Parrish’s Student Exhibition

The 2019 Student Exhibition at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, with work by more than 1,000 East End students, will open on Saturday, kicking off a month of special family programming. 

This year’s show includes art that students created in workshops with the museum’s artist in residence, Jeremy Dennis, as well as individual and collaborative projects done under the guidance of art teachers in 38 public, private, and home schools. The show will be up through March 10.

A reception for younger artists will be held on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m., and one for high school artists will follow from 3 to 5 p.m. 

Also on Saturday, there will be open studio time and gallery tours for families from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

On Friday, Feb. 15, performers from the National Circus Project will present an interactive show at the museum at 6 p.m., with juggling, balancing, unicycling, and other fantastic feats. Audience members should be prepared to take part. Admission is free for children and students and included with museum entry for adults, but advance reservations have been recommended. The Golden Pear Cafe at the museum will be open during the performance. 

Other family activities coming up at the museum include a film and live performance of “4 Little Girls: Moving Portraits of the American Civil Rights Movement” on Feb. 23, a Lego night on March 1, and additional open studios on Feb. 16 and 23 and March 9, with a bilingual family gallery talk and art workshop on March 3.

The museum will offer winter vacation art workshops for children 5 and older from Feb. 18 through 22. 

High School Artists Awards

Guild Hall will recognize outstanding high school artists in its Student Art Festival at an awards ceremony on Sunday at 3 p.m. Award recipients have been chosen by the guest juror, Darlene Charneco, a professional artist, working with the Guild Hall Teen Arts Council. 

The Guild Hall exhibition is on view through Feb. 24. Admission to the show and the awards ceremony is free. 

Creatures of the Night

Owls, a snake, a tarantula, and a chinchilla from the Quogue Wildlife Refuge will be at the Montauk Library on Saturday at 2 p.m. for a program on nocturnal animals. Children will learn about each animal’s special adaptations, what they eat, and where they live. The program is best for kids in kindergarten and above and is limited to 30 children, so advance registration is required.  

Boy Scouts Recruit

East Hampton Boy Scout Troop 298 will have an open house for prospective members ages 11 to 18 tonight from 7 to 8 at the American Legion Hall in Amagansett. Scout leaders will talk about some of the activities and adventures the troop has planned. The scoutmaster, Patrick Brabant, can be emailed with questions at [email protected]. 

Trivia in Sag Harbor

The John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor will host two trivia contests in the coming days. An after-hours teen trivia night tomorrow from 5:30 to 7 will have a book and movie theme. Winter will be the loose theme for a family trivia game on Sunday from 2:30 to 4. The maximum size for a team is six people. 

On Saturday, young readers 4 and older can practice their skills with Wally the Reading Dog at 10 a.m. At 11, the library will offer high school students tips on research, with topics to include note-taking strategies, how to tackle large articles, and untraditional sources. 

Love, Three Ways

Love is in the air at the East Hampton Library this week, as Valentine’s Day approaches. A Valentine’s Day story and craft time for ages 3 to 7 happens on Wednesday at 4 p.m., and next Thursday, children 6 and older will make their own works of art inspired by Robert Indiana’s famous “Love” sculpture at 4 p.m.

In the young-adult room that day from 5 to 7 p.m., teens can taste a variety of different chocolates to see if they can determine which is which in a Valentine’s Day taste-test challenge. Those with food allergies should avoid this program. 

On Monday, the library will show a little love to high school students who need help with their college applications. Four students can each sign up for a half-hour session between 5 and 7 p.m. 

Be Mine!

At the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, children 4 and older can make Valentine’s Day cards for the special someones in their lives at 4 p.m. tomorrow. A card-making session for ages 7 to 12 will take place on Wednesday at 4. On Tuesday kids in sixth grade and up will learn how to make paper roses from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Sunday’s 2:30 p.m. story time at the library will include a cookie treat. 

February may be the month of Valentine’s Day, but more important, it’s also Black History Month, and two movie screenings on Friday, Feb. 15, will highlight black trailblazers. 

“Dancing in the Light: The Janet Collins Story,” a G-rated animated movie, will be shown to kids 4 and older at 4 p.m. Based on a true story, it is about a black dancer in the 1930s who is invited to perform in the prestigious Ballets Russes, but with her skin painted white. Popcorn will be served. 

A screening of “42: The Jackie Robinson Story” for kids in sixth grade and up begins at 6:30 p.m. The film stars Chadwick Boseman as the player who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball when he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. It is rated PG-13. 

Advance registration is required for most library programs. 

By the Numbers

Shine, which offers pop-up workshops and parties for kids in the metropolitan area, will head east to the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton on Saturday for a two-hour workshop at 10 a.m. for ages 4 to 9. The cost is $75 per child, including materials. Registration is at [email protected] or 212-414-5427. 

