Ah Autumn, the season of many colors—crisp but the chillest of the seasons. The perfect kind of cool where you only need to wear a light sweater and jacket, and can enjoy the outdoors as long as you want painlessly.

Here’s what to look forward to this month despite how restricted life has been due to COVID-19.

Forest Preserves

Check out the forest preserves I’ve reviewed for you families out there.

Also, if you’re ok with driving a little further— the Friends of the Forest Preserves of Cook County have an activity focused event called Family Fun Fridays starting this Friday and finishing next Friday at Kickapoo Woods Forest Preserve in Riverdale. See their social media poster below.

And for those of you new to the Chicago Southland, there’s a popular nature exhibit every winter at the Morton Arboretum called Illuminations in the Western Chicago suburb of Lisle. It’s a really cool program and 2021 is its ninth year!

Parks

Check out the parks I’ve reviewed for you families out there.

Tinley Park Roller Rink

The photo below is of my husband at the Tinley Park Roller Rink—it’s not the most up-to-date kind of roller rink, but it’s the kind of time-capsule that is worth walking through the funny smelling carpet for. It’s a relic, but a righteous one. The owners are loveley and well-intentioned.

For the little ones, I would still recommend it, for the older kids and adults most definitely. Indoor activites are the thing for the cooler months, and roller blading or roller skating is a great workout for the legs, heart, and spirit.

Thanksgiving StoryWalk hosted by the Tinley Park Park District

This caught my eye today and I love that it encourages enjoying the spirit of the autumn season and the great outdoors through walking a trail through Vogt Woods, giving our child(ren) a different opportunity to learn while reading a special Thanksgiving story along the way.

Definitely wear appropriate gear and shoes.

DATE: Sunday, November 20, 2021
LOCATION: Vogt Woods
ADRESS: 6527 West 171st Street, Tinley Park, IL
PHONE NUMBER: (708) 342-4202
TIME: 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
$ 

Get Directions to Vogt Woods on Google Maps

Code Ninjas Orland Hills/Tinley Park Camps November 2021

Code Ninjas has a bunch of cool game events for young gamers and coders. This one is perfect for Star Wars, Harry Potter, and gaming fans in general who want to take on the challenge of designing their own mods in Minecraft using Mcreator! This event is geared towards kids ages 5-14.

DATE: Monday, November 22 to Friday, November 26, 2021
LOCATION: Code Ninjas Center
ADRESS: 9293 W 159th St , Orland Hills, IL 60477
PHONE NUMBER: (708) 675-8183
$ 

Get Directions to Code Ninjas on Google Maps

Get a Family New Year’s Eve Kit from the Tinley Park Park District

Spending New Year’s Eve at home but not sure what your family will do? The Tinley Park Park District has you covered! This event was an experiment last year due to the pandemic, and it was such a success that it’s back.

Geared towards kids ages 3 and older, each New Year’s Eve bag is filled with 10 different crafts, games and activities to keep your family entertained to ring in 2022, in style.

Program #311000A All $20 R / $26 NR (2 kids)
Program #311000B All $23 R / $29 NR (3 kids)
Program #311000C All $26 R / $32 NR (4 kids)
Program #311000D All $29 R / $35 NR (5 kids)

KIT PICK-UP DATES: December 28-30, at Bettenhausen Rec Center from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: Thursday, December 23, 2021
LOCATION: Tony Bettenhausen Recreation Center
PHONE NUMBER: (708) 342-4200
9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
$ 

Get Directions to the Bettenhausen Rec Center on Google Maps

If there are any events or activities you think families and people should know about, shoot me an email via my contact form: https://tinleyparkmom.com/contact.

Quick Tip On How To Find Things To Do Online

Google

Another way to search for things to do each month is look at Google’s new Events feature. Simply type in “events in tinley park” and you’ll see this pop up.

Click through and make sure your view is set to “This Month” and scroll through to find an activity or event you and/or your family would like to do.

Chicago Southland Convention & Visitors Bureau

This is definitely my favorite non-search engine reference point for quickly finding events or things to do with my family. They help promote the entire Chicago Southland, and with that mission they are a very dependable source. https://www.visitchicagosouthland.com/Events

The Patch

Visit https://patch.com/illinois/tinleypark/calendar and look through events submitted by anyone, including the larger institutions like the library, park district, and village.

The Tinley Park Public Library

Visit https://www.tplibrary.org/events/calendar to stay up on all events at the library. As a resident you’ll also be kept abrest by the library’s e-mail newsletters and the magazine.

Tinley Park Park District

Visit https://www.tinleyparkdistrict.org/calendar-of-events/ to stay up on all events through the Tinley Park Park District. You’ll need to register for some events through their website aswell, so it’s good to add this link to your Bookmarks or Favorites folder on your internet browser.