Little Red Schoolhouse Nature Center — Attraction in Palos Township

I was impressed with the pics online and I was excited to take my grandson, wholly expecting a hand-on, interactive experience. I will interject, we were not going to be following any of the/walking/hiking trails, as our time was limited. The external grounds are wonderful and very well maintained; excitement builds... we enter the building and excitement begins to wan. To our right is a play area, with a mat of natural building, fire starting (all speculation) pieces of wood, and (ugh) some animal pelts. NEXT! A corn hole game. Assorted puzzle pieces and felt pieces strewn all over the floor. NEXT! A table holding some sort of organic material and small plastic dinosaurs. One could not even bury the dinosaurs for "discovery", the non-earth product available was not enough to cover them. NEXT! A felt board on the wall for... I have NO idea! NEXT! A small "library" of nature books, and very nicely made shelving. There was not an immediate area to sit and read together, other than two lovely wood benches by the entrance, and this granny was not going to sit on the floor mat with animal pelts. We did play library for a while, until a book was "checking out" looked oddly familiar, from my early grade school days when the publication was even old then. NEXT! Agreeing with another reviewer, the caged crow... sad and wrong. I wanted to free him from the cage that looking like a carry over from the original LRS. NEXT! Oh, glimpsing at the wing to the left my heart felt forgiveness for the let down so far. A lovely wigwam! Cordoned off, for no entrance into it. I understand. But, no lighting inside to be able to enjoy the barely visible hanging pot cooking, the area for sleep, the simplicity of meeting basic needs. "Step in closer, squint your eyes, can you see the pot?" The ceiling in this section has suspended geese and over birds displayed, with full wing span. If you are a fan of the Museum of Natural History, your senses won't be offended, as mine were. Cases displaying a small doe and fawn, a red fox with cubs, and then I quit looking. Various cases displaying snakes, frogs, salamanders, fish, and it is always a bit of fun to play Where's Waldo. A nicely inclined ramp, that is user friendly for all ages, leads to the lower level where the BIG TREAT is located, a large natural, open tank of snapping turtles. And that my friends, was the highlight. It was free and yet I had this unexplained urge to ask for my money to be refunded. Maybe the LRS will be your thing, but I was...

Little Red Schoolhouse is also the site of free stargazing with the volunteer astronomers from Chicago Astronomical Society. Chicago Astronomical Society’s LITTLE RED SCHOOL HOUSE 2015 SUMMER SKY WATCH SCHEDULE: April 25, 2015 - Start Time 7PM, Featuring the Moon & Jupiter May 30, 2015 - Start Time 7:30PM, Featuring the Moon, Venus & Jupiter June 27, 2015 - Start Time 8PM, Featuring Hercules Cluster, Venus & Jupiter July 25, 2015 - Start Time 8PM, Featuring the Moon, Saturn, Hercules Cluster, Albireo and M57 the Ring Nebula August 22, 2015 - Start Time 7:30PM, Featuring the Moon, Saturn, Albireo, M57, Summer Triangle (Altair, Vega, & Deneb) Sept 19, 2015 - Start Time 7PM, Featuring the Moon, ET, the Summer Triangle Oct 24, 2015 - Start Time 7PM, Featuring the Moon, ET, Albireo and the Andromeda Galaxy

Join us for a FREE evening under the stars at our Public Observing Sessions. If you have a telescope or a pair of binoculars, feel free to bring them along and participate in the observing with us! Volunteers will also be happy to share views through their scopes with you. It is very interesting and a great opportunity to see a variety of telescope equipment in use, and get tips in viewing.

If you need some help or instruction on setting up your telescope, bring it to any of our other LRSH sessions listed and we will try to help you as time permits.

Little Red School House Public Observing DOs & DON’Ts *No White light! Please use a Red LED flashlight or cover your flashlight with red Cellophane, red plastic tablecloth, red balloon,etc. Flash photography is NOT permitted while we are observing. If you bring your young family members with, please be sure that they are adequately supervised. No running or horseplay is permitted; our astronomers have expensive and delicate equipment. Please use the trash-cans in the park (Let’s leave the park as clean as we found it, or better :) We are NOT allowed to walk down any of the trails at night; please stay in the...

Great educational opportunity in a fun and engaging environment. We went with our scout troop with about eight 3rd/4th graders and 10 adults. After we completed the two mile trail we arrived at the trail head gate to leave only to find it locked! We attempted to use our cell phones to call for help but there was no service in this area. As it was starting to get dark there was some concern about being locked in the woods alone. We were forced to climb the fence where the razor wire was cut and some kids were able to crawl under where a small hole was dug in the dirt. Luckily we were eventually able to all get out safely. I have come to find out that others have also had this experience. The workers can see there are cars in the lot but they just lock the gate trapping people on the walking trail. This could pose a life threatening situation for an elderly person or someone who can't physically climb the double high fence while avoiding the razor wire. Coupling their absolute lack of concern for public safety along with the inability to use a cell phone to call for help, they should strongly consider installing an emergency phone or some other system to allow people to get help in the event of an emergency. It is only a matter if time before a tragedy happens. On the upside, it was quite a memorable adventure...