View over 150 handcrafted scarecrows and vote for your favorite in each of six categories. Plus, live entertainment, arts and crafts show, carnival, petting zoo, canine corner and make-your-own scarecrow.

Festival attractions include live music, German food, Kinder Korner with kids' games; Bier Haus ; "Bengal Zone" sports TV viewing; games; and raffles. Sunday from 1-4 p.m. features Kinder Fest, a family time with musical chairs, hula-hoop and limbo contests.

Families can build their own scarecrow with straw provided free. Bring old clothes to stuff, or purchase clothes and accessories. Activities include traditional harvest crafts and activities, old-fashioned games, wagon rides around the village, square dancing and demonstrations.

Celebrate a safe Halloween with trick-or-treating and face painting in Safety Town Village and enjoy pony rides, petting zoo, moon jump, carving or painting pumpkins, food and more (fees may apply).

A vegan couple find themselves in a pickle when Harry is bitten by a werewolf cub. Luckily, Dr. Frank Einstein and Madam Clara Voyant may have a cure. Meet a campy cast of characters in this spoof of the horror movies of the 1930s. Audience members walk to each location to enjoy the unfolding story. Low-impact hikes (suitable for strollers, walkers and wheelchairs) are presented on the first Sunday performance of the month.

a playful family night to explore the world of bats, take a moonlit tram, and cozy up around the campfire and roast marshmallows.

Explore the Arboretum's nine miles of scenic roads by bicycle. Bring your own or rent regular bicycles, tandems, electric bikes, burley strollers, wagons and more.

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.

Play tricky games, fashion fun fall crafts, and plant a tree seed to take home. Small pumpkins to paint will also be available for purchase. Weekends in October.

Artistically decorated scarecrows from local Girl Scout troops are on display around Meadow Lake, daily in October.

Shop from more than 200 varieties of daffodils, tulips, alliums and other specialty bulbs, learn from Garden horticulturists and staff demonstrations on bulb selection and planting, and sip cider, wine and beer while listening to live music and shopping among local vendors. Plus, a straw bale maze and a gourd display.

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.

Throughout October, visitors enjoy spooky sights and sounds, plus special events during Twilight Witching Hours (4-7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday October 6-29). Spooky trees, raving ravens and creepy crawlies will take up residence in the garden, joining the thousands of miniature plants, dozens of handmade bridges, and of course, an assemblage G-gauge steam trains.

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.

Docents help children and others learn through interactive displays and games in the showrooms. New topics every month. September: "Traveling Seeds"; October: "Cone Bearing Plants"; November: "Fruits, The Seasonal Food Harvest"; December: "Eggs and the Conservatory Critters"; January: "Urban Wildlife"; February: "Chocolate"; March topic: "Survival in the Jungle"; April: "Carnivorous Plants"; May: "Water Works."

Enjoy the quiet, steady pace of the horses as they pull the hay wagon around the back 80 acre trail. Look for pheasant, deer, and coyote as you travel through the wooded areas and open fields past the pioneer log cabin. No hayrides Oct. 13 and 14.

Visitors can walk inside the two-story silo and turn the crank of a silage machine, watching "corn plants" delivered to the top of the silo. Plus, learn about the history of silos and silage, build miniature silos with building blocks simulating wood, brick and metal and much more.

Learn about the zoo's cats, from big cats like African lions, Amur leopards, Amur tigers, and snow leopards to small ones, including fishing cats and domestic house cats. Plus, special Zoo Chats and cat-themed crafts and activities for cat lovers of all ages.

Join a keeper-led tour of the Children's Zoo, then head to the barn to help keepers with morning chores like feeding the cows, delivering hay to the goats or brushing the animals.

Breathe in the crisp fall air as you enter the zoo through a cornstalk lined path, hear the crunch of the leaves underneath your feet, listen to the children conquering the straw pyramid or enjoy the sight of thousands of pumpkins on display. Nature-made fall decorations, including pumpkins, gourds and corn stalks, available to purchase.

Drawers and non-drawers gather to create individual works on cardboard and build a collaborative sculpture in real time. Make a custom button with Busy Beaver Button Co., draw on a tricked out light box created by Catalyst Ranch, sit for a portrait with Doodlebooth, and watch Inventables print an original image by artist Rachel Perrine on a Sharpie-equipped ShapeOko CNC mill.

Kids can take classes taught by the Actors Training Center as part of this all-day improv festival at Navy Pier. Classes take place on the hour (1-4 p.m.), then stay for performances from some of Chicago's best improv groups (7-11 p.m., tickets required).

See a toy so amazing, so unbelievable, it has the power to transform into anything you want it to be. Enter a world where imagination rules, and ordinary becomes extraordinary.

Create your own creepy costume, decorate a mini-pumpkin and explore our Spooky Backyard. Includes special crafts and Monster Mash Dance Party (Friday-Sunday) and face painting daily.

