Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in Saint Louis, MO

There is a television commercial that shows a boy drying off from swimming, shaking his head to get the water out of his ears and watching all of the numbers and facts he learned during the school year fall out as he moves. I don't remember who the commercial is for but the message sticks with me and I worry that my kids, especially my 9 year old, will forget the lessons they learned over summer break.

I want to teach my kids over summer break without making lessons boring or "school like" and I'm on a budget. I could send them to expensive camps or tutoring sessions but it doesn't fit in with our spending plan so I have been looking for low cost alternatives to reinforce their learning but also have fun. Luckily, the St. Louis area has many free museums which is a great place to start. I have already taken the kids to the newly expanded Magic House (which is not free but there are coupons available online) and the St. Louis Zoo. The Zoo is always free but The Children's Zoo is not unless you arrive before 9:00 in the morning. By getting there early, you save money and miss the hottest part of the day! I also plan on taking my oldest son to the Art Museum again (I find it hard to appreciate in one visit so we have been seeing small sections at each trip) which is also free. 

To prepare for our summer activities at home, I visited our local craft store and re-stocked our construction paper and other art supplies. I'm not a crafter so we usually play with foam stick-on's, watercolor and finger paints, markers and crayons. The kids and I have made our own stories and cards for loved ones which is fun and reinforces their writing and cutting skills. 

Outside, we also practice our letters, numbers and shapes. I buy massive amounts of sidewalk chalk to encourage outdoor art projects. With our three year old triplets, I often draw hopscotch squares and let the kids fill in the numbers to reinforce the little ones' writing skills. I also write part of the alphabet or numbers on the driveway and let them finish. I encourage them to write their entire names and have recently been trying to teach them to write their address. Our driveway is always covered in my poorly drawn pictures with labels and arrows showing the kids the word for the drawings. By doing this, I've taught them sight words and they are beginning to write words like "car" and "dog" on their own.

I want to keep the kids' bodies healthy as well as their minds and encourage the physical coordination they practiced during the school year. The triplets learned outdoor games like "Red Rover" during preschool which we continue to play outside in our yard. We've also been running, jumping, swinging and slip and sliding all over our backyard. We also visit our many local (and free!) parks where the kids balance along equipment and try to cross the monkey bars. Late summer afternoons are also wonderful times to walk the neighborhood and learn about our surroundings while getting exercise.

Summer can be an easy time to have fun and learn with kids without breaking the bank. Longer daytime hours, good weather, family get-togethers and holidays all provide opportunities to learn with children (and if you do it right, they won't even know they were learning).