Winter Break Without The 'Winter' Activities For Kids

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Lots of kids are out of school this week and lots of parents are now scrambling to find a way to keep them busy. The warm weather and the lack of snow are definitely affecting what people usually call winter break.

Most of the kids who were ice skating in downtown St. Paul would probably like play in the snow, if that were an option. But at least they have rinks like the one in Rice Park, with refrigeration to keep the ice solid.

"We knew about the ice rink and we knew it was going to be 40 degrees, and it was gonna be a perfect, beautiful day, so we came out," said Rennye Fiske of Minnetonka

"It's a bummer, especially when my son just got a brand new snowboard for Christmas yesterday," said Ann Marie Dominguez of Plymouth.

"It's really disappointing, because at school we have a snow hill that we could jump off and land in the snow," said Caroline Pauly of Plymouth.

While it may be tough to find outdoor winter activities this week, the kids who got skateboards and bikes as presents are in luck.

"Yesterday we were outside using her scooter, so we could use her new scooter, because there we no sidewalks we had to worry about," said Jesse Prissel of Hudson, Wis.

Como Zoo had lots of visitors on Monday and they have a zoo camp for kids the rest of this week. Parents can sign up their kids for camp as late as 9 a.m. on Tuesday.

The reindeer, from the arctic tundra, are as confused by this warm weather as the kids are. Parents say snow would make this week easier.

"Much, much easier. They could go sledding, we could do some cross-country skiing. We've just been fortunate where its cold enough where they could make snow, so they could do a little downhill, but that's about it," said Craig Guggenberger of Cold Spring.

For more information on the Como Zoo camp, click here.