Event features food, entertainment, kids' play area, polka parade and pierogi eating contest. July 27-29.

Featuring unique aircraft, aviation forums, daily airshow and KidsVenture with hands-on activities.

A mysterious hound has just killed the Baskerville heir, and now the last remaining male Baskerville seeks out the assistance of the famed detective Sherlock Holmes and his loyal companion Watson. Each theatre-hike presents a different scene at a new location on the Arboretum grounds. Audience members hike to each location to enjoy the unfolding story. Low-impact hikes (suitable for strollers, walkers and wheelchairs) are on the first Sunday performance of the month. Runs Saturdays and Sundays in July.

Learn some fun facts about water, meet a special guest who protects our waterways and participate in a watery crafts.

See gardens, woodlands, wetlands and prairies in a tram tour. 60-minute and 30-minute tours explain the rich Arboretum history, and describe the trees and plants you'll see. There's also an opportunity to see lovely wildlife in a native habitat.

Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends, Percy and James can be found tooling around the Taltree Railway Garden. Daily activities include Thomas coloring page, scavenger hunts, photo opportunities with favorite characters and a picnic on a train. Plus, each weekend adds storybook reading,  Bozo Buckets gameand train ride.

The new Railway Garden, a G-gauge model railway running through a 2.5 acre site, opens April 30. Visitors enter through a 1920s-era railway depot to see trains running through a garden of miniature plants, water features and a variety of landscapes. May 1 through October.

Drop in anytime between 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. at the conservatory's Elizabeth Morse Genius Children's Garden to plant an imaginary garden, build a tropical habitat, help water the plants, or read a book under the tropical canopy. Runs through entire 2012.

Families enjoy an up-close visit with Trailside Museum's local turtles and snakes. Drop-in program.

Walk along a winding trail and view gigantic animatronic bugs, plus more than 150 stationary insects, which will be part of six themed scenes. Guests can also see live creepy crawlies in Harry's Big Adventure: My Bug World! The interactive habitats feature several ecosystems to show how insects impact their surroundings, the environment, and human lives. Activities, including bug cooking demonstrations, cockroach races, a spider web climber, and other bug-themed entertainment is planned for guests throughout the summer.

The fun-filled, bug-themed day will take place on the zoo's East Mall and feature a performance by the popular Beatles tribute band American English, as well as many other activities, including a Volkswagen Beetle car show, ladybug releases, and special bug Zoo Chats.  The tribute band American English will take the stage at 3:00 p.m. for a free two-hour concert to perform favorites from The Beatles' early years. Additional activities for kids include helping staff release 1,500 ladybugs at the flower bed just east of Roosevelt Fountain at 1 p.m. and in Hamill Family Play Zoo (admission fee applies) at 2:30 p.m. Families can also learn about the importance of bees from Bob's Bees, who will have a beehive, equipment, and more to demonstrate the art of beekeeping.

Navy Pier and Shedd Aquarium have partnered to provide special games, fun activities and festive music to celebrate the extension of the Jellies exhibit. Guests can play games, take their photo with a beach-themed photo board and interact with Navy Pier's own beach bum dancers. Pier visitors can also receive free Shedd Aquarium tickets.

All well-behaved and leashed canines are welcome aboard for the 90-minute lake and river tour with lively commentary about dog-friendly Chicago.  On-board amenities include large bowls of fresh water, and a newspaper-lined restroom. The 2012 cruise schedule is: 10 a.m. Sundays from  July 8-Sept. 10. Tickets go on sale each Sunday at 8:30 a.m.

Experiment with Graphic Arts materials to create mixed media works inspired by the exhibition Roy Lichtenstein: A Retrospective. Weekends, plus July 4 and 11.

Children can immerse themselves in backstage preparation, perform routines in center ring or manage the behind-the-scenes action of lights and sound. Plus, try making a circus balance toy or dress up like a clown.

Kids build foundations for future learning as they discover what currents, loads and power sources are and what they do, while beginning to understand the basics of electricity, how it is generated and how it moves.

Showcases 14 multi-sensory exploration stations, each incorporating a high-quality reproduction of one of Marc Chagall's works. Interactive components offer hands-on activities and an audio description of each work specifically geared to children. An extensive selection of books about Marc Chagall is provided to encourage further exploration and to stimulate literacy learning.

Take a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the world of magic and its historic roots in Chicago. Features a multimedia object theater experience, artifact display and live performances. Discover the tricks of the trade and witness Chicago's magical past reappear before your very eyes.

A private collection of late 17th and early 18th century French clothing and accessories. This display presents historical information on apparel, as well as the process and passion of building a collection.

From Fannie May to Brach's Candies, Tootsie Rolls, Frango Mints, Lemonheads and more, Chicago has a tasty history of making candy loved the world over. Learn about Chicago's sweet history and how candy and the City of Chicago grew up together. May 11-Sept. 18.

Drop in to learn what it takes to turn corn into stone-ground cornmeal. Shucking to shelling to grinding to weighing to bagging, it's all in a day's work for our master millers.

A special exhibit on the history of Girl Scouting, with special focus on Oak Park, River Forest, and Forest Park. Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts of the USA.

Visitors become space adventurers and set off on a journey to discover the Universe in a way never done before. Travel a billion light-years and back, fly through space, orbit the Moon, zoom into a canyon on Mars, and soar through the cosmic web where a million galaxies shower down. The experience was created utilizing real telescopic data and the best scientific imagery.

Multimedia displays and digital interactives show audiences how galaxies, stars, planets were created as the Universe grew. A projection showcases the enormity of regions farther than our Solar System, taking spectators billions of light-years from Earth to the edge of the cosmos, while touch screen technology allows them to investigate the diverse and beautiful objects of deep space.

Exhibit examines the ancestry and evolution of numerous species, ranging from huge to tiny, from speedy to sloth-like, and displays animals with oversized claws, fangs, snouts, and horns. Highlights include taxidermy specimens, an entire skeleton of a giant hoofed plant-eater, a life-size model of the largest land mammal that ever lived, one of the oldest fossilized bats ever found, and an impressive diorama featuring the swamps and forests of an island in the Arctic. Runs May 26, 2012-Jan. 6, 2013.