I'm looking for day long activities for my 11-year old daughter
during:  July 15 - July 18; August 4 - August 11. She's interested in
theater (production rather than performing), rock climbing, medicine,
mountain biking, and tennis.

She will be based in the Loop, and I'd like to avoid a commute to the
suburbs for the activity. The activity needs to be for nearly a full
day (e.g., 9 - 5).

I'd like at least three suggestions.

Thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by omnivorous-ga on 12 May 2003 08:10 PDT

Atlasshrugged --

Bowler's given a nice overview of activities. There are several more
that could be suggested but the biggest question is: will an adult be
accompanying her or do you wish to have day-long supervised
activities?

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

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Clarification of Question by atlasshrugged-ga on 12 May 2003 15:28 PDT

I'm looking for supervised activities.

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Clarification of Question by atlasshrugged-ga on 21 May 2003 17:16 PDT

cynthia-ga

Yes, the field trip idea is appealing.

I can give you what they call the "dime tour" of events that may be
going on in Chicago around the Loop during those time periods.  Navy
Pier is a hotbed of activity during the summer.  Here is their
calendar during that timeframe.:

http://www.navypier.com/SubLink.cfm?Main_ID=14&Sub_ID=1

and other events happening at the pier during the summer:

http://www.navypier.com/SubLink.cfm?Main_ID=1&Sub_ID=39

For Rock Climbing this seems like an option depending on the hotel she
may be staying at:

http://entertainment.metromix.chicagotribune.com/top/1,1419,M-Metromix-Home-!PlaceDetail-3042,00.html

The Mayors' Office of Special Events hosts many festivals and
celebrations throughout the year, check here for some of the dates:

http://www.ci.chi.il.us/SpecialEvents/Festivals.html

For Chicago neighborhood events:

http://www.chicagotraveler.com/chicago_festivals.htm

Personally if I had to give some suggestions:

1) Navy Pier, they have a Shakespeare Theater, an Omnimax theater, a
children's museum and there are performing groups that do various
shows each day.

2) A trip to any of the museums., especially those in the "Museum
Campus" (Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, and the Adler Planetarium), the
Museum of Science and Industry, Art Institute, or Chicago Histroical
Society.

3) A trip to Grant Park.  There are tennis courts, Bike riding trails,
Buckingham Fountain, Roller Blading Trails, walks along the Lakefront,
and Festivals throughout the year (see above for schedule).

There are also many many children's theater's around the Loop.  I'll
post results of searches at a later time.

Hope this is helpful, if not don't worry about it I'm not a "paid"
researcher so this info is free!

When my kids were in school and too young to stay home all day, I
signed them up for "Great Escapes" which was advertised as "A Field
Trip Every Day"

The kids loved it. They went for 2 years running and were 10/11 and
13/14.

Are you interested in something like that in Chicago? 

~~Cynthia