St. Louis Winter Survival Guide

We don’t know about you, but when it’s nighttime and snowing, we can almost hear the soft clop of hooves. And then, when we peek between the curtains, it’s not much of a reach to picture a horse-drawn carriage and folk huddled in bonnets, their breath puffing into the winter air.

In reality, of course, winter—and winter with kids—isn’t always that romantic. Stuck inside, we tend to irritate each other. Going out only means returning inside and getting in trouble because your boots are covered in snow and no one remembered to put down newspaper. And sometimes, we don’t want to sled, the chill of snowballs feels like torture, and chapped hands and dry flaky legs just bug us. Is it naughty to admit that much of winter’s appeal for us has to do with coziness and a jolly good pair of Shetland slippers?

This year, in the interest of balance, we vow to avoid being so negative and instead to try to make the most of the wonderful things winter has to offer.  

Huddling Indoors

Feeling Chili?

Before anything else, we think of food, warm and comforting, preferably eaten in bowls with a spoon. Chili—the name just seems to fit—comes to mind as a fail-safe dish to make en famille. This recipe comes from local food historian Suzanne Corbett.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons oil

1 large onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 pounds coarsely ground beef

1 15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 16-ounce can red kidney beans, drained

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

1 cup water

1 cup beer

¼ cup chili powder

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Salt and black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 or 3 dried hot pepper pods

(Note: For kids, this is optional.)

Chopped green onion for garnish

In a large Dutch oven placed over medium-high heat, warm oil until hot. Sauté onion and garlic until lightly brown. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Drain off any excess fat. Add remaining ingredients.

Simmer uncovered for 1 hour.

Serve in bowls; garnish with chopped green onions. Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Need We Say S’More?

Those with a fireplace will have an advantage here. Although we’ve tried, radiators don’t cut it. Nor do blow-dryers. Bring the best part of camping indoors with some long sticks (skewers are not long enough). Gather round your living room’s hearth (bring blankets, flashlights, cocoa, etc.), and tell a ghost story or two. For starters, try any from The Best Ghost Stories Ever by Christopher Krovatin.

Alternately, crank the heat, put on a pair of shorts, and settle in with a frosty lemonade or root-beer float for a fave family flick. Some ideas: National Treasure, Enchanted, Scrooged, Up, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium… You get the gist.

Sleepless In St. Louis

Sleepovers: the dread of many parents, with mess, noise, and general lawlessness. A basement (with padded walls) is best. The setting could be as simple as a pop-up tent and a handful of luminous stars for the ceiling. (Night at the Museum might go nicely here.)

Food has a lot of mileage at sleepovers. Make something together, preferably a dish like pizza that’s forgiving of slap-happy fingers. Serving breakfast for dinner is a no-brainer, but how about dinner for breakfast? Consider plating up some cold pizza, mac and cheese, and/or hot dogs.

And fun doesn’t have to be fancy. Try leading the kids outside in pajamas and walking in slippers to the end of the block and back, popping popcorn and dishing it up in individual bags…

Before going outside, check out the Night Sky Update on the Saint Louis Science Center’s website at slsc.org/whattodo/planetarium/nightskyupdate.aspx to learn more about the stars and planets that are visible.

Brrrr Winter Movies

Introduce the idea of a wintry movie to the sleepover. Here are five that fall under the “snowy” category: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Ice Age: The Meltdown; Happy Feet; First Descent; and Eight Below. And don’t forget the snowpeople in Meet Me in St. Louis.  

Family Art

Spend an afternoon creating a family masterpiece at Artmart (2355 S. Hanley, 314-781-9999, artmartstl.com), a family-owned St. Louis business. With the help of a studio director, create a priceless painting to hand down through the generations. Work in the style of Jackson Pollock or Piet Mondrian, or bring in family members for a portrait-painting session. Each 2-hour session is $150, with supplies included.