In the CMEE lobby on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon, young artists 2 to 10 years old can help create a paint-by-number Valentine’s Day mural. There is no cost to participate, but entry to the museum is not included.

Little ones (ages 2 months to 16 months) set to celebrate their first Valentine’s Day have been invited to join their caregivers for a free program of music, dance, games, and a craft on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the museum.

When it comes to love and relationships, sonnets have been written, songs have been sung, and tales have been told about romances since the dawn of time, and people still find themselves searching for ways to make sense of it all. So imagine being a teenager trying to navigate such things — especially for the first time. And then, imagine how important it could be if some experts helped break it down for you at a workshop created for teenagers, that is partly run by teenagers, and distills such complicated topics into messages like these:

Love Asks. Love Feels Safe. Love Respects Boundaries. Love Embraces All.

The workshop, which is called In Their Shoes, will be held Thursday night from 5:30 to 7 in the East Hampton Library’s Young Adult room, as part of the Teen Leadership Project program that is sponsored by the Retreat, an East Hampton agency that works with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

The event, which is open to all high schoolers, will feature some of the 23 East Hampton, Ross, and Pierson high school students who have committed to attending the Teen Leadership program, a series of eight weekly after-school training intensives the Retreat offers each fall and spring. Topics include teen dating, the dynamics of all relationships, abuse prevention, and safe and effective intervention strategies.

“A lot of the focus [of tonight’s event] is about creating awareness and empathy,” said Helen Atkinson-Barnes, the Retreat’s education program director. “We cover things such as what is abuse? What are people going through when they’re in a situation where someone is abusive? There is a whole range of ‘romantic’ myths about what relationships should look like, and this can be especially challenging for teens. So we often break it down into smaller chunks where we really explore it.”

Ms. Atkinson-Barnes said one of the most common myths is the idea that abuse is only physical. 

“People often miss the whole package of what abuse is,” she said. “Part of what we do is help people understand abuse is really about power and control. Hurting somebody physically might be one of many tactics that people use to assert that power and control, but there’s also emotional abuse, the silent treatment, undermining a partner’s friendships, verbal abuse, or sexual, financial, or technological abuse — things like tracking someone digitally, or posting about them online. There are a whole range of tactics.” 

Separating abusive tactics from caring behavior can be difficult for anyone, but especially for teens.

“Jealousy, for example, not letting someone break up with you, can be another romantic myth — some people say, ‘Oh, that means they really love me, care about me,’ ” Ms. Atkinson-Barnes said. “But jealousy is actually one of the major markers of highly abusive relationships. Things like, ‘I don’t want you talking to your ex. I don’t want you talking to any other guys or girls. Your friends bug me. They’re not good enough for you.’ Undermining other relationships is a big part of what we see in abusive relationships too.”

While tonight’s event is a one-time session, the Retreat holds prevention and education programs throughout the year hoping to help people of all ages head off unhealthy relationships before they ever need the sort of help and services the shelter provides for domestic violence and abuse victims.

The Teen Leadership Project, in particular, is made available for students each fall and spring semester. The students can choose to attend at either the Retreat’s East Hampton offices at 13 Goodfriend Drive, or at Southampton High School, and they often qualify for community service credit by doing so. Sometimes the sessions include role-playing exercises. Sometimes, survivors of abuse speak to the group. In addition to the educational training, the teens create and implement at least one independent project such as a workshop, event, or video. 

Last week the Leadership Project teens heard from a former East Hampton High School student and abuse survivor who often wore clothing to hide her bruises, but found that even when they were visible, no one at school even asked if something bad was happening.

“Sometimes knowing how to view things from another person’s perspective can be a very important and powerful thing,” Ms. Atkinson-Barnes said. “It’s not uncommon for people in relationships to ask, ‘Is this what something is supposed to be like?’ We try to help them recognize patterns and warning signs.”

Fun for February Break

What’s a working parent to do when school is out but work isn’t? A handful of half-day and full-day options offered next week should help make the school holiday a fun one. 

The East Hampton Town Recreation Department has free recreation and crafts for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade from Tuesday through Friday, Feb. 22, from 9 a.m. to noon. The sessions take place at the John M. Marshall Elementary School in East Hampton and the Montauk School. They are open to all kids, regardless of where they live. Sign-up is at the schools each morning. 

At the Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter next week, a school break camp will run every weekday (including Monday, Presidents Day) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cost is $36 per day, with an extended-day option in the morning or afternoon for an additional $10. Advance registration is required as the program will run only with sufficient enrollment. 

Art Every Day

The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill is offering two-hour winter vacation art workshops Monday through Friday next week, with a different focus each day. Workshops for 5 and 6-year-olds will run from 10 a.m. to noon, and those for kids 7 and older will meet from 1 to 3 p.m. 

