Top Gymnastics centers in Chicago, United States

I cannot say enough good things about the curriculum and the coaches! Coach Laura, Coach Keaton, Coach Summer and Coach Halina are phenomenal coaches. My daughter has been with Little Gym since she was 2. I would encourage all parents to follow the different age groups programs. These coaches focus on technique, and growth development. My daughter has built great skills with them and I cannot wait to finish out another summer with Little Gym!

Lakeshore Academy is the BEST. They have programs for all ages and skill levels, from recreational to competitive. My now 8 year old daughter started recreational classes about 2 years ago, and recently joined the Xcel team program. All of the coaches and staff are fantastic. It’s worth our 30+ minute drive back and forth from Evanston multiple times per week. Can’t recommend Lakeshore enough!

We've been at Lakeshore Chicago for many years. The coaches are great and the staff is helpful. Coach Mike is fun and both of my girls enjoy his team.

i’ve been doing gymnastics here since i was 3 and it’s been absolutely wonderful. all the coaches here are so nice and the atmosphere is so friendly! highly recommend

My toddlers absolutely love this place and so do I! The staff is incredibly friendly and all areas are kept clean. Great spot for burning some energy on the gymnastics equipment or getting creative with the wide variety of toys. Very happy to have this close to home!

Had a fantastic 4-year birthday party. Kids were 7-8 months to 11, mostly 2-4 and there was something for everyone. Kids had a blast! And there was even space for kids to step away and have some independent if they wanted. The space was clean and thoughtfully arranged. The staff were very helpful and upbeat throughout the event and even pitched in with setup. Thought the two-hour window was perfect too. Highly recommend!

I love this place. My two year old has gymnastics here once a week and it’s become my favorite outing with her. Jessica is the owner and instructor— and she has created a space that is welcoming for all skills. The atmosphere of Edgewater Playhouse is one that is very warm and welcoming (and very clean!)
In her classes, Jessica is always striking a balance between being challenging and playful meeting your child where they are at, and encouraging them to go a little further.
I’d always heard good things about Edgewater Playhouse and the women who run it, but my first born had already been going to The Broadway Armory. (And then Covid hit)
Now that I’m there with my second child, I wish I’d started there with my first. Well worth the money.

My daughters began their journey at Lakeshore Academy as recreational gymnasts at age 4 and 5, eventually progressing to the pre-team and then the main team. Over nearly three years, we consistently attended practices and punctually made payments. Unfortunately, after a brief absence post-summer, the owner, Marla, unjustly barred us from rejoining the team based on unfounded accusations.

While the team’s coach is commendable, the gym’s management, including Marla, lacks professionalism and courtesy. Feedback on my children’s progress was scarce, and practice schedules were often unclear. We adapted to heavy traffic by biking to the gym and received approval from the front desk to store the bicycles in the lobby. Surprisingly, Marla cited this as a problem and used it as a pretext to exclude my daughters.

Furthermore, Marla falsely claimed that other parents had issues with my daughters’ behavior. After personally speaking with other team parents, it was clear that these allegations were baseless. Marla also inaccurately accused parents of disrupting classes by entering the floor area.

The competition coach is excellent, but the overall experience, in my opinion, with the gym’s owner and staff was disappointing. This facility does not foster a nurturing, community-oriented environment for children’s development. Despite their readiness to accept payment, any inquiries to the owner or staff were met with rudeness.

Below are email exchanges that further illustrate the nature of the owner’s conduct.

Hi.XXX-
M is a great coach and willing to work with all types of kids. However, we have had some problems with the girls behavior at the gym and the other parents have made comments that the group has run better in the past few weeks. Also- the front desk staff has expressed much frustration with the bikes in the building, doing gymnastics in the lobby and parents going out on the floor to speak with the coach during class.
We feel that the girls are best in a recreational class and maybe they can revisit the team when they are more self-disciplined and committed to the competitive team.
Thanks
Marla

On Tue, Sep 12, 2023 at 9:53 AM KG wrote:
Hello,

I wanted to update you on our situation. Our family recently moved to XXXX but due to a certain circumstance, we've returned to Chicago. It's been a hectic month with the moves. I've spoken to Coach M and he mentioned that our kids can rejoin when we are ready. Since tuition is billed at the beginning of the month, we're considering re-enrolling them on October 1, 2023. Please let me know if this works.