Goodwill Hunting

If you haven’t already been to the nation’s largest Goodwill Outlet Center (3728 Market, 314-531-0671, mersgoodwill.org/shop/goodwill-outlet-store)—which stocks 20,000 square feet of merchandise in 93 bins that rotate every 3 ½ hours, with 2,000 new items every 20 minutes—then make haste. This is an amazing opportunity for thrift-seekers of all ages. Purchases are made by the pound, 39 cents per pound for books and glassware or 79 cents per pound for everything else, and the bounty is weighed at the checkout. We like the idea of a treasure hunt. Make a list of items for a craft project (one Barbie, one Bundt pan, etc.), and send out your eager young scouts to find them. Another project: Buy 100 percent wool or even cashmere sweaters, shrink them in the washing machine, cut them into squares, and begin a family quilt. (See a full tutorial online at CraftStylish, craftstylish.com.)

Be a Knitwit

Get your woolies on. In the winter, Ewe Knit Yarns (7967 Big Bend, 314-961-6933, eweknityarns.com) in Webster Groves hosts a number of knitting workshops. Children can knit socks or take a Learn to Knit course. Another option is a visit to Kirkwood Knittery (10724 Manchester, 314-822-7222, kirkwoodknittery.com). With a table for drop-in knitters, it’s an ideal place to kill time while waiting for the car to be fixed or hockey practice to end, or just to keep your fingers moving. For $45, participants (age 6 and up) can take a basic knitting class to learn how to make a scarf and more.

Winter Books

Ten suggestions from Sarah Holt, the children’s book buyer at Left Bank Books

Picture Books

1) Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats: This tale of a little boy putting on his snowsuit and stepping into the city’s first snowfall to discover a new world celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.

2) Red Sled by Lita Judge: In this nearly wordless picture book, the creatures of the forest come out at night to take a child’s sled for a joy ride.

3) A Perfect Day by Carin Berger: This book follows an ideal day of snow play, depicted in gorgeous collages.

4) The Mitten by Jan Brett: In another classic, woodland critters find a lost mitten and decide to make it a shelter.

5) Cold Snap by Eileen Spinelli: The residents of the town of Toby Mills fight the winter weather until the mayor’s wife comes up with a way to get the whole community to warm up together.

Chapter Books

6) Trapped by Michael Northrop: A group of students is snowed in at their high school and must rely on survival skills as the snow threatens to collapse the school.

7) Worst-Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure: Everest by David Borgenicht, Bill Doyle, and David Morton: In this “choose your own adventure”–style book, the reader is tasked with making decisions for the youngest team ever to attempt climbing Mount Everest.

8) Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney: In the latest Wimpy Kid adventure, a sudden blizzard traps Greg inside with his family for the holidays.

9) Babymouse: Skater Girl by Jennifer and Matthew Holm: In this book of the popular graphic-novel series, Babymouse turns out to be an ice-skating prodigy. She’s even scouted by an Olympic coach.

10) Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess by Rachel Renee Russell: Nikki and friends enter an ice-skating competition to raise money to save a local animal shelter. It’s just a coincidence that Nikki’s crush volunteers there.

Get in the Game

In addition to being just plain fun, board games offer children the unusual opportunity to challenge adults in a fair environment. “It isn’t often that children get to beat us at something,” says Celina McGinnis, a local mother and owner of 250 board games. “And by sitting down to a game, you are also giving your children your time. You are saying, ‘I not only love you, but I like you enough to sit for an hour.’” Here are a handful of recommendations.

For Older Children

1) Carcassonne: Create castles and monasteries with tiny wooden people called meeples.

2) Settlers of Catan: This fast-moving game includes empires and landscapes.

3) Ticket to Ride: Connect cities across a map using small, colorful train pieces.

4) The Mad Magazine Game: This traditional roll-and-move game has a twist: You’re trying to get rid of all your money.

5) Sleeping Queens: A child designed this card game.

6) Backgammon: “I just think everyone should be able to play this,” says McGinnis.

For Younger Children

7) Snail’s Pace Race: Big, colorful snails race down a track.

8) Race to the Roof: It’s a race through a house with some “I Spy” thrown in. The first one to the top wins.