Everyone should know what do in case of a fire. Visit the Play it Safe exhibit for kid-friendly life-saving skills and information.

The Children's Museum in Oak Lawn is excited to be combining two of its most popular events into one full day of fun! There will be activities for the whole family including a 5K race, kid's dash, trackless train, inflatables, craft vendors, pumpkins and more.

Kids enter artist Gino Severini's interpretation of trains by role-playing engineer, passenger or conductor in a child-size train and look for objects in an eight-foot wide "hidden pictures" mural of artist Don Stewart's "Steam Train."  Plus, enjoy specially designed wooden train tables and a huge new interactive crane.

Kids can visit DCM's Art Studio, where they will find enough cardboard boxes to build anything their minds can imagine. Part of the "Global Cardboard Challenge," an event in which children around the world are encouraged to "build anything awesome out of cardboard, recycled materials and imagination."

The exhibit features the illustrations of W. W. Denslow, a Chicago resident whose famous illustrations helped to inspire the design of the classic 1939 MGM film starring Judy Garland. The bright and colorful exhibit provides a variety of learning opportunities and hands-on activities within a three-dimensional representation of Denslow's distinctive illustrations.

Living History reenactors portraying soldiers and civilians, including Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln and Harriet Tubman, interact with visitorss. See a Civil War cannon fire and watch a surgeon at work. The Battlefield Balladeers perform songs from the Civil War era and educational activities are available for all ages. Plus, kids can enjoy a Civil War scavenger hunt.

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.

Jennifer Holik, professional genealogist and author of numerous genealogy books, helps young people investigate their family history using simple research techniques, then record what they discover with basic genealogy charts. Parents, guardians and grandparents are encouraged to attend.

Informative bike ride through Busse Woods Forest Preserve to learn about the cultural and natural history of the area. Pre-registration required.

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.

Hundreds of objects and documents from the exclusive private collection, together with a rare collection of first editions of his most famous works, tell the story of how Charles Dickens and his characters became enduring cultural icons. Interactive and multi-media displays and personal effects take visitors through a chronological tour of the life, literature and legacy of Dickens. View his personal traveling inkwell, take a ride in an early century carriage, and learn about the memorable characters, stories and themes of his famous tales through games, time period puzzles and Dickens' own personal Facebook page.

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.

Includes a private viewing of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs 4-D Experience, followed by a drawing for special prizes, a visit with costumed characters, Shedd's Polar Play Zone and reserved seats to the aquatic show.

Brookfield Zoo gives a live animal presentation featuring exotic critters from around the world. Space is limited and registration is required. Call (815) 895-9777 to register.

Learn and connect to the history of the Marathon race, inspired by the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), from the first Marathon race in the 1896 Athens Olympics to today. Includes section on The Chicago Marathon. Children are invited to participate in a Race for Pheidippides scavenger hunt to redeem a prize. Exhibit coloring pages also available.

Attractions include Pumpkin Patch Petting Zoo, The Inflatable Kidz Zone, Corn Cannons, Pig Race,s, Cow Train, Hay Rides, Pony Rides, Corn Maze, Hay Maze, Corn Box, Hay Pyramid Flashlight Maze, Zombie Safari Hay Ride, Zip-Line, Giant Inflatable Pillow Jumpy and Bouncy Horses.

Board a Safari Hay Ride outfitted with 20 Zombie Slaying paintball guns, mounted turret style. Once aboard, you will be ferried to the grounds via a tractor tow, where the Zombies will attack from all sides

The park will be decorated with pumpkins and colorful autumn décor. Specialty menus feature caramel apples, chili and other sweet treats. In addition to rides, animals and attractions, kids can enjoy a variety of activities, such as a walk through the kid's haunted house, trick-or-treating (2-3 p.m. Oct. 27 and 28) and a costume contest (1:30-3 p.m. Oct. 27). At night, Nightmare From North Street Haunted House and Terrify Trails are open for those 12 and up.

Program is managed by Stepping Stones Therapy. Social skills groups provide interactive and fun opportunities to increase speech, language, oral-motor, motor planning, socialization and sensory processing and modulation skills. Visit www.airtastic.com to request additional information.

The last four weekends in October will feature special Halloween activities, including trick-or-treating for LEGO bricks, creating your own LEGO monster, huntin for ghosts in a haunted LEGO jungle and trying autumn-themed speed build challenges. October 5 -7, 12-14, 19-21 and 26-31.

Watch men painted blue do unusual performance art and original slapstick comedy. It's fun to sit in the front, but remember to wear a plastic poncho to avoid the flying food and liquids. Buy tickets at the box office, online, via Ticketmaster or by calling (773) 348-4000.

In a world where a trip to the Laundromat threatens to separate Trixie from her beloved bunny, a girl needs a hero to help--Dad. Can her parents understand what she's saying in time to rescue Knuffle Bunny? Performances run Oct. 2, 2012-Jan. 6, 2013.

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.