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Arts & Culture Events for Preschoolers

Artsy Summer Camps in St. Louis

There is an abundance of excellent summer camp offerings in the St. Louis region for kids of all ages. Looking for something special for your little arts enthusiast? Here are some suggestions. Classes are filling up quickly, so be sure to register soon. Note, some nonprofit organizations offer discounts for members.

Doesn’t this list make you want to have summer vacation again?

COCA (Center of Creative Arts)
COCA has numerous summer camps located in University City and Creve Coeur that focus on dance, music, visual art, story telling, theater, cooking, clowning, acrobatics, stage combat, comic books, film, legos, photography, pottery, and pretty much anything and everything art related. For ages 3 to 18. Summer camp brochure.

Laumeier Sculpture Park
4 to 6 year olds get to create artwork with composer-in-residence, Eric Hall! Expect fun experiences at these week long outdoor summer camps that explore the Laumeier Sculpture Park’s incredible collection. The average staff to camper ratio is 1:7. For kids ages 4 to 15. The park is located in the Sunset Hills area. Summer camp brochure.

Yucandu Art Studio
Located in Webster Groves, this unique hands on art studio offers small visual art camps for grades K-12. Projects include painting, decoupage, collage, mosaics, and more. For those of you who head scout troops or have a million cousins in the area, Yucandu also offers a special friends and family summer camp designed for 8 to 16 kids.

The College School
Also located in Webster Groves, the Reggio-Emilia geared College School offers all day camps for ages 4 to 15. Arts themed camps include Funtastic Fantasy, Make Your Mark, Junior Circus Skills, Science, Art, and Cooking, and Art by Nature. Summer camp brochure.

Camp Curtain Call at The Magic House
Children ages 8-11 can experience the magic of live theater during a weeklong drama camp at The Magic House. Through activities and games, campers learn about putting on a theatrical production including basic theater terms, line readings, projection, stage directions, rehearsing, props, scenery, and dress rehearsal. Participants present their theatrical production to a live audience and then give a special performance for their families on the last day of camp.

Community Music School of Webster University
Summer opportunities for infants through high school students include a family “zoo train” session for children and their caregivers, band camp, flute camp, low brass week, chamber music camp, strings camp, composing camp, and individual instruction.

Opera Theatre of St. Louis
Youth entering grades fourth through eighth spend a week singing, dancing, writing words and music, making instruments, and learning about costumes and makeup, lighting, and set design. They tour backstage, work with Opera Theatre of St. Louis professionals and leading music educators, and see a performance of Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland. Located in Webster Groves. Summer camp brochure.

Piwacket Theatre for Children
Located in Maplewood, this delightful children’s theater offers week long camps for children ages 6 to 15. Participants create an original show through games, music, dance, theater, and play.

Craft Alliance
These summer camps are packed with creative art experiences for 4 to 18 year olds. Activities may include working with clay, glass, graphics, metal arts, wearable art, fiber materials, and more. Camps are held at the Delmar studios or the Grand Center studios. Summer camp brochure.

Dave Simon’s Rock School
Band rehearsals, recording studio, private lessons, music appreciation, rock history, song writing, and/or improvisation is offered for students ages 9 to 18. Youth should have at least one month of instrument instruction prior to the beginning of a camp session. Beginners and advanced students are welcome. Located in Olivette.

ArtsINTERsection at New City School
Metro Theater Company’s ArtsINTERsection summer camp is for children ages 4 to 11. The camp offers kids a great place to experience art, music, movement, and drama in a safe and warm environment. Classes are taught by experienced, professional artists and are located near Forest Park.

Photo: COCA


Arts & Culture Events for Preschoolers, Family Friendly Film

Upcoming family arts events in the St. Louis region

March 10, 2012 at 10 am  |  Kidtoons Family Matinees featuring the Gruffalo |  B&B Wildwood 10 with Marquee Suites

See the beautiful and funny Gruffalo film, Pocoyo, and the Wiggles on the big screen. All tickets are $3 and kids under the age of 3 are free. The screening is 72 minutes.

Gruffalo trailer from BBC:

March 16-18, 2012  |  COCA (Center of Creative Arts) |  Treasured Stories by Eric Carle

Part of the COCA Family Theatre Series, this production of music, puppets, and visual effects brings to life the well known Eric Carle stories: The Very Hungry Caterpillar; Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See; and Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me. A Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia production. Tickets $14 to $20.

