Pumpkin patches and apple picking with kids around Chicago

Mid-September to Halloween is the best season in the Chicago suburbs: cool air, red trees, and a pumpkin farm in every direction. The ones here are kid-tested: tractor and hay rides, pig races or a pumpkin-eating dinosaur, animals to pet, a patch that isn't too big, and a kids' version of the corn maze.

Closest to Naperville and Wheaton is Sonny Acres in West Chicago; Bolingbrook families head south to Bengtson's in Homer Glen; Schaumburg and Arlington Heights swear by Goebbert's in South Barrington, where the mechanical dinosaur crunching pumpkins is the main event. For apple picking, drive out to Kuipers in Maple Park, where the orchard and the pumpkin farm make a full day. Free options: harvest days at Kline Creek Farm and fall color at the Morton Arboretum.

• 6 places
• 1 free
• 6 stroller-friendly
• closest is 15 min away