Things to Do in Oak Forest

After health, the most important thing parents want for their children is a good education, and that means learning inside the classroom and out. But if learning becomes simply memorizing facts in a textbook, it quickly turns into a chore, leading kids to lives of mindless entertainment and ignoring the last 12 mystery ingredients on junk-food labels.

To combat this, The Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn exposes children to the arts, sciences, and industry with a series of engaging exhibits that uphold the standards set by the Illinois State Board of Education. These exhibits occupy every inch of their two-story facility, giving kids hands-on experience with concepts such as cause and effect, gravity, and motion. Painting and dress-up theaters cultivate healthy imaginations, and the infant tummy-time zone allows even the tiniest guests to flex their neck muscles and reach stuffed-animal friends. In addition to daily visitors, The Children’s Museum in Oak Lawn welcomes school field trips and family birthday parties.

The pilots at Sun Aero Helicopters Inc. have been training pupils in the autogiro arts and transporting clients through the skies since 1991. Inside their base at Lansing Municipal Airport, aviators maintain a 12,000-square-foot hangar area and 3,000 square feet of training offices and high-speed computerized flight-planning facilities. Expert pilots impart their knowledge to up-and-coming FBI agents, police officers, emergency medical technicians, and leisure pilots during one-on-one training sessions in Robinson and Bell copters. Pilots also give landlubbers a skyscraper's view of Chicago's landmarks, such as US Cellular Field, the John Hancock building, and the Sears/Willis Tower. When they aren't transporting rally drivers, golfers, and famous wiffle ball players with private charter services, Sun Aero serves national media companies with aerial photography and land surveys.

Art. Education. Community. Non-Profit. These four words succinctly sum up the mission of Beverly Art Center, a cultural hub in the historic Beverly Hills, Morgan Park neighborhood. The heart of the member-supported center is the 400-seat Main Stage theater, which hosts plays, dance recitals, and concerts. But the venue is equally dedicated to education, inviting visitors to immerse themselves in ceramics and film classes at the School of the Arts or attend literary events with actual authors instead of just their dust jacket photos. A spacious art gallery hosts rotating exhibitions of contemporary works by both national and regional artists.

Celebrating 15 years of touching lives & entertaining audiences in the Chicago Southland! The mission of The Center for Performing Arts is simply to present the finest in world class performing arts entertainment and education to the citizens of Chicago Southland at affordable prices.

Hollywood Palms Theater, modeled after Hollywood Boulevard and the legendary Chinese Theater, engages moviegoers with its opulent design, a restaurant and bar, and seat-by-seat service. Winning praise from myriad press outlets, the movie house boasts nine distinctive auditoriums, each dressed to a cinematic theme, including Coconut Grove and The Rainbow Room. Within the confines of each theater, rows of high-backed leather chairs comfortably cradle bodies, while the latest Dolby surround sound swathes ears in the tummy rumbles of on-screen actors. An attentive wait staff takes orders throughout films from an extensive menu that includes burgers, sandwiches, pizzas, beer, wine, and cocktails.

Custom-built mountain bikes and hand-built wheelsets may be Richard’s Bikes’ specialty, but cyclists have frequented the store since 1910 to find road, cross-country, and freeride accessories. Staff pack more than 100 years of combined biking experience into the well-oiled gears that power their minds and match customers with premade bikes and equipment from manufacturers including GT, Schwinn, Mongoose, LeMond, and Klein. Richard’s carries a wide selection of helmets and protective gear, cycling apparel, and bike parts of all kinds.