Thank you,

K

Marla, the owner, recently indicated that the decision regarding our girls' participation was made by the competition team. However, this explanation does not fully capture the situation. Before deciding to re-enroll, we consulted Coach Marius, who expressed eagerness on several occasions to welcome our daughters back to the team. Happy to share his corresponds. In our opinion, our concern is not born out of discontent; rather, it stems from the realization that the owner's misrepresentation of the facts creates an environment that we believe is not conducive to our children's involvement. Even on this respond, after many months, she continues to make up the facts.

Edgewater Playhouse is a cornerstone of the community. Not only is the facility spotless, organized and inviting but the humans who facilitate the space are absolutely incredible. Thank you so much for sharing this space with us!

We love it here! A spectacular fun space for my kiddo to learn and grow. The day we enrolled her she was beaming with joy and she looks forward to coming back every week! The space is clean, the instructors are all wonderful and the staff is constantly cleaning before and after every class! Highly recommend!

I can not rave about Edgewater playhouse enough! My daughter has been taking gymnastics classes here for about 3-4 years now. The owner, Miss Jessica is thee best, in all aspects! She has always been accommodating, aware of all health measures, maintained a very clean, pristine, organized place, and knows how to keep the kids going! Thanks Miss Jessica and staff for all your hard work and dedication for our kids! I wish you many more blessings in the near future for your business! <33

I would not recommend this place at all. I enrolled my daughter, advised the facility that she is out of country and was told "no problem she has 6 months to make up the classes that you have paid for" Go to schedule the make up classes well you can only schedule 1 week in advance and only if the class has a space. So needless to say they have taken the money. I decided to switch facilities and shocking the 6 month time period to book the make up classes changes to 6 days, she can only make up the classes if she continues to pay! This company rolled out an email change to their make up classes mid session, no where did I sign or agree to this. The service level is not up to par, and what my daughter has learned has not been great either do yourself a favor and look at a different gymnastics company that will actually teach your child something.

Everything is good even down to hassle free parking except no ac. We keep coming back for gymnastics because the instructors are great and the class size is smaller compared to other gyms. It's like having a personal coach.

My daughter has been enrolled in the "beasts" class throughout the summer and has grown in many ways thanks to the coach and curriculum. She is more confident and daring thanks in part to these classes. Her coordination and body awareness have increased. Most importantly she loves going and asks for "more gym" throughout the week. While not cheap, these classes are worth the money!

Little gym is AMAZING! My son signed up for a season fall-spring and loved it! Will continue having him go when the next season rolls around. It's very clear that the coaches love what they do. I love how each and every coach is so different but I love the way they talk to and interact with our kids. I drive pretty far just for him to come here. We love COACH MADDIE!!! Have also worked with coach banana and coach Laura which are also amazing!

This is the best hidden gem for families in the Edgewater area & the city’s north side. We had the joy of enrolling our toddler daughter there as pandemic restrictions were still in place. She was there for about a year, until we relocated. Ms. Jessica is amazing. She genuinely cares about her students & everyones well being. She is knowledgeable & passionate about gymnastics. She’s also a parent, and has that six sense as to how to have children’s attention & how to keep them excited & active in her classes. The place is always impeccably clean. We also rented this spot as a birthday venue for our daughter & while our experience was during the pandemic ( post vaccines) with masking & social distancing involved, her and her staff went above & beyond to make sure we all enjoyed our time there. Thanks for all that you do for your students Ms. Jessica.

Such a cute place. Our son had a blast. His smile when we picked him up was worth every Penny. He really enjoyed coach Emily.

