website for parking fees.
Pricing Notes:
Admission is free, but parking fees apply. You can ride your bicycle on the bicycle path all the way from Chicago, and then there's no parking fee.
I absolutely love the Botanic Gardens! It's one of my favorite places to visit year round. From our first date 14 years ago, to days with our little kids, we enjoy putting the kids in the stroller and visiting the gardens. We never make it through all of the gardens so it's a nice place to visit multiple times. My son loves all of the garden areas with fountains and being able to run around in the open areas like the rose garden. Georgeous during all 4 seasons!
super fun place to tire the kiddos out best in cooler weather like spring several great indoor buildings so you can really see what a banana tree looks like
We are members and love the Botanic Garden. The boys (age 2 and 5) adore the railroad garden and have a blast running around and playing with the ducks. :)
We love the Botantical Gardens the train exhibits outside and the Wonderland Express inside. It is a great place to take kids to get out and see beautiful plants, trees, and flowers. Great place for the kids to use their imagination. It is $20 to park but worth what your kids get to see and experience.
We recently attended the breakfast with Santa last month and it was one of the best breakfasts we had. We didnt' need to wait, it wasn't crowded and the food was delicious! Santa was awesome and took his time to talk to each child. Afterwards, the children were able to see the winter wonderland with trains. They were so excited. Overall, a great experience for all!
I am giving it 5 winks for me and only 2 .5 maybe for my 2 year old.. I think its so pretty here. and fun.. My 2 year old liked the waterfall garden.. but that was about it.. she tried playing in the rock garden in the japanese garden and tried picking the roses in the rose garden.. sooo its not so great for kids.. the little train exhibit was very neat though... I would not take my daughter back til she is older.... on a side note.. if you live in the city of chicago you can check out a pass at the library that covers the parking here!! Check out your local library!
I recently visited the Botanic Garden for the first time to attend a wine tasting. The setting was beautiful which made for a fun adult outting. I then returned with my daughter and her friend who were fascinated by the fountains, vegetable garden and the incredible train exhibit. There was even a scavenger hunt bingo board provided by the Botanic Garden that kept the kids interested in exploring. I highly recommend this for people of all ages.
Went for my birthday one year. It is a beautiful place to just walk around and enjoy nature. The flowers are beautiful, especially this time of the year. We rode the tram but that is not really necessary unless you want to learn the history of the garden.
I'm glad they added the ice skating this winter so there is another activity for kids. It is such a beautiful place so added children's activities make it fun to attend.
I just wanted to mention that we were quite disappointed this past visit with the Wonderland Express. We go every year to all of the train exhibits and we felt that this past year's set up was not worth the price of admission PLUS parking! We did not see much change from last year's design and they had a children's activity that was so unclear it had lots of kids running around getting frustrated with their parents and the different trains in the exhibit because they couldn't figure out what the directions to the game were--the staff was of no help either (I personally asked 4 staff members and all gave me misinformation):( In the end, the prize for successful completion of the time-consuming and frustrating game was a hand stamp of Thomas the Train! I think they need to rethink some of their traditional events and switch things up a bit. Taking the economy into consideration and offering visitors a break with prices is something I think they definitely need to get in touch with here, as well.
This is a beautiful place to take the kids during the summer months, but the holiday train show going on right now is really neat. Choose a day that isn't too biting cold, but definitely try to get your family there before January 3.
My husband and I took our daughter here on a beautiful, warm sunny day. We visited the train exhibit. It was so cute! Alison loved it. They had "scenes" set up from all over the USA. It was really neat to see all of the different states and what they are popular for. Even a little Old Faithful and Mt. St. Helens. The parking is $20, but that is the only thing you pay for. I think next time I would opt to bring a picnic lunch because the food is quite expensive. The gardens are beautifully maintained. Ali also loved the ducks in the ponds and the many fountains. Lovely gardens.
I absolutely adore this place. The Holiday train show in the winter is truly amazing and beautiful, but the trains are out in the warmer months, too. There's always plenty of great activities, and even if you don't do anything "special" there are so many lovely areas: The esplanade; the Asian garden section that is so very tranquil; and the more rugged natural trails. Perfect in so many ways!
A fun place for kids, even little ones. Aside from all the beautiful flowers and plants, they have numerous fountains. In the lake they have large fish that my daughter could watch for hours. One year we saw baby swans! Lots of shade for picnicing. Also they have a train area (extra cost) where you can watch trains go around.