On Monday participants will work on assemblage wood sculpture, Tuesday’s project will be winter landscapes with tempera paint, Wednesday it’ll be Model Magic animals, next Thursday abstract painting, and on Friday, Feb. 22, watercolor family portraits. The cost is $40 per session, $30 for museum members, and advance registration is a must. 

Tomorrow night, the National Circus Project will set up its proverbial big top at the museum for an interactive performance at 6 p.m. Audience members may get to try their hand at juggling, balancing, object manipulation, and even unicycling as the professional circus artists show off their talents. The event is free, but advance registration is required. 

Nature Programs at SoFo

At the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton, there will be hourlong nature programs for kids every day next week, and on Saturday the SoFo Young Birders Club, for ages 8 to 18, will gather at 10 a.m. Free and open to anyone interested in learning more about the South Fork’s birds, it will include time outside putting new knowledge to the test with binoculars and field guides. The museum will have a few on hand to lend.

That evening at 7:30, provided the ground is wet enough, Andy Sabin, a herpetologist and the president of the museum’s board, will lead families with children 6 and older on a search in the woods for the endangered eastern tiger salamander. Flashlights and boots are a must.  

The February vacation programs for children of all ages will be offered Monday through Friday, Feb. 22, at 10:30 a.m., and each day there’s a different focus — winter weather on Monday, spiders on Tuesday, evergreens on Wednesday, birds next Thursday, and tracks and scat to end the week. 

Golden Eagle Art Camp

At the Golden Eagle artists supply store in East Hampton, young artists should have an especially productive vacation week. A mini art camp for ages 6 and older from Monday through Feb. 23 will run each day from 10 a.m. to noon. Participants will have a chance to try out different materials and tools as they work in a variety of mediums. The cost is $50 per day or $275 for six days. Registration is at goldeneagleart.com/kids-classes.

Chess, Paint, and Wood

The Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton has teamed up with Hamptons Chess to offer a three-day chess camp for first through third graders next week. Ulysses Taple will instruct beginners Wednesday through Friday, Feb. 22, from 1 to 3 p.m. The cost is $30 per day or $80 for three days. 

Next Thursday, Joyce Raimondo will be at CMEE to lead the drip-painting class she teaches at the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center. The class, for ages 3 to 7 and a caregiver, will have kids making their own art in the style of Jackson Pollock. The cost is $3, not including museum admission, or $1 for museum members. 

In a woodshop workshop with Little Miss Workbench on Friday, Feb. 22, at 10 a.m., kids 4 to 7 will use prefabricated wood parts to build ships they will sand and decorate. Little Miss Workbench was founded by Michele Chiaramonte, an educator and parent, to “instill the importance of focus, problem-solving, resilience, determination, and responsibility through the art of woodworking.” The cost is $25 per child, $20 for members. The fee includes materials, but does not include admission to the museum. 

At the East Hampton Library

Getting in the Valentine’s Day spirit, the East Hampton Library has two workshops inspired by Robert Indiana’s iconic “Love” sculpture — one for kids 6 and older today at 4 p.m. and one for kids 3 to 5 on Wednesday from 2 to 3 p.m. 

Also today, from 5 to 7 p.m., high school students will sample different types of chocolate to see if they can tell them apart, a perfect Valentine’s Day taste test.

The library will be open late on Saturday, from 5 to 7 p.m., just for high school students, who can play cards and video games or watch movies while enjoying pizza. 

On Sunday, teens have been invited to take part in the National African-American Read-In from 2 to 4 p.m. Participants can choose their own passages to share. Those who need suggestions can find texts in the young-adult room. Also on Sunday, at 4 p.m., high school students can earn community service credit by designing a do-it-yourself project for the young-adult room. A philosophical discussion group for teens, the Socrates Cafe, will gather in the Y.A. room on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. 

For younger children ages 3 to 7, a magical unicorn story time and celebration will happen on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. Kids will go home with their own rainbow-colored slime. Those in sixth through eighth grade will experiment with salt and watercolor paints to make a winter scene on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Next Thursday, it will be a Disney double feature when the library shows “Frozen” at 2 p.m. and “Moana” at 4. And on Friday, Feb. 22, at 2 p.m., kids 3 to 5 will read Hervé Tullet’s “Mix It Up!” and then do a color theory project with finger paints. 

Movies for All Ages

On the movie front, tomorrow at 4 p.m., the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton will show “Dancing in the Light: The Janet Collins Story,” a G-rated animated movie, to kids 4 and older. It tells the real-life story of a black American dancer invited to perform with the prestigious Ballets Russes in the 1930s, but only if she paints her skin white.

Then at 6:30, the library will show “42: The Jackie Robinson Story,” about the baseball player who broke the color barrier when he first took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Popcorn will be served at both screenings.  

