Kids Culture 04.14.16

Sportime’s Eight-Week Programs

The East Hampton Town Recreation Department and Sportime will team up to offer eight-week children’s clinics in flag football, inline skating, roller hockey, volleyball, soccer, and basketball starting next week.

Flag football for ages 6 to 12 starts on Monday from 5 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays bring inline skating for 4 to 9-year-olds from 5 to 6 p.m. and roller hockey for ages 6 to 12 from 6 to 7. A multisport program for 3 to 5-year-olds will start on Wednesday from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. Volleyball for kids 11 to 15 will be on Thursdays from 5 to 6 p.m. On Saturdays it will be soccer for ages 5 to 12 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. and basketball for kids 7 to 13 from 11 a.m. to noon. Each clinic costs $125 for the full eight weeks.

Registration is at the Sportime Arena on Abraham’s Path in Amagansett the first day of each program.

Looking ahead to the April school break, the Town of East Hampton will once again run its free morning recreation programs for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade. The programs will be offered from 9 a.m. to noon at the John M. Marshall Elementary School and the Montauk School from April 26 through 29. They are open to children of any school district. Sign-up is at the Montauk Playhouse or the Parks and Recreation Department in advance, or at the schools the day of the program.

Camp SoulGrow Grows

Camp SoulGrow, which offers workshops, adventures, and volunteer opportunities for children 7 and up, is expanding its base of operations. SoulGrow will soon open a downtown office and studio space in Montauk and a new outpost at Squiretown Park in Hampton Bays.

In Montauk, Bridgehampton National Bank had leased the nonprofit camp a 700-square-foot storefront space at 7 Carl Fisher Place for $1 a year. The camp’s founder, London Rosiere, is on the lookout for donations to ready the space for an opening later this spring. First on the wish list is new flooring to replace the worn carpeting, at an estimated cost of $3,800. Donations can be made online at campsoulgrow.org. Amounts above $25 are tax-deductible. Those who wish to be hands-on helpers will be welcomed with open arms, Ms. Rosiere said.

The space will be a year-round auxiliary to SoulGrow’s base at Third House in Montauk County Park, which is neither heated nor insulated for colder season activities. Ms. Rosiere plans to hold workshops there in the off-season and to use it as a more centralized meeting point in the summer.

The Hampton Bays location, in a Southampton Town park, will be the site of Tuesday and Thursday workshops in the summer. Opening day for that spot will be on April 27, a Wednesday during the upcoming school break, when events for kids 7 and older are planned for noon, 1:30, and 3 p.m. All Camp SoulGrow programs are free, with a suggested donation of $10 per child to help support the camp’s continued work. Registration is online. In other good news for the camp, it was the recipient last month of a $500 donation from the Montauk Lions Club.

The Importance of Windmills

The average drive from East Hampton to Southampton is enough to prove that windmills have long had a prominent role here on the South Fork. In an intergenerational program on Saturday geared toward grandfathers, dads, and grandkids, the Southampton Historical Museum will explore the importance of windmills on Long Island. After learning some of their history, families will get to work creating their own windmills out of Popsicle sticks.  The program will begin at 11 a.m. at the Rogers Mansion. The cost is $10 for adults, $5 for members. Children get in free. Reservations are required at 283-2494.