Kids Culture 08.09.18

Children’s Fair

The biggest of East Hampton Library’s offerings for kids this week is its annual children’s fair on Sunday from 2 to 5:30 p.m. in the field at 555 Montauk Highway in Amagansett. 

The fair, which happens the day after the library’s Authors Night fund-raiser, includes carnival-type rides, inflatables, games, crafts with book themes, performers, treats, and a host of children’s book authors signing their books. Among the dozens of authors expected to attend are Susan Verde with her “Rock ’n’ Roll Soul,” Billy Baldwin with “Wipeout the Wave,” G.B. Gurland with “The Secret Files of Phineas Foster,” Elizabeth Doyle Carey with “Mayday,” from the Junior Lifeguards series, and Cynthia Bardes with “Pansy in Africa.” 

The fair is free, and copies of the authors’ books will be available for purchase. 

This week’s family movies at the library will be “Beauty and the Beast,” today at 4 p.m., and “Planes,” next Thursday at the same time. Today at 2 p.m., someone from the Quogue Wildlife Refuge will visit the library with a 

presentation on nocturnal animals for children 4 and up. 

Tomorrow at the library, kids in sixth through eighth grade can use Washi tape to turn flip-top tins into colorful little carrying cases. The program begins at 3:30 p.m. 

In a Storytime Yoga session with Ms. Verde on Tuesday at 11 a.m., kids 5 and older will become part of the story as they practice different poses and breathing exercises. Toddlers 2 to 3 years old will try out various postures, breathing exercises, and relaxation techniques, and then do a craft in a yoga class next Thursday at 1 p.m. 

Children 5 and older will use Mason jars, shells, sand, and plants to make light-up “aquariums” in a workshop on Tuesday at 3 p.m.

Advance registration is required for all but the children’s fair. 

Puppets at Bay Street

Goat on a Boat’s puppet theater series continues at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor with two productions this week. First, the Columbia Marionette Theater will present “Cinderella” on Saturday at 11 a.m., and next Thursday it will be the Robert Rogers Puppet Company and “The Bugtown Follies,” also at 11 a.m. Tickets cost $15 to $25 online or at the box office. 

Children 4 to 7 who want to put on puppet shows of their own might be interested in Bay Street’s Puppet Power theater camp, which runs from Monday through Friday, Aug. 17. Campers will learn about and play with an assortment of puppets and work with a teaching artist to create their own puppets, sets, and stories. 

Older children ages 9 to 12 will explore a kid-friendly version of a Shakespeare play in a camp that runs from Aug. 20 to 24 and culminates with a performance for friends and family on Bay Street’s stage. 

Theater camps meet from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and cost $475 per week.

Bay Street is also offering a series of teen master classes this month. Participants will analyze a play and study a scene on Wednesday. Directing will be the focus on Aug. 21, and on Aug. 28 attention will turn to “making a monologue.” Each class runs from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The cost is $135 for a single class, $250 for two, and $350 for all three. 

Stranger and Stranger

It’s not every kid who can watch the creepy “Stranger Things” series on Netflix, but those who do may know that it’s based loosely on mysterious things said to have taken place at Camp Hero in Montauk. With that in mind, the Montauk Library has invited kids in fourth grade and above to make their own “Stranger Things” jewelry using Shrinky Dinks paper on Saturday from 3 to 4:30 p.m., with a 1980s playlist setting the tone. 

Kids in first grade and above can play Wii Sports and Mario Kart at the library on Wednesday from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Snacks will be served. 

Live frogs, toads, bugs, a bunny, mice, reptiles, hermit crabs, and even a chinchilla will be on hand at the library on Friday, Aug. 17, at 4 p.m. during a program for kids 4 and older. 

Drawing at the Parrish

At the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, a drawing course for children 10 and older will have students exploring the galleries and applying some of the drawing techniques they see to their own work. The class will meet Monday through Wednesday from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The cost is $110, including materials. Members pay $85. 

Sculpture and Disco

Kids who take part in an instrument-making workshop this afternoon at 4:30 at the Southampton Arts Center will be invited to take their creations back to the center to join in a family concert on Aug. 23. 

An outdoor story time today at 5:30 p.m. will mark National Book Lovers Day.

Next Thursday at 3:30 p.m., children will work with Giancarlo Biagi, a marble sculptor, to cast their hands or feet in sand in a style inspired by the late Costantino Nivola. 

After that, at 4:30, they can shake their hands and feet at an afternoon family dance party with Baby Loves Disco.

The above programs are free, but the arts center has asked for sign-up ahead of time for the workshops.

Hurray for Libraries!

The Amagansett Library has a singing, dancing, story-filled celebration of libraries planned for Saturday at 3 p.m. Alexair Dreams Storytelling, an outfit from South Ozone Park, Queens, will headline. Advance sign-up has been requested.