To gain access to your Chao, you must venture into Chao World. To go to Chao World,
you must find a 'Chao Box' in one of the levels.
When you break open the Chao Box, you will find a key inside. When you collect this key,
you will be warped to Chao World at the end of the level.
There are three Chao Boxes in each level. The first one will contain the key to Chao World.
In the second box will be four random animals from that stage. In the third (final) box will be the
"special" animal in that stage. See the animal sections for more information on this.
Once you are in Chao World, you will gain access to the Chao Gardens.
Time only passes while you are inside the Chao Garden.
So if you are in the Chao Lobby, playing a stage, or in a different Chao Garden to the one your Chao is in, it will not change/age/etc.
At first there is only one Chao Garden, and if you look inside, you will see two Chao Eggs. These eggs contain your Chao.
These two Chao will be the regular normal Chao. These Chao are "two tone" Chao, which are light blue with yellow highights.
Hatching Chao
There are three ways of hatching the eggs, each way having different effects on your Chao.
Shaking:
Shaking the egg is the most common way of hatching an egg. Pick up the egg using the 'B' button,
and while still holding it, move the analogue stick to shake it.
After about 5-10 seconds of shaking the egg, place it back down. The egg will start to bobble,
then hatch giving you your Chao.
Throwing:
You can also throw the Chao egg to hatch it. To do this, pick up the egg by pressing the 'B' button,
then while moving, press 'B' again. This will not make your Chao very happy at first.
But there have been no negative effects that have been noticed by hatching this way. All that seems to happen is that the Chao will have an "angry/upset" tornado swirl expression above it's head (see the expressions page). But the Chao does not actually seem in any way harmed or upset afterwards.
Many people just use this way simply because it is quicker to hatch the egg this way.
However, it has been said in a few guides/manuals/magazines that this method produces a more active, lively Chao.
Leaving:
Your Chao egg will hatch naturally after a while. If you leave your Chao egg alone and it will hatch by itself.
Hatching this way has also been said to produce a normal, but maybe timid Chao. There has been nothing to confirm this however, so for now it seems to be just idle speculation.
To find out more basic information about Chao, see the Chao Principal in the Chao Kindergarten. This is a great source of learning the very basics of what Chao are, and how to care for them.