Sunday, April 1, 2012, 1 to 3 pm  |  COCA (Center of Creative Arts) |  Visual Arts Open Studio

In collaboration with Artmart, the COCA Visual Arts Open Studio offers children an opportunity to work on their own or under the guidance of a visual arts instructor on projects including collage, book making, watercolor painting, paper mache, and more. $8.

Monday, April 2, 2012 at 6 pm  |  Author Mo Willems

Do Piggie and Gerald, Pigeon, and Knuffle Bunny mean something to you? Hear author Mo Willems speak at the St. Louis Country Library Foundation presentation, Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School on April 2 at 6 pm. Free tickets are required and are available at St. Louis County Library Headquarters or the Daniel Boone library branch. Doors open at 5 pm.

Photo of Mo Willems: Marty Umans
Arts & Culture Events for Preschoolers, Holidays

Upcoming events at COCA and CAM

There are some great events coming up at COCA (Center of Creative Arts) and CAM (Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis) in early February that your family can enjoy.

COCA’s Visual Arts Open Studio  |  Sunday, February 5, 1 to 3 pm  |  $8
In partnership with Artmart, COCA’s Visual Arts Open Studio participants may work on their own or with the guidance of a visual arts instructor on projects including collage, book making, watercolor painting, paper mache, and more.

CAM Stroller Tour  |  Tuesday, February 7, 9 to 10 am  |  FREE
Best for infants to 24 month old children, CAM’s Stroller Tours offer a complimentary light breakfast and an informal tour exploring the current exhibitions.

CAM Tuesday Morning Play Date  |  Tuesday, February 7, 10 to 11 am  |  FREE
Best for ages 2 to 5 years old, these engaging play dates include refreshments, an art project, story time, and movement activities.

CAM Valentine’s Family Day  |  Saturday, February 11, 1 to 4 pm  |  FREE
This event is open to all ages, but the art projects are best for 5 to 12 year olds (younger if your child isn’t easily frustrated or has amazing fine motor skills!). Enjoy the museum’s exhibitions and family activities ranging from artist-led workshops to face painting, storytelling, and more. All visitors wearing red will be entered in a drawing to win a special prize.

Read more about CAM’s family activities in my St. Louis Sprout & About article.

Photo: Jennifer Lin
Arts & Culture Events for Preschoolers, Dance

COCA’s Friday morning performances

The Center of Creative Arts (COCA) presents an entertaining and well-priced family theater series each year. In addition to the regular evening and afternoon performances this season, COCA welcomes individuals or groups (preschool classes, book clubs, or school groups) to purchase tickets for their special Friday morning performances.

On Friday, November 18 at 10:30 am, the Dallas Children’s Theater performs Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters. When a great African king desires a wife, only the most perfect maidens in the land are invited to meet him. Combining authentic African drumming, powerful and majestic choreography, and thrilling original music, the splendor of Zimbabwe will burst onto stage in this Caldecott Award winning Cinderella tale. Tickets are $8 per person. The show lasts approximately one hour.

On Friday, December 9 at 10:30 am, COCA’s Ballet Eclectica presents The Little Dancer: Exploring the Color Palette, a story ballet filled with dazzling costumes, a wide range of choreographic styles, and projections of artwork from the St. Louis Art Museum. The Little Dancer is a heartwarming tale of the girl depicted in artist Degas’s statuette who comes to life and dances through beautiful works of art. The production is directed by Amy Scheers with guest choreographers. Tickets are $8 per person. The show lasts approximately one hour.

Call Box Office Specialist Shelley Salinas at 314.725.6555, ext. 124 to reserve your tickets or visit COCA’s front desk (524 Trinity Avenue) in person for this special offer.

While you’re at COCA, check out their classes, workshops, and camps for the whole family. We are lucky to have such a incredible arts facility in St. Louis!

Arts & Culture Events for Preschoolers

COCA Family Theatre Series

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In addition to being a great arts education facility, the Center of Creative Arts (COCA), located in University City, has a fun and entertaining performing arts series with reasonable ticket prices, good programming, and a small hall (400 seats) that makes each performance easy to see and enjoy.

We saw Michael Moschen last weekend–a juggler extraordinare and MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant recipient. He demonstrated some incredible feats of physics, illusion, perception, and rhythm. The show seemed more suitable though for 8 year olds and up. Most of the preschoolers in the audience at the Sunday matinee were getting a little squirmy and bored (including my 3.5 year old–but she’ll sit through opera, go figure), although the show was billed as a performance for all ages. Be sure to ask the COCA staff if you’re unsure about age suitablity and do some of your own research about the artist or performing group before you buy tickets.

