Once we further figure out the babysitter situation, we hope to get out to experience more of the rich arts resources of St. Louis. World class music, opera, and visual arts flourish in the region. Some arts organizations you should check out if you haven’t already:
St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (great summer programming for classical music newbies)
Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
Touhill Performing Arts Center (Spring to Dance Festival opens May 27)
We’re almost done with our first semester of Kindermusik with Lori Burkhardt in Webster Groves. Lori is really great with the kids, keeps them engaged, focused, and learning(!) for 45 minutes. We’ve been taking Kindermusik classes for about a year now (previously in California). The classes really help toddlers with musicality, socialization, counting, rhythm, concentration, following directions, listening skills, and movement.
The Webster Groves location inside the Presbyterian Church is rather dreary but the good spirits of the class and other kids/parents makes it livelier. Kindermusik is rather expensive as far as kids activities go, but Lori’s class is very well grounded in a sound curriculum and pedagogy–your kids will really grow from these classes.
Oh, don’t be misled by the crazy layout of Lori’s website. She’s very organized with materials and class progression.
If you have a 2 to 6 year old, be sure to visit The Magic House’s new Super Kids Save the World exhibit. It runs through December 31. Kids can dress up, play thrift store, superhero, gardener, farmer’s market, kitchen, and more. Our little one especially liked the recycling area where you can sort paper, cans, and plastics. We went once on a Friday and it was crazy busy, but earlier in the week was much better and less waiting to play at certain stations. Very friendly staff as well. We love The Magic House. Memberships are well worth it.
When we moved here, we only knew a couple of people. I had a lot of success looking for a great sitter through sittercity.com. Pretty reasonable subscription rate/package and very complete information on potential sitters. You of course have to interview candidates and be responsible for following up with references. But overall useful service. Just make sure you cancel before they auto-renew your membership.
Enjoyed a cloudy (but no rain) day at the St. Louis Zoo. What an incredible resource for the city. We became members when we moved here. Great perks and benefits. Don’t waste one of your free parking passes though when there is street parking within a couple of blocks from the zoo entrance. When the parking lot is busy you end up walking almost the same distance to the entrance.
Friendly volunteers throughout the zoo as well. We got to pet turtles, goats, and snakes today.
