Search for gnomes in the Children's Garden using your best "I Spy" skills. Checklist provided.

Bring the stroller along to explore the exhibits, then let the little ones get hands-on experience as they explore and discover nature during a 20-minute playgroup. Jan. 16, Feb. 20, March 20, April 17.

From superheroes to undersea adventures, princesses to dinosaurs, Storytown takes children on an interactive, improvised adventure. The actors use kids' suggestions and ideas to create a different story each week. Kids design the setting and help shapes the story. Runs through the end of February 2013, then moves to Stage 773 in Chicago.

Wind-generated sounds are the focus as Bienen School musicians demonstrate the sometimes unexpected possibilities of applying air to a blade of grass, kazoo, harmonica, slide whistle, trombone, garden hose, flute, seashell, oboe reed, pan pipe and other objects. The program will be held at Pick-Staiger.

Story-Telling  | Chicago

FREE

Kids will enjoy stories staged with puppets and drawings, while being exposed to the French language. Side activities facilitate comprehension. Today's story is Le petit ogre veut aller à l'école, a story of an ogre who's learning to read.

Dress up in your best clothes and have a date night with dinner and dancing. Each child receives a gift and picture with dad. Pre-registration is required by Feb. 15.

Interactive learning centers include a barn slide, apple orchard and chicken coop. Maggie, a life-sized fiberglass milking cow sponsored by Golden Oaks Farm in Wauconda, will be the focus of the new exhibit. Maggie is over five feet tall and features a working udder that recirculates the water that children "milk."