I love the Garfield Park Conservatory at 300 N. Central Park. Admission is free, it is generally not very busy during the week, and there are lots of things for the girls to look at and do. My girls will generally spend more than the expected amount of time looking at the tropical plants, especially the cacti in the desert house. In the lobby you can pick up a scavenger hunt that encourages your kids to find specific plants within the Conservatory. Some of them are a bit hard to find but there are plenty of obvious ones that are fun for kids such as oranges and banana. One of the must see attractions for us on every visit is a large pond located kind of in the middle of the conservatory that contains a lot of large goldfish. There is a bench for sitting and watching the fish swim and that's what we do for as long as I am willing.
The highlight of the Conservatory for families, however, is the Elizabeth Morse Genius Children's Garden. My kids' favorite parts of the Children's Garden are the tall tube slide, the spray bottles that they get to use to water the plants, and the tubs of dirt that are put out for them to dig in with mini shovels and rakes.
We almost always go to the Conservatory on Mondays for the Morning Glories program. The target age for this program is 3-5 and involves a small project and a story that goes along with the theme. There is a suggested donation of $2 if you participate in the make and take activity but it truly is just suggested since they don't ask you for the money and instead there is box off to the side where you can put it. The activities generally have a nature theme to then, are generally relevant to what's growing inside the conservatory, and are somewhat seasonal. I think about once a month they do something edible (such as make herbal ice tea or ice cream). A schedule of upcoming activities is provided on the Conservatory website at http://www.garfieldconservatory.org/early_childhood.htm. They seem to have about 20 or 30 activities that they rotate. Even though we've been there a bunch of times we've never done the same activity twice. Some of the things we've done are planted a chocolate mint plant, decorated a twig with beads and ribbons to make a wish stick, made a butterfly and made bee goggles. My two favorite things we did were a scratch and sniff bracelets and an orange pomander. Both things smelled so good. The orange pomander was basically just inserting cloves all around the outside of the orange to make a Christmas ornament. The bracelets involved stringing small squares of sand paper that had shapes punched in them onto a bracelet. The kids then got to choose from items that smell really good like a cinnamon stick or nutmeg and rubbed then against the sandpaper. After the activity a staff member reads a story that is usually loosely related to the project. Most activities need a little parent help, depending on your child's age, but there is usually ample staff to help your child if you have more than one kid to keep your hands and eyes on. The format for the activities is a drop in program from 10 -12. Every 20 minutes or so they gather a group of kids to do the activity and story. If you arrive after one has already started you need to wait for the next one. It can get kind of busy on Monday mornings but we've never had a problem not getting into to the next available session after we get there. They usually try to make room for everyone who is there. As always, I suggest getting there early, however. A similar program is also available on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from 1-3.
Strollers can be kind of tricky in the Conservatory. It is not like you can't have one or even that it doesn't fit but pathways can be kind of narrow plus once you get to the Children's Garden there is not a lot a space to park it. I've gone both with and without the stroller and it really depends on whether you need it or not. I've gone with a sleeping baby in a stroller and it worked out pretty good (baby slept off to the side while we participated in the project) but now that I two kids who can walk it is just easier not to have the stroller.
As far as I know, the only bathrooms in the place are located just outside the entrance, near the gift shop, so have your kids go before you go in. In terms of food, it is OK to bring a lunch in and there are tables where you can eat. Also, I think you can buy sandwiches and snacks in the gift shop.
There is a free parking lot adjacent to the Conservatory. In addition, the Green Line drops you off right there. I have done both and they both work equally well. I'm not going to lie, the Conservatory is not located in the best neighborhood in the City but we've never had any problems there.
Every September the Conservatory hosts a County Fair and this year it will be held next weekend - September 17th from 11 -4. We've never actually made it to the County Fair but it sounds like so much fun. Admission is $5 and includes a petting zoo, garden display, bounce house, live music, farmer's market, and more kids activities.
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