9) Doodle Dice: This building game has dice and cards; it’s great for visiting grandparents to play with grandchildren.

10) Cranium Balloon Lagoon: This game brings a different kind of circus into your living room—and it even comes with music.  

Braving the Elements

Snow Candy

1 cup molasses

1 cup brown sugar

Fresh, clean snow (or crushed ice)

Please note: Candy-making involves boiling sugar at high temperatures and should not be done without an adult.

This recipe is from Inside Laura’s Little House: The Little House on the Prairie Treasury by Carolyn Strom Collins and Christina Wyss Eriksson.

Boil molasses and sugar together in a large pot until the mixture reaches the “hard crack” stage or until a spoonful dropped into cold water forms a hard ball and cracks. Remove the syrup from the heat. Be careful: The syrup’s extremely hot.

Scoop snow (or crushed ice) into the pan. Dip a spoonful of syrup and dribble it onto the snow in “circles, and curlicues, and squiggledy things,” as Laura and Mary did on the prairie. It will harden and become candy. Lift the candy off of the snow and onto a clean towel to dry.

Ski Missouri

The snow guns at Hidden Valley Ski Area (17409 Hidden Valley, 636-938-5373, hiddenvalleyski.com) blast off during the first two weeks of December. Only 40 minutes from downtown St. Louis, you can ski the slopes. Average downhill skiing travel time: 13 seconds. Or take Hidden Valley’s Polar Plunge: eight lanes of tubing slides. There are even two “movable carpets” (conveyor systems) that are nearly as fun. The attraction has no age restrictions, but assumes that adults will “link” with children’s tubes and dress appropriately. Longtime general manager Bill Brandes stresses the importance of proper attire; he firmly suggests hiking boots.

This year, Hidden Valley also has added 9 miles of additional skiing terrain and has revamped its lodge. Warm up with wintry soups or a bowl of chili. Visit the shop for ski helmets, winter socks, and Chapstick.

It’s All Downhill

We’re known more for the food on The Hill than for our sledding hills, but Forest Park’s Art Hill makes up for this shortcoming. (Don’t fret: Hay bales keep sledders from bottlenosing into the Grand Basin.) Warm up afterward at the Boathouse Forest Park (6101 Government, Forest Park, 314-367-2224, boathouseforestpark.com) or Forest Perk Café (5595 Grand, Forest Park, 314-361-4477).

Rink Rats

Forest Park’s Steinberg Skating Rink (400 Jefferson, 314-367-7465, steinbergskatingrink.com) is said to be the largest outdoor skating rink in the Midwest. And with its open fire and cozy snacks, it may well be the most romantic. The rink is open daily from November 16 through February, holidays included. Just remember that it’s cash-only, $6 for admission and $4 for skate rentals.

In the county, Shaw Park Ice Rink (231 S. Brentwood, 314-290-8595, claytonmo.gov) in Clayton is open from the day after Thanksgiving through the end of February.

Off the Beaten Path

With its goal of restoring and protecting habitat and water quality along the Mississippi River, the Audubon Center at Riverlands (301 Riverlands, West Alton, Mo., 636-899-0090, riverlands.audubon.org) provides sanctuary for wintering and nesting birds. See eagles and trumpeter swans, learn how to identify birds, and walk along 8.5 miles of trails. At the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers, the center is a mere half hour northeast of downtown St. Louis.

Located 30 minutes south of the Arch, Mastodon State Park (1050 Charles J. Becker, Imperial, 636-464-2976, mostateparks.com) emphasizes the interaction between humans and other animals during the Ice Age. In addition to a museum, the park offers three trails that are perfect for families with recalcitrant children, specifically a ¾–mile trail that’s flat and ADA-compliant, a ½–mile trail that includes 130 steps, and a 2 ¼–mile trail that offers a more rugged trek through woods and along the bluff face.

Hide and Seek

A planetwide treasure hunt? Here’s how it works: Go to geocaching.com and sign up for free or check out the latest events of the St. Louis Area Geocachers Association (slaga.org). Buy a GPS device of some sort (a GPS-enabled cellphone works), and venture out to find one of the million or more objects hidden around our globe. Consider it a game of hide-and-seek on steroids.

