One Tank Trips: St. Louis Zoo Offers Winter Fun for Kids With Games, Activities, Plays and More

The Saint Louis Zoo will give children something to smile about Sundays in January and February during Delta Dental Winter Zoo, from fun plays about keeping smiles healthy to games, activities and parades.

“It’s always fun to come to the Saint Louis Zoo, but a lot of people don’t think about coming to the zoo in the wintertime,” said Ginny Westmoreland, the zoo’s director of marketing. “But it’s a great time to come out to the zoo, and we’ve developed this series of events leading up to Mardi Gras.”

Every Sunday through Feb. 19, the Delta Dental Stage Show will be presented in The Living World’s Anheuser-Busch Theater. The show, offered at 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., features the Tooth Wizard and his chums Panda and Jumpin’ Jacamo and their nemesis Plaque Man teaching kids the importance of good oral hygiene.

The entertaining characters will also teach children about the benefits of a healthy diet and consistent exercise. Each child attending the show will receive a free goody bag with dental health supplies.

“They change it up each year, so it will be new for us, too,” Westmoreland said of the stage show.

The zoo in winter continues to be one of the areas unexpected attractions.

“We’re one of the most visited zoos in the country—we have close to 3 million visitors every single year," Michael Macek, the zoo’s curator of birds, story. “You can imagine most of them are between Memorial Day and Labor Day, so I always tell my friends to come during the ‘off season.’ Sometimes you get a sunny day, you’ve got cabin fever, you want to go someplace for a walk and enjoy a little bit of the sun if you’re bundled up, and the zoo is a great place to go.”

For people who enjoy a quieter, more personal experience and don’t mind braving the weather, winter is a great time to visit—particularly during special events.

“For those days that are less than 32 degrees, we probably get several hundred people who come to these events,” Westmoreland said. “For those Sunday afternoons during the Winter Zoo when the temperature is more like 50 or 60, we get thousands of people who come.”

Radio Disney will also be on hand with a show at 12:30 p.m. during Winter Zoo Sundays, offering music, games and prizes.

“We’ll have songs and dances with the kids, a hula hoop contest, and they play their Disney music,” Westmoreland said. “There are a lot of interactive experiences for the kids.”

Winter Zoo culminates with a Mardi Gras celebration Feb. 19. The celebration will include mask-making using beads and feathers, live music and a parade at 3 p.m. in which zoo visitors can watch from the sidelines or decorate wagons and strollers, wear a mask and participate in it.

“It’s a warm, friendly Mardi Gras, and it’s got an animal twist, so it’s really a fun thing to do,” she said.

Through Feb. 26, the zoo’s penguins hold their own parade at 2 p.m. every Sunday when the air temperature is below 50˚F. On those days, the penguins are allowed to waddle in front of the outdoor bear enclosures, taking a path that leads back to their home at Penguin and Puffin Coast.

“So it’s really a way to bring folks out when it’s cold,” Westmoreland said.

This is the fifth year the penguins have been allowed to stroll the grounds.

“A lot of zoos do this, but it’s also one of the ways we show how much we care for animals, in that it gives them an opportunity to do something different and explore a new environment,” Westmoreland said. “It’s good for the penguins, it’s good for our visitors, and you never know what you’ll experience as this happens. So it’s a surprise each time.”

While the penguins don’t get to wander all over the zoo’s 83-acre grounds, visitors can. Animals are surprisingly active at this time of year, because the cold is sometimes easier on them than a typical blistering St. Louis summer. Plus, visitors are never too far away from a nice, climate-controlled indoor environment such as the Bird House and Garden, the Charles H. Hoessle Herpetarium, the Monsanto Insectarium or the Primate House.

“The Bird House is warm and has a tropical (environment). It’s one of my favorite places to escape,” Westmoreland said.

Likewise for the Insectarium, which features a walk-through butterfly garden.

“That’s really just an escape into the tropics in the middle of a cold day,” she said.

All the zoo’s indoor exhibits offer the same “get away from winter” appeal.

“Those are just transformative places to be,” Westmoreland said.

The Saint Louis Zoo is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission is free, but some areas such as the children’s zoo do have admission fees. The zoo is located at Highway 40 and Hampton Avenue. For directions and admission fees where applicable, see the zoo’s website.