At the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor, Disney’s “Frozen” will be shown on Saturday at 2 p.m. Next week, the library will show two “retro” movies for kids in 6th through 12th grades: “The NeverEnding Story” next Thursday at 1:30 p.m. and “E.T.” on Friday, Feb. 22, at the same time. Popcorn will be available. 

Company dancers from Dancehampton in East Hampton had their most successful competition yet in West Islip two weeks ago, winning dozens of top awards and earning Dancehampton a Studio of Excellence Award in the secondary level at the Kids Artistic Revue regional competition. 

The studio award “was one of the most memorable things from [the] weekend,” wrote Kelly Hren, Dancehampton’s director, “mostly because it recognizes a variety of high-scoring routines, all different genres and dancers. . . . In order to be eligible for this award, we had to have registered dances in the secondary level in all categories: solo, duet/trio, small group, large group, and line.” The competition was held at St. John the Baptist High School on Feb. 2 and 3. 

Dancehampton dancers ages 9 to 18 performed jazz, tap, lyrical, contemporary, hip-hop, and musical theater routines choreographed by Krystal Lami-roult, Anita Boyer, and Kasia Klimiuk that they prepared over the course of months. 

Dancehampton, which is on Lumber Lane, is in its 12th season. Its dancers have been competing for six seasons, and some have been dancing at the studio since it first opened. “I’ve watched them grow into confident, beautiful dancers with polished technique and performance qualities,” Ms. Hren wrote. 

At the competition on Feb. 2 and 3, they earned 10 elite top first scores, 23 top first scores, and three first scores. They had five numbers that placed first over all, one that placed second, one that placed third, four that placed fourth, and two judges awards. 

The dancers are already preparing for their next two competitions in March, and will showcase their award-winning routines for a local audience at Guild Hall in May.

Lego Challenges

Tomorrow night is Lego Night at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill. Children will work in teams to complete a Lego challenge. From 6 to 7 p.m., kids 5 to 7 will use laptops to learn about gears, motors, sensors, and programming as they construct a bee that will “smell the flowers.” Then at 7:15, kids 8 and older will create grumpy bird launchers. Children should know in advance that their creations will be disassembled at the end of the programs. Advance registration is required. 

While at the museum, families can check out the 2019 Student Exhibition. On Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., children 11 and older can work on oil pastel scratch art with Pamela Collins, a teaching artist, during an open studio. On Sunday at 2 p.m., there will be a bilingual family gallery talk and art workshop.

All programs are free with museum admission. 

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

At the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton, tomorrow’s Pizza and Pajama Night will include a reading of Jan Brett’s “The Mitten.” Afterward, kids can make a craft and explore the museum. The program runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. and is free with admission. 

On Saturday morning from 10 to noon, the museum will celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday with crafts, games, poetry, and more. The $12 fee includes entry to the museum. Members get in free. 

Hamptons Art Camp will be at CMEE on Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon to make slime with kids 4 to 8, as well as labels for the containers in which they’ll take it home. The cost is $35, and $25 for additional siblings. Registration is required for all programs. 

Teen Tech Week

Teen Tech Week begins on Monday at the East Hampton Library, and each day through next Thursday teens can dive into a different tech world. They can compete in Super Mario Bros. on Nintendo Switch on Monday from 5 to 7 p.m., explore 3-D printing on Tuesday from 4 to 7, check out the Google CS First computer coding program on Wednesday from 5 to 7, and go back to basics with Polaroid photography next Thursday from 3:30 to 4:30.

Sixth through eighth graders will decorate pens to look like flowers in a craft session on Tuesday at 4 p.m. Next Thursday children 4 to 6 can enjoy a St. Patrick’s Day story time and craft. Friday, March 8, brings a celebration of Peppa Pig at 3:30 p.m. for kids 3 and up.

March Is Marvel Month

March is Marvel Month at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton, with different Marvel Comics-related projects scheduled throughout. On Tuesday at 3:30 p.m., it’ll be a Marvel superhero craft for grades six and up using Perler beads, those little plastic beads that fuse together when ironed. Kids 7 to 12 can make advanced paper airplanes at the library on Wednesday at 4 p.m.

Next Thursday will be the first meeting of the Hampton Library’s anime and manga club for grades six and up at 3 p.m. Participants will watch and talk about various anime movies and shows on the first and third Thursdays of the month through May 16.

The Montauk Library will dive into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit on Saturday with a leprechaun craft program at 3 p.m. for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Simmering tension in the Springs School community burst into public view at the last two public meetings of the district’s school board. Supporters of two teachers who have alleged harassment by school officials expressed extreme displeasure with the current administration at a Feb. 4 meeting that turned raucous. A week later, however, four Springs teachers praised the board and the district superintendent, Debra Winter, and cited positive accomplishments they say have been made at the school.

