I'm looking for activities to do with a 10 month old on Thursday mornings. Playgroups, classes, storytime, anything! Preferably in the neighborhood of Lawrence and Western. I've looked into Park District classes, but there isn't much for his age group. Any ideas would be great :)
Hi Kate- I had the same issues as you are having (with my then 10 month old who is now nearing two). This is what I found- Old Town School has wiggleworms, Sheil Park (on southport) has baby classes starting at 6 months which I have taken (they are inexpensive but nice to get out and do something with other parents, always lots of parking or in the summer we take the train), I have heard Horner Park has some baby classes as well (winter sign up for all the parks is on Monday, November 30th- pick the park and then look under Early Childhood on the drop down list, the little babies classes are called Moms, Pops and Tots), I found a really great group in our area called Little Lincoln Logs- go to meetup.com and search for it. You can "apply" to be a member, they just ask several questions, and then once you join there is a whole calendar of varying things- storytimes, lunch out, playdates, checking out new places, yoga classes, etc. Most of it is free or inexpensive and you can commit to it a day before or the day of so if your nap schedule is off or whatever you have some options. Hope this helps, I did a lot and still do of this stuff with my son and we love it. If you need more specific details on the park stuff or group, send me a message. I had a hard time with the chicago parks website and finding the stuff, I don't think it is very user friendly. Welles and Chase have some stuff but it is mostly for older babies and Sheil is the only one I found for younger.
I would HIGHLY recommend the Old Town School of Folk Music's "Wiggleworms" class. The class is located at Wilson and Lincoln. Wiggleworms is a 16 week class for babies 6 months - 12 months old. The class is hosted by a teacher who sings interactive songs to the babies that encourages them to dance and sing along. I started taking my daughter to the classes when she was 9 months old and she absolutely loved them. So much so that we are signing up for the 12 - 24 month Wiggleworm class this winter! Here's the link: http://www.oldtownschool.org/classes/wiggleworms/
Good luck!
I would also check out your local library. Many of them have story hours. www.chipublib.org Large bookstore chains, like Borders and Barnes & Noble, often have story times, too, but I'm not sure if there is one that's convenient for you (or if the story times are age-appropriate).
Everything else I know about is in Lakeview/Roscoe Village. There's a great store, Be By Baby, at Roscoe and Lincoln that has classes. Go to their website www.bebybaby.com and give them a call to get on their e-mail list and receive the class schedule.
I'm a member of a mom's group on meetup.com that is for mom's in the Lincoln Square/60625 area code. We are called The Little Lincoln Logs. It's a great group and we have lots of activities.
Definitely do www.meetup.com! I also am in Little Lincoln Logs, as well as Big City Babies, the Chicago SAHM group, and Happiest Hip Mamas. And if there isn't a meetup on the day you're looking for one, you can always host one at your house!
We used to live in that area and there are quite a few things to do. Check out Wiggleworms at the Old Town school on Lincoln or itsy bitsy yoga at Bloom Yoga studio at the Rockwell stop. I think some of the boutiques on Lincoln and/or on Rockwell have story time on Thursday mornings.