Camp Shakespeare
The Hamptons Shakespeare Festival’s Camp Shakespeare, a theater arts program for ages 8 to 15, will celebrate its 20th season when it gets under way on Monday in Amagansett.
For parents who remember taking in a Hamptons Shakespeare production over a picnic dinner at Montauk County Park way back when, it might be hard to believe it’s been going that long, and still under the auspices of one of its founders, David Brandenburg, the festival’s artistic director. It’s been quite some time since those outdoor productions in the park, but the summer camp has gone on to instill a love of the Bard in a generation of young thespians.
Over the next two weeks, kids will have an opportunity to immerse themselves in theater games, improvisation, movement, voice, and theatrical arts and crafts both inside and out at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church. Camp runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, Aug. 9, and Aug. 12 through 16. Each week culminates with a performance for family and friends. The cost is $500 per week, or $475 per week for campers attending for two weeks. Some financial aid may be available.
Advance registration is required online at hamptons.shakespeare.org/camp or by calling 631-267-0105.
Family Fun-Raiser
A free “family fun raiser” — that’s right, fun, not fund — at the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center on Saturday will include live music, face painting, cookie decorating, and other activities. Food trucks will be on hand, too, during the fair, which will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The center is on Gingerbread Lane Extension in East Hampton Village.
Kids Cook Up a Book
Esme and Calista Washburn, sisters and the young team behind “20 Recipes Kids Should Know” — Esme wrote it, Calista took the pictures — will be at BookHampton in East Hampton on Sunday at 11 a.m. with the book.
“From banana bread and the perfect grilled cheese to breaded chicken and apple pie, each recipe is written in a clear, accessible style that young cooks of every level will be able to follow,” according to the publisher’s notes. The event is free, but reservations on the BookHampton website have been requested.
Goat on a Farm
If the playhouses scattered around the lawn aren’t enough of a draw, now on Saturdays in August the Goat on a Boat Puppet Theater will be at Amber Waves Farm in Amagansett. Shows will start around 11 a.m. and run for about 45 minutes.
Reptiles on View
The South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton will introduce kids 3 to 5 to some of its reptiles and amphibians during a live animal show on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Children will learn about the animals’ habits and habitats with Rachel Speckenbach, one of the museum’s environmental educators.
Like Lichtenstein
The Madoo Conservancy in Sagaponack will be the backdrop for two art workshops this week inspired by the work of Roy Lichtenstein. Mannix Studio will lead a paint club for ages 9 to adult on Tuesday from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the gardens and a one-hour class for ages 5 to 8 that afternoon at 4. The cost for the paint club is $35; the workshop for younger children costs $25. Registration is by email to [email protected] or online at mannix.studio
Beach Blast
The East Hampton Library will provide the snacks when it hosts a beach day for high school students at Main Beach on Tuesday at 2 p.m. Towels, sun block, and transportation are the responsibility of participants. On Wednesday from 3 to 5 p.m., high school students have been invited to brainstorm ideas for a haunted library event in October. Next Thursday, it’ll be sand art for high schoolers at 4 p.m.
Kids in sixth through eighth grade may not know who Bob Ross was, but the late PBS host’s infectiously cheerful and straightforward approach to painting — think “happy little trees” — will probably speak to them nonetheless at the library’s Bob Ross painting party next Thursday at 4 p.m.
The library will screen “Alice in Wonderland” next Thursday at 3 p.m. and “Trolls” today at the same time.
Out of This World
Karyn Mannix will lead teens as they paint 3-D galaxies at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton this afternoon at 4. On Tuesday, kids in sixth grade and up can learn abut henna and make some henna creations of their own at 4 p.m. Looking ahead to Friday, Aug. 9, the library has invited families to learn how to make puffy paint from noon to 1 p.m. Advance registration has been requested for all programs.
College and SAT Prep
The weightier subject of college prep may seem eons away midway through summer, but the John Jermain Memorial Library in Sag Harbor will offer a wake-up call for kids in seventh grade and up on Saturday at 3 p.m., as Bari Norman of Expert Admissions talks about what to do now to improve your résumé when you apply for college. The workshop will cover course selection, extracurricular activities, summer planning, standardized tests, and “what colleges are really looking for in applicants,” according to the library.
Also on the subject of college prep, the library will offer a practice SAT for high school students on Sunday from 1 to 4:30 p.m. run by Connor Christian of Strategies for Success. Advance registration is a must for both of these.
On Fridays in August starting next week, kids in third through fifth grade can learn to knit from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Registration is required for each individual session.
Aliens and Salsa
At the Montauk Library on Saturday, the Science Tellers will weave an interactive story about an alien escape from Earth during a meteor shower. Kids 5 and up will take part in the story and learn about “the unbelievable world of science through experiments and demonstrations with chemical reactions, polymers, pressure, inertia, energy, explosions, and so much more,” according to the library. The fun starts at 3 p.m.
Next Thursday at 4 p.m., after a reading from Jorge Argueta’s bilingual children’s book “Salsa,” kids in second grade and above will make some of this tasty treat themselves.
Theater Games
The Neo-Political Cowgirls are offering a theater games workshop for kids 8 to 15 on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Montauk School. The cost is $25, and registration must be done in advance by emailing [email protected]. The workshop will focus on “building confidence, idea-sharing, dipping into the craft of acting, strengthening communication skills, and making friends,” according to the theater company.
Later this month, the Neo-Political Cowgirls plan a two-day workshop on Aug. 28 and 29, also at the Montauk School and also from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The cost for that one is $45. Registration emails should include the participant’s name, age, a parent contact number and email, the date of the workshop, and a note about “goals you and your child might share in taking this class.”