The most contentious exchanges came during public comment on Feb. 4. Four Springs School graduates who go to East Hampton High School took the microphone one by one to express support for Diane Mehrhoff, a Springs substitute teacher who filed a claim with the New York State Division of Human Rights in May of 2018 alleging that previous efforts to alert Ms. Winter to the behavior of Michael Henery, the school’s business administrator since mid-2017, were either ignored or prompted Ms. Winter to punish her. Ms. Mehrhoff started teaching at the school in 2004 and took on additional work as a part-time clerk-typist there starting in 2016. 

Ms. Mehrhoff’s student supporters were followed by Ruggero Garsetti, who described himself as a 25-year resident of the hamlet and called on Ms. Winter and the entire board to resign. Admonishing them to quit “wasting” taxpayer money, Mr. Garsetti decried the district’s mounting legal costs (which he put at six figures) to defend itself in the Mehrhoff case and in a second matter involving an unnamed female teacher who filed a complaint with East Hampton police after telling school officials that a male school board member (who remains on the board) inappropriately touched her at the school in February of 2018. 

Regina Cafarella of the Douglas A. Spencer legal firm investigated the latter case for the district. According to published reports, she told the board her investigation found the incident had occurred but that it did not rise to a violation of state or federal law.  She declined to comment when reached by phone on Monday. 

Ms. Mehrhoff alleged in her complaint to the state that Mr. Henery repeatedly made misogynistic statements, some of which were profane, about teachers and other school colleagues at various times in 2018. She alleged that as a result of one of her complaints, Mr. Henery, one of her supervisors, visited an office she was working in the next day and made additional remarks. She was eventually demoted from clerk-typist to hall monitor by the board after she complained about Mr. Henery, and then saw her hall monitor job eliminated. Ms. Mehrhoff also alleges that her substitute teaching at the school and access to the building were cut back.

Responding to a request for comment, Ms. Winter wrote an email Tuesday saying, “Unfortunately, I cannot speak about personnel matters. I can only say that I do not tolerate any forms of harassment or bullying. Every claim, even if it does not rise to actionable harassment, has been investigated and appropriate action taken. The substitute teacher is still employed as a substitute teacher.”

That fact did not stop dozens of Ms. Mehrhoff’s supporters from attending the Feb. 4 meeting.

Renny Murphy, the first of the four students who spoke on Ms. Mehrhoff’s behalf, was stopped in mid-sentence at the start of her remarks by Barbara Dayton, the school board president, after mentioning Ms. Winter and Mr. Henery by name. “Let her speak . . . . This is a cover-up,” members of the audience shouted. 

Banging her gavel three times, Ms. Dayton attempted to call the meeting to order. She calmly said that though the speakers were welcome to talk, “The public needs to understand there are certain regulations that happen in a public venue regarding employees at the school. Personnel items are not up for public discussion by the board.” 

A school attorney seconded Ms. Dayton’s explanation, and more grumbling ensued.

Ms. Murphy and the other students responded to Ms. Dayton’s instructions and, for the most part, stopped mentioning school officials by name. But Ms. Murphy, Hannah Hartsough, and Jessie Branche, the first three, were visibly upset and occasionally wiped away tears as they spoke with quavering voices about Ms. Mehrhoff’s positive influence and how the situation has dented their pride and affection for the Springs School.

Ms. Murphy said Ms. Mehrhoff “taught us how to treat people with respect. However, she was not given the same respect when she filed claims of harassment. I’m disappointed by the lack of regard for her claims.” Ms. Hartsough called Ms. Mehrhoff’s treatment “unjust and despicable.” Ms. Branche added, “Ms. Mehrhoff and others in the school have been harassed, and the administration has turned a blind eye.” 

Rory Murphy, Renny’s sister, was the last Springs graduate to speak. “I was always proud to be a Springs kid. Then I was astonished. Then I was devastated and disappointed,” she said. “The only thing you are teaching is men can victimize women, and anyone who is victimized should be silent.”

Ms. Dayton and the board ended the meeting without comment after each speaker finished to applause.

The tone was quite different when the school board convened on Feb. 11. Four current teachers praised the work of Ms. Winter and the board. Tracy Frazier, a Springs teacher who is married to Timothy Frazier, a school board member, offered a long list of recent administration accomplishments, from mold remediation to the ongoing expansion of the crowded building. Ryan Scala, a fifth-grade teacher, praised several programs the school has added. Two other speakers lauded the five-year contract recently reached with the teachers’ union.

Field Hockey and Wrestling

A field hockey clinic for girls in third through sixth grade and wrestling for boys in second through eighth grade will start next week. Both are sponsored by the East Hampton Town Parks and Recreation Department, and registration forms are available on the town’s website.

The field hockey program will introduce new players to the sport and build skills for returning players. It will be held on Mondays and Thursdays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. through March 28 at the Montauk Playhouse Community Center. Participants must have a stick, sneakers, shin guards, a mouthpiece, protective goggles, and a water bottle. Registration is at the Parks and Recreation Department office behind Town Hall or at the Montauk Playhouse. The cost is $45. 