We recently organized a birthday party at the Little Gym, and couldn't have been happier with the whole experience. They worked with us to make sure that the food and decorations we provided were set up, they really got into the theme we chose, and were genuinely excited to have fun with the kids on a "parents' night out" on a Saturday night.
The place was very clean (they vacuum and disinfect regularly), and the staff was very engaging with the kids, making sure to usher the parents out of the way and on with their evenings. The price was very reasonable considering they took every responsibility and worry away for the entire block of time.
All the kids had a blast, admittedly because we peered in from the street window to see everyone laughing and jumping around. It was also nice to see parents be able to drop their kids off and spend a few hours unwinding (a dozen of us went around the corner to Flagship, which was also great). We look forward to going back soon.

The staff is really nice and hyper! This is excellent because they are daling with young kids. They seem to be enjoying what they are teaching and this in turn has a great effect on kids attitudes.

First of all, the coach who works here is a young woman who is bad manners. On the first day, he told the parents that no one is allowed to see inside the classroom or take pictures of their children! She is like a military officer, and my daughter did not want to participate in this class anymore.

To participate in these classes, you must register in advance on the Chicago Park District website.
Weekend capacity fills up in seconds, but this class always has free space because of its coach.
In terms of size, the gymnastics court is smaller than Harrison and Broadway and has fewer facilities for gymnastics. Parking is easy to find.

Got kicked out because I couldn't do a double backflip...

We’ve been going to Little Gym for over a year and absolutely love it. Our son is now 2 and we started him in classes just after he started walking. I love that it’s a mixture of structured and unstructured play, which is the perfect fit for our kiddo. It’s been amazing to see what skills he has picked up from class.

All of the coaches we’ve had have been wonderful (shoutout to Anna, Daniel, and Vanessa). Every week they have a theme and focus on different skills and give you ideas of what to do at home to continue the theme. The staff is super friendly and helpful. If we can’t make it in or need to schedule a makeup class, it’s easy to do via text or phone call.

An amazing experience for adults and children alike. It’s a perfect day spent to learn gymnastics for the kiddos or just run around during open or private play. The kids love it and we love it even more because we see how much fun they have every time we go there. Customer service is amazing, reasonable priced and the owner is such an amazing person too. Worth trying for the classes, summer camp, open play or birthday parties.
Bonus: she has Children’s books for sale from local authors!!!!

Showed up at 2pm on a Saturday to use the climbing gym and was told it was closed today? Would be nice if you would update your hours accordingly so you don’t waste people’s time driving here.

This place is awesome! My daughter goes to the gymnastics class and miss Jessica and the class are great. I have done some other gym classes and this is the best by far. I am always amazed by the skills my daughter learns in such a short time, with a very calm and loving support from Jessica.
Also, open gym is really fun. It is like having a park indoors only safer and with toys, imagination and pretend play.
Just awesome!

We've just taken our daughter out of class here after two incidents made us question their commitment to safety.

#1 - they held a team tryout that was supposed to last from 5-6. They kept little girls (ages 7-8) until almost 8PM - doing split jumps on the beam and other advanced moves on an empty stomach.

#2 - in the tumbling class, the coach let girls practice back handsprings with no supervision while he helped other girls do something else. My daughter had not tried a back handspring until that day (the coach knew this) but had her working with an octogon support thing. She jumped too hard, the support flew out from under her and she took the full impact on her HEAD - on a sprung floor, NOT A MAT! Five days later, she still has headaches and we're monitoring her for a concussion.

Hours on Google are wrong! The correct times are:
LSA:
M-F: 9-9
Sa: 9-5
Su: 9-4

Hidden Peak:
M-F: 12-2 ($7) & 5-9 ($10)
Sa: 12-5 ($10)
Su: 12-4 ($10)
Hidden Peak is a small, but great bouldering gym! Routes are changed often, so you never get bored, and the space is really maximized!

Pretty pricey for open gym...I believe $20 and the open gym isn't for that long. However, if you go during the adult classes, the instructor is really really good. He's incredibly experienced and definitely knows what he's doing. He takes the time for each student and really tries to correct your form.