Most performances are about an hour long. Tickets range $14 to $18 each (everyone entering the theater must have a ticket). Arrive at least 10 minutes early to find parking and well, 20 minutes early if your kid needs to use the potty. The COCA parking lot fills up fast and street parking can be tough at times.

Two upcoming productions you’ll want to bring your preschooler to this season (be sure to read the original books with your child before going):


COCA Family Theatre Series 2010-2011 Season Brochure

Box Office Information

Seating tips

  • There are booster seats available in the coat room outside the theater doors.
  • Try to buy your tickets early so that you can get an aisle seat (if you anticipate that you’ll have to take your little one out for a potty break mid-performance). Each seating section does not have a center aisle (see web site for seating chart–scroll down to Founders’ Theatre seating chart), so it is at times tough to climb over a lot of people if you have to head out before the show ends.
  • The padded and cushioned seats fold up like in a lot of movie theaters. If your child is under 35 pounds, he or she probably won’t be able to lean back in their chair and not fold up! Be prepared to hold the seat down for your child throughout the performance or put them on your lap.
  • If you can, don’t buy tickets too far over to the right or left. Your neck will thank you.
Dance

Adult Ballet Classes in St. Louis

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St. Louis doesn’t seem to have a big audience for serious ballet study, and most programs are geared towards young children and high school students. If you are looking for ballet class for adults (beginners, returning students, college students coming home for a visit, etc…), here are a few good studios to try. A side note: in some cases, these web sites do not accurately represent the dance studios, so try to look beyond the design (or lack thereof).

Caston’s Ballet Academie: Located in Webster Groves, Caston has some fine teaching for beginners and intermediate dancers. I recommend the Friday at 4:30 pm class and the Saturday at 10 am class. Both are advanced beginning, maybe early intermediate levels and are attended by mainly teenagers and several adults (Saturday class). Teachers Yulia, Lynette, and Akira are wonderful with adults. The downside of this studio is that classes are quite expensive. The drop in rate for adults is $20 a class and can go down to about $16 class if you sign up for an entire semester. Pricing information.

East West Ballet: Located at the Dance Co-op St. Louis inside the Crestwood Mall, East West Ballet is run by Kay Tabisaura-Hahn, a certified Royal Academy of Dance teacher. The adult ballet classes are held on Saturday mornings starting at 9 am. The intermediate class starts at 10 am. Kay is an incredibly comprehensive teacher who is patient, creative, and uses beautiful music. These classes are very small so far, so be prepared to have individualized attention. The studio floor is fairly hard, marley on top of a rubber mat on top of cement, so be careful if you have any knee issues. East West Ballet offers a trial class for $5 and adult drop in rates are currently $8 to $12 a class depending on how many you buy at once. Schedule and pricing information.

COCA (Center of Creative Arts): COCA is the glamorous one of all (i.e. big and well funded). Located in University City, COCA is a nonprofit multidisciplinary and multicultural arts organization who provides performing and visual arts education classes, performance opportunities, professional development, a theater, exhibition space, and an outreach program for low income youth. It’s huge 60,000 square foot space gives you some expansive dance studios filled with natural light and great flooring.

Many of the adult ballet classes feature a live pianist which makes ballet so much more dynamic and time efficient (no fiddling with the CD player!). I’ve had classes with Carrie, Christine, Kathleen, and Octavio so far, and they have all presented well planned, fun, humorous, and smart classes. Carrie teaches an excellent beginning class on Sundays at 2:30 pm (I don’t think there is another Sunday ballet class in St. Louis) and Christine offers brilliant corrections in her Tuesday at 7:30 pm intermediate class. I don’t believe Kathleen is teaching adult ballet this semester, but if you do get a chance to take her class at some point, she is fabulous and challenges your memory skills and core strength. I only had one class with Octavio this past summer, but he had a wicked sense of humor and presented such thoughtful combinations with an important focus on breath and fluidity.

Classes are expensive (a recurring theme with ballet in St. Louis, a side effect of not having a large enough audience). When you become a COCA member (tax-deductible contribution) at a certain level, you can get a small discount on semester registration and do not have to pay the registration fee. So technically, classes are approximately $16 to $20 class depending on your COCA member status. They do have a drop-in card but it is reserved for professional dancers and college students, although if you ask permission you can sometimes buy a class card ($180 for 10 classes, expires in one year) in addition to already being registered for one class. They have a flexible make-up class policy.

COCA’s 2010-2011 Classes Guide

Happy dancing and keep that ice pack handy.