The wrestling program will be held in the East Hampton High School wrestling room on Mondays and Wednesdays through March 6, and also costs $45. Ronald Campsey, who will be the instructor, can be phoned at 516-659-4787 with questions.

Also offered through the Parks and Recreation Department is a free chess clinic for first through fifth graders on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 5 p.m. at the youth park on Abraham’s Path. 

Hoo, Who?

What do owls eat? Kids 3 to 5 years old can find out as they dissect owl pellets with Rachel Speckenbach at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton on Sunday. Children will learn “about an owl’s life through their diet,” according to the museum. The program starts at 10:30 a.m. There is a $2 materials fee, and advance registration has been requested. 

Tech for Kids

In a tech program on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor, second through fifth graders will learn about all sorts of gadgets and have a chance to experiment with them. 

On Sunday afternoons starting at 12:15, the library has invited children 4 to 7 to stop in and work on a craft with an older child in sixth through eighth grade on hand to help them. Advance registration has been requested for both programs.

Snowflakes and Snowmen

Sixth through eighth graders can make either snowmen or penguins during a no-sew sock craft program on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at the East Hampton Library.

Also that day, at 5 p.m., mentors will be on hand to help high school students with college applications. There is space for just four students, each of whom will get a half-hour session, so registration ahead of time is a must. Additional sessions are planned in the coming weeks. 

A bilingual story and craft time for ages 3 and up will be held next Thursday at 4 p.m. at the library. Also at 4, high school students can unwind as they make natural and organic bath bombs. The session runs till 7.

The man who became known as Snowflake Bentley because he was the first to photograph the wonder of the snowflake will be the subject of a workshop for kids 6 and older on Friday, Jan. 11, at 3:30 p.m. Participants will make their own tape-resist snowflake art to take home. 

Body Art

Glitter tattoos and henna graphics are on the schedule on Saturday at the Montauk Library. At 1 p.m., kids in kindergarten through third grade will have a chance to get a temporary glitter tattoo or henna design. At 2, those in fourth grade and above will learn about the ancient art of henna and then get their own henna designs if they wish. Advance sign-up is required, as space is limited. 

Hail the Pig

The Japanese paper-folding art of origami and the Chinese Year of the Pig will both be the focus of programs for children next week at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton.

Tomorrow, there’s a winter animals art program at 4 p.m. for ages 4 and up, and on Friday, Feb. 1, at the same time, that age group will do crafts inspired by the Chinese New Year. 

Phone case design is on the agenda for those in sixth grade and up on Tuesday from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Participants have been asked to take their own cases, preferably clear ones. 

On Wednesday, ages 7 to 12 will learn to make origami foxes, cardinals, and other Long Island animals in a program at 4 p.m. 

Advance registration has been requested for all. 

Also in Bridgehampton

Why is there so much variety in birds’ beaks? “Some are short, some are long, some are pointy, and some are round,” writes the South Fork Natural History Museum, and all of them are adapted for specialized uses. A program at the museum on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. for ages 6 to 8 will explore these adaptations. Miles Todaro will lead, and advance sign-up is required. 

Across the street in Bridgehampton, the Children’s Museum of the East End’s Pizza and Pajama night on Friday, Feb. 1, will include a reading of Caralyn Buehner’s “Snowmen at Night” and a snowman craft. The fun is geared to kids 3 to 6 and runs from 5:30 to 7 p.m. It is free for museum members, $12 for everyone else. This program often sells out, so advance registration is a must.

At the East Hampton Library

Hands-on activities and virtual ones, food for thought and food for the belly are on the agenda at the East Hampton Library this week.

For high school students, there’s a button-making workshop on Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m., and then a virtual program on Monday from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday brings the Socrates Cafe, a philosophical discussion group in which teens consider the stuff of our inner lives, at 3:30 p.m.

For younger children, there’s a pajama story time, with a craft, on Tuesday at 4 p.m. for ages 3 to 7. Kids 4 and older will decorate cupcakes to look like polar bears on Wednesday at that time. Each participant will get to take home three in a box. Next Thursday, “Happy Feet,” a movie about a penguin who’s born to dance, will be shown at 4 p.m. for all ages. 

Advance registration is required for most programs. 

Movie Day, Spa Day

The John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor will show “Incredibles 2” on Saturday at 2 p.m. Popcorn will be served. 

On Sunday at 1 p.m., kids in fifth through eighth grade will learn how to make bath bombs and sugar scrub for a home spa experience.

A drip painting workshop on Tuesday at 4 p.m. will give kids 5 to 8 a chance to learn about and paint like the Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock. 

