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[title]Okay, so the 40-degree rises and falls in temperature of late—and our subsequent citywide search for the last pair of waterproof toddler mittens on store shelves—has had us thinking that it might be easier to raise our kids in a slightly less extreme climate. But weather aside, we feel pretty lucky to live in a city with an abundance of truly family-friendly fun—i.e., the kind of stuff we grown-ups dig as much as our kids do. Here are some of our favorite reasons for raising kids in the city this year.
Chicago Children’s Theatre
The year started on a high note for city kids with the launch of this multimillion-dollar theater company. Cofounder and artistic director Jacqueline Russell’s tireless efforts to bring top-notch kids theater to Chicago attracted many of the biggest names in the city’s artistic community—including former Steppenwolf GM Claude Binder and About Face director Eric Rosen—plus grants from local bigwigs like Gigi Pritzker Pucker. Its next production is 4-Ish, during which a turbocharged performance-art troupe from Amsterdam performs extreme-sports stunts and break dancing to hip-hop music. It starts January 19 at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park. www.chicagochildrenstheatre.org
Baby Loves Disco
This afternoon family dance party—held monthly at the Park West with live DJs, bubble machines and “chill out” zones—made its way to Chicago from the East Coast this spring, to the groovy delight of past and future club kids all over town. The next event is January 21. www.babylovesdisco.com
The Chicago Park District’s website upgrades
Thank you, Chicago Park District, for streamlining the online registration process for all of your wonderful kids (and adult) programs, and adding a wish-list feature. You’ve eased our quest to get our kids into Tiny Tot Tumbling and have given us a better chance of avoiding the in-person registration madness—if we move our computer mouse fast enough. www.chicagoparkdistrict.com
Habitat Park at the Kohl Children’s Museum
It’s a little bit of a hike, but the Glenview museum’s new two-acre outdoor exhibit space, which opened in May, gives kids great year-round access to the outdoors in a fenced-in site featuring a landscaped garden, sculpture trail and plenty of interactive tools to get them to connect with the environment. It’s the second part of a major transformation for the museum, which moved from Wilmette to its new $18.1 million location last October. Handicapped-accessible, the space is as popular with birds, rabbits and other local wildlife as it is with area kids. www.kohlchildrensmuseum.org
Wee Hairy Beasties
Ralph Covert and Justin Roberts put Chicago on the cool kiddie-pop map, but Wee Hairy Beasties just may have earned us the title of Tiny Funkytown, USA. Esteemed alt-country musicians Jon Langford, Kelly Hogan and Sally Timms, along with members of local country-folk band Devil in a Woodpile, made head-boppin’ jug music for the little masses this fall on their debut CD, Animal Crackers, and performed at a release show at the Old Town School of Folk Music.
Kidzapalooza
On top of all that awesome local talent we mentioned above, rock-star dad Perry Farrell brought an elaborate sideshow of kid-friendly entertainment (this year it included Patti Smith, Ella Jenkins and the Alvin Ailey Dancers) along with him when he rolled Lollapalooza into town again last summer.
Spatulatta.com
www.spatulatta.com
Belle and Liv Gerasole, 11- and eight-year-old Evanston sisters, respectively, snagged a James Beard Award—the first awarded for a webcast—for the biweekly cooking shows they film for their site. They teach kids near and far basic skills like how to separate an egg, and more elaborate cooking techniques, like how to prepare holiday dinners from scratch.