Family Time: These St. Louis Organizations Have Leveled-Up Their Online Resources to Enrich Your Stay-at-Home Life

St. Louis family attractions and businesses are providing lots of ways to entertain your kids and enrich your stay-at-home time as a family. Spend some time on the screen and experience what's new at the Saint Louis Zoo or take a tour of The Magic House, MADE for Kids. Take learning to the next level with online classes from Mad Science, the Saint Louis Chess Club, and Little Medical School. Learn to juggle with Circus Harmony. You can even watch a snake feeding frenzy live! Here's where to find the fun: 

Saint Louis Science Center. The Science Center has launched a #MuseumFromHome series of videos highlighting science fun – everything from learning about planets and weather, to science experiments (watch a nitrogen cloud being created!), and scenes from the center's GROW exhibit. You can catch it all on the center's Instagram account.

Saint Louis Zoo. The #BringTheStlZooToYou campaign is going strong with our favorite zoo! Your family can catch daily updates on zoo animals, fun videos (like the PSA - Primate Social Announcement about the importance of hand washing posted below), and lots of information about animal habits and habitats that will teach your kids something new. You'll find fresh content daily at stlzoo.org.

Metro Theater Company. You'll find a variety of online learning resources at metroplays.org, including Mindful Monday, Transformation Tuesday, and Warm Up Wednesday videos that help get kids moving by demonstrating easy dance party-type movement instruction, imaginative play and arts & crafts, Thoughtful Thursday drama exercises and lots of ideas about keeping kids reading, writing letters, and keeping the creativity flowing while kids are at home. You can find the entire collection at Metro Theater Company's Facebook page or at metroplays.org.

The Saint Louis Art Museum will take you and your kids on a virtual walk through the museum. You can read about the latest exhibitions and take a look at previous ones, or examine some of the 34,000 items in the museum's collection. Go to slam.org to get started and select "Read," "Watch" or "Listen."

Little Medical School. Kids ages 4-14 can learn about health care careers, tools that doctors, nurses, pharmacists and veterinarians use, and about the importance of hand washing and social distancing during free, 45-minute live classes from Little Medical School. Classes are held through ActivityHero and registration is required.  Learn about Little Medical School's virtual summer camps here!

The Magic House is hosting Magic at Home, a series of instructional videos that will teach you how to create spin art, muffin tin printmaking, shaving cream marble painting, LEGO printmaking and lots more. Catch the #MagicAtHome series on Facebook. You can even take a virtual tour of The Magic House, MADE for Kids, a hands-on makerspace where kids, ages 4-14 and their families play, explore, create and collaborate, located between the Central West End and the Loop. NEW: The Magic House has just opened its virtual Museum Shop! Find educational toys to continue learning at home. Choose shipping or curbside pickup. Learn more and shop here.

Mad Science of St. Louis is offering lots of online fun for kids. Sign up for online classes designed for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade. Fun themes include Life in the Sea, Mad Machines, Glow Show, Earthworks, All About Animals and more. And don't miss the Mad Science Experiment of the Day! See them on the Mad Science Group YouTube channel.

COCA: Check in with COCA for Create Breaks and video instruction for kids in dance, singing, sewing, movement, drawing and more. These posts tell you how to use everyday materials to create simple art projects too. Catch them on COCA's Facebook page or Instagram.

Play Street Museum: Play Street Museum is offering lots of fun kits to go! The newest is an Easter Painting Basket with colorful paints, a brush, bunny ears, a small bunny and faux eggs for kids to create their own designs. You can also stock up on Slime Kits, Mix & Match Boredom Kits, all for pick up or delivery, and play passes to use later. Get the details and order online here.

Saint Louis Chess Club. Learn chess online through weekly classes for all ages and all skill levels.

Gateway Region YMCA. The Gateway Region YMCA is producing easy to follow daily fitness videos for your whole family on its YouTube channel. Yoga Flow, Full Body Circuit with Baby, Chair Cardio, Core and stretching are just some examples of what you'll find. 

City Museum. Check out City Museum LIVE every Monday through Friday. Museum staff members will share stories about the history of the museum, offer free art classes, feed the fish, and even show you how to make things, from moonsand to a time capsule, from items you probably have at home. Get started at citymuseum.org

Circus Harmony. Try a Quarantraining Class from Circus Harmony! Teaching artists of all ages have switched to an online format for Zoom classes ranging from the preschool level (Itty Bitty Circus) to juggling, balance & flexibility, to dancing, to hard-core conditioning. Classes are free and are hosted daily at Circus Harmony's Facebook page. Donations are requested to allow for the classes to continue. You must register to participate. 

St. Louis Aquarium. Catch Breakfast with the Otters, see Coconut the sloth devour her lettuce and learn about the animals at the aquarium's Facebook page. You'll also find cute craft ideas centered around scuba diving and otters, or just enjoy the live stream from the Confluence and Shark Canyon habitats.

Eckerts Virtual Storytime. Eckert Farms is hosting a live virtual storytime every Wednesday and Friday at 9:30 a.m. on its Facebook page. You can replay the videos anytime if you miss the live broadcast.

Stay at home sweetly with Sweetology's decorating kits that can be shipped to your home. And if one of your kiddos has a birthday coming up, check out Sweetology's Party in a Box. You can send decorating kits to your "guests" and the kids can decorate together using an online video conferencing platform like Zoom or Google Hangouts. Use code "freeship" for free shipping to all guests.

Yucandu Art Studio has a variety of art kits for curbside pick up from their location in Webster Groves. Call 314-963-4400 to order. Delivery is available in nearby ZIP codes, and shipping is available anywhere.

Escape into nature through live video tours of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Catch them at various times on the Garden's Facebook page. 

STL Princess Parties. Catch Princess Zumba classes featuring Elsa, Anna and other favorite royals on the STL Princess Parties Facebook page.

If snakes are your thing, watch the Snake Feeding Frenzy (from the safety of your screen) taking place at Babler State Park on March 31. The live feed begins at 2 p.m. here.

More online resources:

Summer camps are still planning to be in full swing this year both in person and online, so don't miss the opportunity to register your kids for the sessions they want! Use our handy online Summer Camp Guide and take advantage of early sign up discounts. 

The Healthy Habits Playlist from Sesame Street. These videos help kids learn about the importance of good habits, like making time for breakfast, brushing their teeth, bathtime and even how to play freeze dance!  

How about going on a space mission from home? You can with the Challenger Center's Let's Launch Planetary Science Video Series. Follow Maya's Mission to the Red Planet, watch as she explores the Solar System, sun and stars, and lots more.

Free cooking classes for kids from Delish

Yoga classes for all ages: Rainbow Yoga (free)

Craft-making classes for all ages at CreativeBug (fees for some classes)

Laurie Berkner is hosting concerts for kids that she's calling Berkner Breaks. Catch them live at 10 a.m. most weekdays.

And finally, calming videos for all from Nature on PBS