Kids Culture 03.30.17

Busy Saturdays at the Y

The Y.M.C.A. East Hampton RECenter is offering a variety of free Saturday programs for kids starting this week and running through June 17, with sports, arts, and science, technology, engineering, and math on the agenda.

The day will start with soccer skills and drills development for ages 4 to 6 from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. A similar basketball program for the same age group will run from 9:45 to 10:30. For kids 7 to 11, the schedule is flipped: basketball from 8:30 to 9:30 and soccer from 9:45 to 10:30. Children can sign up for both programs. “It’s a progressive program, with multiple age-specific levels,” the Y says on a flier.

More heady offerings follow. A science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (commonly called STEAM these days) program runs from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. for ages 4 to 6 and from 11:30 to 12:30 for ages 7 to 11. Creative arts sessions, focusing on painting, drawing, writing, or acting, will run from 11:30 to 12:30 for ages 4 to 6 and from 12:30 to 1:30 for ages 7 to 11. Kids (and their parents) could make a whole morning of it.

On Saturday afternoons, a sports academy for kids 9 to 16 will focus on character and education development from 1 to 2, strength, speed, endurance, and agility from 2 to 3, and sports training and game play from 3 to 4.

Registration can be done on Saturday morning, but advance registration at the RECenter has been strongly suggested.

Crazy Hair and a MakerBot

Crazy Hair Day, a dance party, and 3-D printing workshops are on the agenda at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton this week. Tomorrow afternoon at 4, there will be a Just Dance party using the Dance Dance Revolution video game for ages 4 and up. Next week at the same time, the same age group can listen to some bad-hair-day stories and make some crazy hair art. MakerBot 3-D printing workshops will take place on Tuesday afternoon. There’s one at 4 for ages 7 to 12 and one at 5 for kids 13 and up.

Also at the libraries this week, a teen trivia contest will be held at the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. Kids in 7th through 12th grades can form teams of three to five players or join up with a group at the library for this monthly contest. Pizza is included.

Ceramic animal pots will be the craft of the hour on Saturday from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Montauk Library. Kids 6 and up can design a pot or make an edible jellybean bracelet.

Book-Spine Poems

April is National Poetry Month, and the East Hampton Library has invited young adults to use the books in its Y.A. collection to create “book-spine poems” throughout the month. The aim is to take from three to six books and set them on their sides to make an original poem using the words on the spine. When the perfect combination is found, participants snap a photo of it and email it to [email protected] by April 29. Make it a good one, though — the library will accept only one submission per poet.

The library will offer an overview of the ACTs and SATs for high school students and their families on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. Those who attend will learn the difference between the tests and get some tips on taking them.

A workshop on nocturnal creatures for ages 5 and up will be held next Thursday at 4 p.m.

Youth Soccer Time

Registration for East Hampton Town’s youth soccer program for first through sixth graders will be on Saturday and April 8 from 10 a.m. to noon at the fields on Stephen Hand’s Path in East Hampton or on April 15 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at the youth park on Abraham’s Path. The cost is $45. Players are divided into a younger league for grades one to three and an older one for fourth through sixth graders. Games run from April 22 to June 17.

For Vacation Week

Looking ahead to the April vacation week, parents may want to reserve space now for programs that often fill up early. Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor will run a musical theater camp for ages 8 to 12 from April 10 through 14. The cost for the program, which runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., is $385 for the week.

At the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, there will be art workshops each day of the break from 10 a.m. to noon for kids 4 and up and from 1 to 3 p.m. for kids 7 and over. The cost per session is $40, $30 for museum members.

On Saturday at the Parrish, kids 11 to 18 can make pop-up cards with Pam Collins, a teaching artist, during a free teen studio program from 10 a.m. to noon. Advance registration is required.