Need a time-saving strategy that will please everyone in your brood? Feed your hungry hippos and expel their extra energy at the same time with a lunch break at Nibbles Play Café in Wheeling. With coffee for you and half a dozen play areas for them, everyone gets a much-needed midday boost.

Bond with some brush strokes on an open canvas as The Paintbrush hosts a drop-in art workshop on Tuesday afternoons. Parents and kiddos are invited to team up for artistic inspiration under the casual guidance of a certified Paintbrush staffer. Who knows what will happen when creative minds meld together?

College may not be for another ten years, but the decisions you make about your children’s education start with preschool. Don’t miss this Preschool Fair at Parenthesis for a sneak peek at the many wonderful private and public schools enrolling tiny tots in the Oak Park, Forest Park and River Forest areas.

Get in shape and save some cash in one fell swoop with the 2009 Chicago Winter Bike Swap event this Saturday. Harper College hosts this emporium of all things bicycle – whether it’s a new bike, a used bike, bike tools or cycling accessories, this one-stop shop is a fun, family event.

Give your little lead foots an opportunity to put the pedal to the metal – at least remotely – with some slot car racing at Speed Alley Racing in Westmont. These remote control miniature slot cars are the safest way to give your speed demons the right of way on the road!

French may not be your children’s native language, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be a learned one. Think outside the usual storytelling box by joining the Alliance Francaise de Chicago’s French Storytelling session this Saturday, perfect for impressionable ears and young, absorbent minds.

Learn to love the snow before it melts away with a fun outing at Lake Carina at Lake County Forest Preserves. Located at the border of Gurnee and Libertyville, the Preserves host Footprints in the Snow, inviting families to bundle up and follow the path of wild animal tracks and footprints in the snow.