Exhibit A+

NICE ICE, BABY The Shedd Aquarium’s Polar Play Zone will give visitors a taste of the Arctic—minus those annoying subzero temperatures.

Photo: Rendering Courtesy of Shedd Aquarium

SMART ART Kids can drop in to the Ryan Education Center at the Art Institute’s Modern Wing for free any time.

Photo: Nicole Radja

“People have often said Family Programs is the Art Institute’s best-kept secret,” Jean Sousa, the museum’s director of Family Programs, says a little ruefully.

The secret’s out. The Ryan Education Center (111 S Michigan Ave, 312-857-7161) is one of the most prominent features of the Art Institute of Chicago’s new Modern Wing. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows are all that separate the 20,000-square-foot, light-filled space from Monroe Street. So visiting families enjoy spectacular views of Millennium Park, and young passersby get tantalizing glimpses of the hands-on art workshops, storytelling and games taking place inside five classrooms, three studios, a kid-friendly gift shop, and the David and Marilyn Fatt Vitale Family Orientation Room. (The Crown Family Educator Resource Center appeals to parents and teachers.) Some programs require registration but many are drop-in; call 312-857-7161 or e-mail familyprograms@artic.edu to get the full schedule.

While adults had to pay regular admission to bring kids to the Art Institute’s old educational facility, the Ryan Education Center (which visitors enter through the Modern Wing) is free for everyone. As even the most jaded teens enjoy video screenings on flat-panel TVs, kids can explore the Art Institute’s collection in the interactive “Curious Corner,” using computers to make their own versions of African masks or American artist Joseph Cornell’s sculpture vitrines. Sousa hopes they’ll “have an ‘Aha!’ moment” once they see the originals in the museum’s galleries.

For those who prefer an analog experience, the Ryan Education Center has hundreds of children’s books. The Vitale Family Room’s comfy, curved seating area (inspired, Sousa informs us, by a Jean Arp sculpture) offers a perfect spot for story time—any time the museum’s open.

A different collection—think beluga whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, otters and penguins—awaits at the Shedd Aquarium’s new Polar Play Zone (1200 S Lake Shore Dr, 312-939-2438). The aquarium’s first permanent exhibition for kids was designed with two- to seven-year-olds in mind. In its Shallow Ocean room, visitors can touch sea stars in artificial tide pools with the Shedd’s sea-otter exhibit as a backdrop. Weary adults can kick back at Deep Ocean’s snack bar while their little companions gawk at the dolphins playing in the Shedd’s Whale Harbor. In the Icy South area, kids can dress up like penguins, learn to waddle properly and care for mock nests—all while watching the Shedd’s real penguins. Aspiring explorers should enjoy playing with the periscope of Icy North’s yellow submarine. It may not be seaworthy, but it has a great view of the aquarium’s beluga whales.

The Art Institute of Chicago’s Ryan Education Center is open Monday–Wednesday 10:30am–5:30pm; Thursday, Friday 10:30am–9pm through August 31; and Saturday, Sunday 10am–5pm. The Shedd Aquarium’s Polar Play Zone is open daily 9am–6pm through September 6.

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