Owl Prowls

Meet Charles and Sarah, a mated pair of great horned owls that have lived in Forest Park since December 2005. Mark Glenshaw is a local expert who leads Owl Prowls through Forest Park. The pair mate between late November and late December, and start nesting after mid-December. The owlets hatch between late January and early February. It’s best to go one hour before sundown; prowls can last two to three hours. To arrange a visit, contact Glenshaw at [email protected].

Bald Is Beautiful

In winter, the area near the Great River Road in Illinois becomes home to hundreds (often thousands) of bald eagles that come to find fish in the Mississippi. The birds arrive in late December and stay until March. Because boats break up the ice and bring fish to the surface, the Brussels Ferry makes a particularly good vantage point. Crossings are free and run multiple times each weekday and twice on weekends, weather permitting. Board 1 mile west of Grafton. For more information, contact the Alton Regional Convention & Visitors Bureau (200 Piasa, Alton, Ill., 618-465-6676, visitalton.com).

Zoo Ado

Don’t forget that much of what is interesting at the Saint Louis Zoo (1 Government, Forest Park, 314-781-0900, stlzoo.org) is inside. In winter, we particularly love the Butterfly Wing of the Insectarium. Warm as toast and tropically moist, it is—temporarily—transporting. And at 2 p.m. on Sundays through the end of February (while the temperature dips below 50), the penguins take a walk outside their penguin house.

Icing the Visitors

In January, University City hosts its annual festival of ice: the Loop Ice Carnival (visittheloop.com). Ice slides, ice-carving, ice golf, and ice sculptures are all part of the fun—and locations along Delmar Boulevard hand out ice cubes containing a variety of prizes. Oblivious to the undeniable pain of nipped fingers, kids seem to get a huge kick out of smashing those ice cubes open right on the sidewalk.

A Cuppa Heaven

Baileys’ Chocolate Bar

Baileys’ offers four flavors of hot chocolate. 1915 Park, 314-241-8100, baileyschocolatebar.com.

Bissinger’s

Enjoy hot chocolate from the city’s classic chocolatier. 32 Maryland Plaza, 314-367-9750, bissingers.com.

Jennifer’s Pharmacy

Here the ready-to-mix chocolate comes on a stick. 30 N. Central, 314-862-7400, jenniferspharmacy.com.

The Fountain on Locust

Get hot choc in Art Deco surroundings. 3037 Locust, 314-535-7800, fountainonlocust.com.  

Camp Sites

Saint Louis Science Center

The center (5050 Oakland, 314-289-4400, slsc.org) hosts family camp-ins. Activities include an OMNIMAX film, a science demo, hands-on activities, a Planetarium show, free gallery exploration—plus a pizza dinner, a snack, and a continental breakfast. Families camp out in the Science Center galleries, with the fun beginning at 6:30 p.m. and pickup set for the next day at 10 a.m.

The Magic House

This kids’ attraction (516 S. Kirkwood, 314-822-8900, magichouse.org) hosts free workshops throughout the winter. On January 12 and 13, artist Marion Nichols demonstrates the art of making intricate paper snowflakes. And on February 9 and 10, percussionist Adam Rugo shares stories and songs from West Africa.

COCA

The arts center (524 Trinity, 314-725-6555, cocastl.org) hosts a Free@3 program of 1-hour “experiences”—in dance, visual arts, and more—on Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m. The Family Theatre Series—on Saturdays at 2 and 5 p.m. and Sundays at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.—includes a variety of stage shows performed by traveling companies geared to ages ranging from very young to nearly tween. Ticket prices range from $14 to $20.

Craft Alliance

Kids can also enroll in a Saturday-morning workshop at either location of Craft Alliance (6640 Delmar, 314-725-1177; 501 N. Grand, 314-534-7528; craftalliance.org). One such offering is Kids’ Clay with Parents/Grandparents; for a complete list of classes and workshops, call or visit the Craft Alliance website.