“Nutcracker” All Mixed Up
Every year Studio 3, a dance company based in Bridgehampton, stages a mash-up version of “The Nutcracker” incorporating another popular tale. This year that story is “The Jungle Book,” featuring dances of various styles to go along with the theme.
Performances will be tomorrow at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. Tickets cost $30, cash only, at the door. More information is dancestudio3.com.
Make a Mug
Students in grades six through 12 are invited to the Amagansett Library for a drop-in mug-designing workshop on Saturday, Dec. 21, at 11 a.m. All supplies are provided, and students can make up to two mugs each, suitable for holiday gifting. Registration ahead of time is required at amagansettlibrary.org.
At 1 p.m. that day, a drop-in story time and craft project with a winter theme is planned for younger children and adult caregivers.
Teens can complete two hours of community service on Friday, Dec. 27, by designing unique tote bags to hold items donated to those in need this winter. The session runs from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sign-up ahead of time is required.
Tag, You’re It
At Hub 44, a sports training facility for kids and teens on Tan Bark Trail in East Hampton, this weekend holds laser-tag games for kids in two age groups. From 5 to 7 on the evening of Friday, Dec. 20, there will be a session for kids 10 to 12, and the next day at the same time there will be a session for children 7 to 9. Participants should arrive 10 minutes early to make sure they don’t miss any of the action. The cost is $60 per child.
The action continues on Sunday, Dec. 22, with a multisport activity session for 6 and 7-year-olds from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The cost is $100 per participant, with a pizza lunch available for an extra charge.
Additional all-sport days take place on Dec. 23, 27, 30, and 31, and on Jan. 2 and 3. Admission ranges from $65 to $100 for the different age groups’ time slots. Registration for all programs is at hub44rsf.com.
Look Up at the Stars
The South Fork Natural History Museum in Bridgehampton and the Hamptons Observatory are partnering for a free lecture titled “Winter Stargazing: A Journey Through the Night Sky,” to be held from 6:30 to 8:30 on Friday, Dec. 20, both in person and virtually. For kids 10 and up, teens, and adults, the evening involves stargazing using a telescope. The lecturer is William Francis Taylor, the observatory’s senior educator, who is in his 10th year as a NASA Ambassador. Sign-up is at sofo.org.
SoFo is also offering a wide range of activities for school-age children to have educational fun while on winter break, which can be viewed on its online calendar. Activities include tracking animals, feeding birds, winter bingo games, and, on Sunday, Dec. 29, a story time at which kids can meet live salamanders. Programs cost $10 for kids and $15 for adults, with no charge for museum members.
CMEE Celebrates
On both Dec. 19 and 20 at the Children’s Museum of the East End in Bridgehampton, kids of all ages have been invited to make their own holiday wrapping paper and learn how to wrap gifts from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
The popular New Year’s Eve celebration for kids up to age 10 with their families returns on Tuesday, Dec. 31, from 10 a.m. to noon, when there will be open play time, crafts, and music and dancing to ring in 2025. The cost is $25 per person for those who are not museum members, or $5 per CMEE member. Sign-up is at cmee.org.
A Reading Challenge
Sag Harbor’s John Jermain Memorial Library is challenging its youngest patrons, up to fifth grade, to read an avalanche of books this winter. The initiative, which offers raffle prizes to those who take part, runs Dec. 20 through Feb. 23.
The library will screen “Mary Poppins” next Thursday, Dec. 26, at 1 p.m. The following day, the winter break activity centers around play dough, also at 1 p.m., and teens can learn how to make their own charcuterie boards at 4.
Noon Year’s Eve is the library’s annual take on New Year’s Eve for young children and their families, with a dance party, games, and refreshments beginning at 11:30 a.m. Teens can celebrate at 2 that day with snacks and bingo games with prizes.
Crafts and Games Galore
The East Hampton Library’s lineup of upcoming activities includes oyster-shell trinket dishes for teens at 3 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 23, a no-mess (if that’s possible) glue-and-glitter snowball craft next Thursday, Dec. 26, at 3 p.m. for children 3 to 6, an Uno tournament for middle schoolers on Friday, Dec. 27, at 3, and the next day, all day, drop-in board games with hot cocoa for teens.
Big-Screen Spectacles
The Sag Harbor Cinema will begin its first-run showings of “Mufasa: The Lion King” on Friday, Dec. 20, and will screen the animated “Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko,” from 2021, in Japanese with English subtitles, this weekend as well. On Dec. 28 and 29, the family matinee will be “Despicable Me.”
Cartoons, Movies, Dinosaurs
Middle and high school students are invited to the Montauk Library on Saturday, Dec. 21, from 11 a.m. to noon for a crazy-cartoon drawing lesson with the artist Tom Duffy.
“The Garfield Movie” will be shown next Thursday, Dec. 26, at 2 p.m., and the library will open up its collection of life-size foam dinosaur bones for those in prekindergarten and older to use in building their own unique creatures on Saturday, Dec. 28, from 11 a.m. to noon.