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

Mother's Day Weekend Round Up

May 07, 2009

It is a weekend to celebrate Mom! There are many great local places to spend time with Mom.

I know many local families who visit The Missouri Botanical Gardens on Mother's Day Weekend. The popular Doris Schnuck Children's Garden has reopened for the season for kids and adults to explore and play. Currently, there is a special promotion at the Children's Garden for free admission with a recept for paid admission to the St. Louis Zoo's Children's Zoo so you can enjoy two admissions for the price of one. As always, St. Louis City and County residents received free park and children's garden admission on Saturdays until noon.

Speaking of plants, Shaw Nature Reserve is hosting a spring plant sale from 9-4 on Saturday.  Native wildflowers, bushes, perennials and annuals will be sold along with birdhouses and local artwork. Local nurseries as well as the Nature Reserve will be participating in the sale. 

Another floral themed event this weekend is Florissant's Valley of the Flowers Festival. This three day festival includes parades, a car show carnival rides, vendors and more and is being held Thursday night through Sunday.

 The St. Louis Carousel in Chesterfield's Faust Park is free for all Moms on Mother's Day from 10:00-4:00 pm. Admission for kids and everyone else is still only one dollar. Faust Park is known for its Butterfly House but it also houses a great playground and historic path and village.

Mardi Gras for Kids and Delta Dental Winter Zoo

February 20, 2009

Mardi Gras Children's Art Fair

This Saturday is the big Soulard Mardi Gras Parade (the theme for 2009 is a Parade of History). It is definitely a party but not necessarily appropriate for kids. Sunday, the day after the parade, there will be a more appropriate Mardi Gras Children's Art Fair from noon to four p.m. at the King of Glory Lutheran School at the corner of 8th and Soulard. Mardi Gras Inc is providing art materials for kids to make masks and costumes.

 If the weather or reveling crowds don't appeal to you, celebrating Mardi Gras at home with your family is an alternative. You can decorate masks with your kids using colored feathers or markers and kids love to wear plastic Mardi Gras beads (found at any party supply store). Also, many local bakeries are selling King's Cakes this week of you could bake your own. It is more of a sweet bread than a cake and is traditionally covered with purple, green and gold icing or colored sugar and a small plastic baby doll or beads. Whoever is the lucky recipient of the plastic baby is crowned the king or queen of the party. Just make sure no one eats the baby!

Simple and Kid Friendly Mardi Gras King's Cake Recipe

1 can of iced cinammon rolls

3/4 cups of sugar separated into 3 equal parts

Blue, red, yellow and green liquid food coloring

 -Separate and roll out cinammon rolls into oval shapes.

- Pinch the ends together and place on a cookie sheet. Cook as directed.

- While cooking, dye sugar with a few drops of food coloring (not too much or it will dissolve).1/3 of the sugar will be colored purple (make purple by mixing blue and red), 1/3 will be yellow and 1/3 will be green. 

- When the cinammon roll ovals are finished baking, ice the top and sprinkle with the different color sugars. Top with a small plastic baby doll or beads if you feel it is safe with your kids.  

This Sunday, there is another unique way to celebrate Mardi Gras at the St. Louis Zoo. The Delta Dental Winter Zoo Mardi Gras Celebration will be going on from 12:30-3:30pm. Radio Disney will be playing music, there will be a parade through the zoo and a wagon/stroller decorating contest. Kids can also make and decorate masks and watch live music. At 1:30 pm, weather permitting, there will be a penguin march outside the Penguin and Puffin Coast exhibit. Several penguins that usually live inside the exhibit will be outside with their keepers for approximately 30 minutes. It is a unique opportunity to see the penguins in a different setting than usual.

The parade is scheduled for 3pm and entrance to the zoo and events is free. 

Wild Lights at the St. Louis Zoo

by Kim

December 03, 2008

The St. Louis Zoo gets decked out in lights this time of year to celebrate the holidays. With tons of lights and animated displays, the U.S. Bank Wild Lights at the Zoo is a perfect event for kids. Included in admission are activities for kids like story telling sessions, costumed characters to entertain and singing carolers from local choirs. As always, the animals are the main attraction and  Read more...

Howlin' Nights at The Wolf Sanctuary

by Kim

October 27, 2008

Last Friday evening, I stood in the cold and howled with a pack of 76 cub scouts, brownies and parents. We were at the Wild Canid Survival and Research Center in Eureka, Missouri for their campfire program and trying to get the attention of the endangered wolves that live a few hundred feet away. Many people know the center just as the "Wolf Sanctuary" and for 37 years it has been known for its  Read more...

Boo at the Zoo

by Kim

October 23, 2008

St. Louisians are lucky to have one of the country's best zoos in our city. This year's St. John's Mercy Children's Hospital Boo at the Zoo Nights are going on every night through October 30th from 5:30 to 8:30 pm. Activities include fireside stories, hikes through the zoo, fall crafts, and special photo opportunities. The Emerson's Children's Zoo will be decorated for the season and of course,  Read more...