Art at Guild Hall

The Golden Eagle will team up with Guild Hall on Saturday to offer art workshops from 11 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 2 p.m. for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade. 

Those attending can also take in the East Hampton institution’s annual Student Art Festival, which includes work by kids in kindergarten through 12th grade from across the South Fork. Admission is free. The workshops are also free, but advance registration has been requested at guildhall.org. 

“Paw Patrol”

At the Montauk Library, Saturday afternoon is all about “Paw Patrol.” Kids 2 and older will design and build a sea patrol boat and then watch episodes of “Paw Patrol: Sea Patrol” from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 

Later that day, at 3:30, teens and tweens can make glow-in-the-dark clay charms. Space is limited, so it’s best to reserve a spot in advance.

Basketball at Ross

The Ross School’s athletic department will host a free basketball clinic for players in third through sixth grade on Saturday from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. 

At different stations, boys and girls will work on agility, individual skills, and team offense. They’ll learn drills to practice at home and play in three-on-three and five-on-five games. Nygel Roach, the school’s head varsity basketball coach, and Eugene Lee, an athletic trainer at the school and coach at the All-American Basketball Camp, will lead the clinic.

The program is open to anyone in the community, not only Ross students. Advance registration is through the athletic department at 631-907-5000, but walk-ins will also be accepted. The program will take place at the school’s great hall off Goodfriend Drive in East Hampton.

The sixth to eighth-grade student “ambassadors” who will participate in the Springs School’s second annual Diversity Institute may be astonished to learn they are no older right now than Thursday’s featured speaker, Judy Sleed, was when Nazi soldiers arrived in Budapest in March of 1944 and took away her father and only brother, and then before long her mother, too. 

She was 12 and never spoke to them again.

Mrs. Sleed, who is now 86, has a remarkable story of surviving the Holocaust and immigrating to America that touches on nearly every theme the Diversity Institute hopes to convey to the 100 students and parents who are expected to attend from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Springs School gym.

The diversity ambassadors are described on their school webpage as “a student-driven task force that promotes cultural tolerance and peace by raising awareness of the devastating effects of bias and hate. . . . In our schools, intolerance manifests as bullying, harassment, and violence. Research shows that young people who are victims of intolerance are more likely to hurt themselves or others. History teaches us that when left unchallenged, bias and discrimination can escalate into hate crimes and even genocide.” 

Mrs. Sleed can speak to all of that. 

When Nazi soldiers came in October 1944 to a “yellow house” where she had been sent — it was called that because Jews had to put a yellow Star of David outside places they were living, as well as on their clothing, she said — Mrs. Sleed was among a group that was rounded up and marched on foot across Budapest to a holding spot. In the chaos after they all arrived, Mrs. Sleed saw an open door and slipped out into the street unnoticed — then walked away.

She knew her way around the city “a little” and spent most of that first night walking, finally choosing to sleep outside the house of a family friend who never arrived back home. In the morning, she resumed walking and searching for other Jewish families she knew and again came upon empty house after empty house. She finally made it to the home of an aunt who had avoided the Nazi sweeps by paying for false papers on the black market that said she was not Jewish.

Locating her brought Mrs. Sleed’s second lifesaving stroke of luck: Her aunt got her spirited into a Swiss-run safe house where she stayed out of the reach of the Nazis until the liberation of Hungary. She came to America shortly before her 16th birthday to live with one of her father’s 11 siblings. She eventually married Joel Sleed, the late Long Island Press newspaperman. One of their three children, Jeff, plans to be in the crowd to hear his mother speak.

For the Springs School’s original 24 student ambassadors, hearing Mrs. Sleed will culminate a year of varied learning experiences that they have been urged to pass on by mentoring the new students coming into the program.

Building off last year’s inaugural Diversity Institute night, the school’s assistant principal, Christine Cleary, who heads up the program, organized other activities throughout the year such as a United Nations trip to learn more about peacekeeping missions, diplomacy, and conflict resolution. The students had an opportunity to read books with social justice and human rights themes. They learned communication skills and ways to intervene if they see other students engaging in bad behavior. 

The student-ambassadors also plan­ned most of tonight’s program, which will also touch on topics such as culture and identity and present opportunities for their parents to participate.

Mrs. Sleed said when the Diversity Institute was described to her, she told Ms. Cleary, “I’ll do anything to help.” 

Mrs. Sleed said it’s been less than a decade since she felt comfortable even telling anyone she was a Holocaust survivor because of the pain it conjures up. But she’s since written a play called “Delibab” about her teenage experiences, as well as a children’s book called “The Fight of the Crayons” that advocates “you have to be equally nice to everyone in this world” regardless of differences.

She plans to mention both works during her talk.

After operating their Blocks, Trucks + Art workshops and BMX programs out of a retooled 18-wheeler at the Hayground School for four summers, the husband-and-wife team of Jeff Mayer and Angela De Vincenzo have opened a brick-and-mortar gallery and workshop space in Sag Harbor where they can offer children’s programming all year long. 

