One of my best friends lived in Chicago for a couple years and I have made the trip over with my daughter multiple times. Below are some of the best things to do in the city with children. I have been in beautiful fall weather and twice in a polar vortex (that will rock your world when you’re from southern California). It is such a fun city, with so much to do and see. I hope you find some things that will help your family explore the windy city. 

Millennium Park 

This is a huge park in the center of downtown Chicago. It has multiple great playgrounds for children and my daughter played for hours here. It can get very busy and chaotic but such a beautiful play area for children

Aside from the play area there is also the infamous “bean” sculpture here, it can get quite crowded but the kids enjoyed seeing it.

There are expansive trails and walking paths that take you to different art installations or eateries.

During a polar vortex, if you dare, there is also a great ice-skating course in the park. You can rent skates here and have a blast taking in the winter air. Honestly to someone who doesn’t experience cold weather, it was pretty fun. 

The Chicago Children’s Museum

I have taken my children to a lot of children’s museums on our vacations and this by far has to be my favorite one. One it is so large and the perfect place to spend the entire day, especially if you have bad weather to deal with outside. Each level had something different to offer kids and they can get their wiggles out climbing, playing grocery store, building things, or digging for dinosaur bones. It might be a toss-up if my daughter or me and my husband had more fun here. 

Lincoln Park Zoo

This zoo is located in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago, right on the water. Best part is, it’s a free zoo!  My kids had a great time here, it is just the right size zoo that you can see it all and not be exhausted by the end of it. They have some great exhibits and you can actually get pretty close to all the exhibits as well, giving the little ones even more of a personal experience.

Shedd Aquarium

Shedd Aquarium was something we added on last minute because of the polar vortex, Brrr! Honestly it was a great add-on and would even recommend taking the kids on a nice day. The kids loved their beluga whale exhibit and go to see so many things up close. It wasn’t even that crowded surprisingly. The aquarium also has great views of the lakes from their location and we spent about ½ a day checking everything out. 

Navy Pier

In complete transparency the weather has been horrible every time we attempt to go to navy pier. It looks great though and have heard wonderful things about it. It is close to millennium park and the children’s museum. Both times we have wondered in here to eat and let the kids run around the indoor part of it as it is large and expansive. They have several places to eat indoors and shops as well.