Things to Do in Buffalo Grove

Instructors at North Shore Yoga and therapists at Integrated Healing Center promote holistic well-being with a one-two punch of movement-based classes and salutary bodywork sessions. Owner Sharyn Galindo honed her yogic talents over 10 years of dedicated practice, including occasional sojourns to Mysore, India and Thailand where she studied Ashtanga techniques while accumulating enough frequent-flyer miles to vacation on Jupiter. Under her tutelage, North Shore Yoga instructors emphasize Ashtanga and Vinyasa yoga styles, helping students deepen stretches by heating rooms up to 84 degrees for the majority of sessions. To augment a lifestyle of physical wellness, Integrated Health Center's therapists dole out healing bodywork and alternative treatments, including acupuncture and massage sessions that can help address clients' individual needs by incorporating aromatherapy or organic, herb-infused oils.

The seasoned staffers at Make-A-Messterpiece nurture creativity and critical-thinking skills by guiding children up to aged 12 through messy hands-on activities. Aspiring chemists can mix their own concoctions at the Experimentation Station or explore gravity at the Bubbleology area, and future chefs can dabble in gastronomic delights at Creative Kitchen. Whereas Lil' Sprouts activities teach pint-sized crafters do-it-yourself projects, the custom-designed Drum Roll studio gives children the chance to splatter paint with each drumbeat, just like Carnegie Hall during renovation season. For little ones who would rather create aesthetic masterpieces, Splat-Tacular Tables furnish the tools they'll need to draw, paint, sculpt, or decorate their own creations.

Make-A-Messterpiece also goes beyond everyday activities to host school field trips and children's birthday parties with artistic activities, food, and goodie bags. For frequent messmakers, the center offers family memberships replete with perks such as everyday access to the studio, discounts on classes, VIP passes for special events, and consultations with Jackson Pollock's ghost.

It was the late 1970s, decades after the Holocaust, but neo-Nazis hadn’t disappeared: they threatened to march in Skokie. Realizing the need to combat this kind of intolerance with education, Chicago-area survivors and their supporters banded together to create the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois. This initiative evolved into the museum which was built to honor the memory of Holocaust victims, educate visitors, and explore the human intolerance that continues to lead to genocide today.

The nine holes of Willow Hill Golf Course sprawl across 87 grassy acres before the scenic backdrop of the Chicago skyline. The par 35 course conjures up visions of the early days of golf with a Scottish links-style design winding for 2,895 yards through low rolling hills and dense rough, left high to punish errant shots and provide cover for napping golfers mid-game. Before or after a round, players can work on finesse around the greens at the 100-yard short-game practice area, or hone their hacks on the driving range, where all 40 stations mimic strokes off the fairway with grass hitting surfaces.

Course at a Glance:

• 9-hole, par 35 course
• Total length of 2,895 yards from the back tees
• Course rating of 34.2 from the back tees
• Course slope of 118 from the back tees
• Three sets of tees per hole:m]]

Eric and Markay Suevel have run the eponymous Suevel Studios—a full-service glass studio that creates custom pieces and hosts classes—for more than 30 years. Both proprietors have practiced the art for decades, but their partnership marries two distinct approaches. Eric learned the craft at a young age from his uncle, and Markay possesses a liturgical perspective as an ordained minister with a master’s in divinity. They cut and fuse alongside a team of worldly and learned glassworkers, all of whom bring their own specific expertise to the table, whether doing restoration work or mosaics. The studio's stained-glass work lights up churches, homes, and restaurants as well as their students’ faces after they complete one of 25 classes. There, apprentices acquire the skills required to decorate household windows or liven up bland, translucent reading glasses.

A real firehouse sets the stage for hands-on, imaginative activities at FireZone, where actual firefighters show off fire engines, explain educational displays, and oversee games for kids of all ages. In addition to children’s parties and drop-in play sessions, FireZone runs school field trips, caters to adults with corporate training days, and rents its trucks for picnics, parades, and festivals.