Those who have visited the couple’s big rig on the Hayground campus in Bridgehampton, where it is parked alongside a dirt BMX pump track that Mr. Mayer helped design and build, will see familiar elements in the bright and boldly colored BT+A Gallery on Washington Street. 

“We’ve really transformed this space to be our 18-wheeler, basically. Everything that was on the trailer is in here,” Ms. De Vincenzo said on Jan. 17 as the couple prepared for their grand opening on Jan. 20. 

Ms. De Vincenzo, a learning specialist, and Mr. Mayer, a designer, D.J., and former BMX pro, draw on the seemingly disparate elements of their combined backgrounds to “inspire children to find their passion through creativity, academics, and physical activity,” Ms. De Vincenzo said. 

Blocks, Trucks + Art began with a question: “How do we give kids what they don’t get enough of during the school day?” 

The answer, in part, was to provide more “open-ended experiences for kids.” The block work, based on a model developed at the City and Country School in Manhattan, where Ms. De Vincenzo once taught, is so much more than simple play. 

“While they’re building and working together and creating structures, there’s also a lot of deep work that’s involved with social pragmatics, problem-solving, spatial relationships, mapping.” Children learn to express ideas and collaborate while also working on planning and organization skills. 

At the Hayground Camp, they offered BMX biking on the track and D.J. lessons, block-building sessions, and tutorials on the truck’s trailer. 

Much of that will now happen at the Sag Harbor spot, as well. While there obviously won’t be biking in the Washington Street location, a multiuse room at the back of the gallery will allow for bike mechanics lessons. There will be rotating shows on the gallery walls — the first one features Mr. Mayer’s art and design — and the artists will be tapped to lead classes for kids while their shows are up. Ms. De Vincenzo will lead block workshops and private and small-group academic tutorials.

“A big part of the program is going to continue at Hayground,” she said, “but since it’s mostly seasonal with our outdoor tracks and the 18-wheeler, which doesn’t have heat, we really wanted a place to extend that work in the colder months and serve the local community.” 

The 18-wheeler will be transformed into an indoor skate park complete with half pipes, and skateboarding will be added to next summer’s curriculum. 

“I’m really excited for the skateboarding to happen because I’ve been wanting that to happen for a long time,” said the couple’s son, Luca, a third grader who is already a sponsored skater. 

After living together on the truck for three summers, the family left Brooklyn and moved to Sag Harbor full time at the beginning of last summer. Ms. De Vincenzo left her job at the Packer Collegiate Institute, a private school in Brooklyn Heights, to make the move. 

“The living on the truck piece was really insane, that we wanted to do this so bad that we lived on a truck as a family for three summers,” Mr. Mayer said. “It was crazy, but it’s what got us here.”

They had already been raising money to grow their program and eventually package it and take it on the road when the former Grenning Gallery space, right below their Sag Harbor apartment, came up for rent. 

To raise money for it, they hit upon the idea of selling memberships. “From doing our summers we did really amass a wonderful, devoted clientele,” Ms. De Vincenzo said. “Of course, it’s the summer clientele, so these are families of means, so we reached out to them as we were opening this space . . . because we really didn’t have a ton of working capital.” 

“If you’re doing good work, and people believe in you, don’t be afraid to ask,” Mr. Mayer said. They weren’t, and enough people stepped forward to help them make the gallery a reality. 

Gold memberships cost $10,000 and give children unlimited access to year-round programming and the pump track at Hayground and indoor riding. They get their own BMX bikes and helmets, gear designed by Mr. Mayer, and invitations to special events. Built into the price is a bonus: Each membership bought by a family that can afford it also buys membership and all the trappings for two other children who might not otherwise be able to take advantage of the Blocks, Trucks + Art offerings. 

“It bothered us that our summer program was only for a certain element of the population out here,” Ms. De Vincenzo said. “We kept feeling like . . . it would probably feel more satisfying if we were serving the local population, so that was a big impetus for the space.” 

Starting in February, she’ll offer a block workshop on Saturday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon. After a walking tour of the village, kids will sketch and research the buildings and then go back to the gallery to “recreate the buildings with realistic detail.” The cost will be $300 a month. 

Mr. Mayer, who D.J.s most Saturdays at Tutto Il Giorno in Sag Harbor, will offer one-on-one lessons using the D.J. booth installation in the gallery. “I want to create a sound library where kids can come in and put headphones on,” he said. “There are so many fun things that we can do here.”

A zine-making class is on the horizon, and Ms. De Vincenzo, who is also an educational consultant, plans to host monthly talks for parents on such subjects as reading at home, how to overcome homework frustrations, and setting limits.

“I want the space to feel like a resource for the community of parents as well,” she said.