Kids Culture 01.16.14

Student Art Extravaganza

       The galleries at Guild Hall will be bursting with color starting on Saturday when the first part of the annual Student Art Festival opens to the public with a free reception and performances from 2 to 4 p.m. Artwork by children in kindergarten through eighth grade will be featured through Feb. 23. The second part of the exhibition, featuring art by high school students, will run from March 1 through April 20.

       Students from Bridgehampton to Montauk and even Shelter Island will be represented in the show. Children in kindergarten through eighth grade who are inspired by what they see on the walls can take advantage of the open studio time in Guild Hall’s Boots Lamb Education Center most Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon till 5 through Feb. 23.

       A student film competition will run concurrently with the exhibitions. A screening is planned for April 6, when judges from the East End film and television community will award prizes in three age-group categories.

       The museum also has a Valentine cookie workshop on tap for Feb. 8 and school break workshops on the schedule from Feb. 17 through 21. Admission to the museum is free throughout the Student Art Festival.

Get Moving

       Parents and their young children can move and groove together in two new early childhood music and movement classes starting this week at the Ellen Johansen Music Studio. Dance With Me, a family music class for toddlers 15 months to 3 years old, will be offered on Fridays from 9:30 to 10:05 a.m. A Tuesday session of the class, at the same times, started earlier this week. The cost is $275 for 15 weeks, including family home materials.

       Also starting tomorrow is Suncatchers, a class for 3 and 4-year-olds that emphasizes imaginative stories and the development of listening skills. It runs from 10:30 to 11:15 a.m. and costs $325 for 15 classes, including home materials.

       Registration can be done online at ellenjohansenmusicstudio.com or by calling Ms. Johansen at 418-5497. The studio is on Stratton Square in East Hampton Village. Ms. Johansen has been teaching music to young children there and elsewhere for 25 years.

Pie in the Sky

       Pizza making will be on the menu tomorrow afternoon at Fresh Hamptons in Bridgehampton during a fund-raiser for the Wing It Project, founded by Anastasia Gavalas, a parenting educator. From 4 to 5:30 p.m. children will create their own set of wings they can wear with Ms. Gavalas, and make their own pizza with Todd Jacobs, the restaurant’s chef.

       The event is free, but donations will be taken for Ms. Gavalas’s project, which, according to her website, “promotes a response to the vast disparities of educational opportunities for children throughout the world.” The restaurant is on the Bridgehampton-Sag Harbor Turnpike. Reservations for tomorrow’s program can be made with [email protected] or by calling 516-523-1504.

Flubbermania

       Science can be really fun. Without polymer chemistry, for example, there could be no flubber. What’s flubber, you ask? On Saturday at 10 a.m., kids 6 to 12 can find out at the South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton. Flubbermania, a workshop on the secrets of polymer chemistry, will have kids creating this slimy, gooey mix, which is made from household ingredients.

       Kids will learn about natural polymers found in things like hair, cellulose in trees, and DNA, and synthetic ones like you might find in nylon, plastics, and epoxy. There is a $3 materials fee for the workshop, which is designed to supplement the state’s intermediate-level science curriculum.

       Crystal Possehl will lead a family winter beach walk in Hampton Bays for the museum on Saturday at 1 p.m. Reservations are required for all programs.

Sing a Song

       Christine Cadarette is offering free beginning vocal lessons for teens on Saturday at the Amagansett Library. The sessions are part of a teen music month co-hosted with Crossroads Music and will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Ms. Cadarette has worked on Broadway shows and with such performers as Roger Daltrey of the Who.

       Earlier in the day, at 3:30 p.m., families can listen to a cow story at the library and then make their own cow and moon crafts. Reservations have been requested for both programs.

Sew Much Fun

       Children 6 to 10 will make animal and monster “softies” during a hand-sewing workshop on Saturday at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton. Vanessa Geppert will oversee the class, which starts at 10 a.m. and costs $15, or $5 for museum members.

       Painting on frozen paper can yield some unexpected results and kids can see for themselves during a workshop that morning at 10:30. Participants will experiment with different surfaces and paints to see what they come up with. The cost is $18, or $7 for museum members.

       Self-portraits will be the subject of a drop-off workshop on Monday at 10:30 a.m. for kids 6 and older. After listening to Karen Katz’s “The Colors of Us,” kids will make mixed-media self-portraits with the help of Karen Hogan. Parents can stick around or come back at the end of the workshop.

Wee Warriors

       Susan Verde, a children’s book author and yoga instructor, will lead a yoga story time for kids 5 and older at the East Hampton Library on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. This is a kids-only program, so Mom or Dad will have to busy themselves elsewhere.

       A polar bear story and craft time is scheduled for next Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. for children 4 to 6 with an adult.

Tea and Fleece

       There will be tea, treats, and stories for children 4 and older at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. For kids 8 to 12, the library will hold a 3D art workshop Tuesday evening at 7. Kids will use paper, pencils, and markers to make their drawings “jump off the page.” Children in seventh grade and above can drop by Saturday through Jan. 25 to make a no-sew fleece hat.

       Teens learning to drive should mark their calendars for Jan. 25, when the library will host a five-hour prelicensing course, a requirement for those planning to take a driver’s test. Participants must have a valid learner’s permit. The cost is $45. Advance sign-up is required for all programs, which are free unless otherwise noted.

New for Mommies and Kids

       A new Mommy and Me program for mothers with children 4 and younger will start on Wednesday at the Most Holy Trinity school building in East Hampton. The nine-week program will focus on education, nutrition, and parent-child bonding, among other things, and will also include yoga for moms and kids. Child care will be provided.

       The sessions will run weekly from 11 a.m. to noon through March 26, with a break on Feb. 19. The school building is at 44 Meadow Way. More information is available by emailing [email protected] or by phone at 324-0134, extension 732.