Eclectic classes for kids in New York City

Just because school ends by 3pm doesn’t mean our kids’ thirsty minds aren’t ready to sop up more. And of course New York has plenty to offer its little sponges. We’ve rounded up some entertaining after-school classes that cover topics your children are unlikely to encounter in their school curriculum.

BLOOM-LUNA TENNIS ACADEMY
The class: New York Tennis Club, 3081 Harding Ave, Bronx (718-701-2511, newyorktennisclub.com). 19-week session is $1,850. Ages 4 to 12.
The goal: Kids pick up life skills, says Olympian cofounder Gilad Bloom. “You make decisions under pressure, and at the end, you shake hands.”
Typical day: After warm-ups and drills, students work on specific swings. By season’s end, they’ve tackled all the major shots.
Ideal student: Anyone who’s willing to start from scratch, so the instructors can teach it their way
Standout quality: Thanks to an emphasis on etiquette, fairness and respect, the academy turns out world-class mensches (in addition to world-class players).

CHILDREN’S PRESSLINE
The class: Location TBD (646-789-4432, cplmedia.org). Free 12-week session, Oct 15-Dec 15, 4 to 6pm twice a week. Ages 8 to 18.
The goal: Would-be Bob Woodwards hone their journalistic chops, becoming involved citizens with viewpoints on issues.
Typical day: Kids learn about reporting techniques, from finding a hook to gathering info. Later they interview, write and publish with help from established journos.
Ideal student: A curious tyke who incessantly asks questions, though the program welcomes anyone who shows up and is committed
Standout quality: The end product isn’t just shoved into a Harry Potter backpack. Pieces have run in mainstream outlets like the Daily News and Metro.

CHINESE BOOK GARDEN
The class: 2 W 32nd St (212-868-8180, chinesebookgarden.com). $20 per hour. Ages 5 to 7.
The goal: The hope is that the children eventually become fluent—or close to it—in Mandarin and develop a deep regard for Chinese culture.
Typical day: As students cut loose with Chinese dancing, cooking or crafts, they remain blissfully unaware they’re being taught targeted words and sentences.
Ideal student: “We like families who have long-term goals. This is not for those who want casual exposure,” says director Gisela Jia.
Standout quality: A super low student-teacher ratio ensures that the kids are monitored—and therefore rarely lapse into English.

Circus Arts at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center

CIRCUS ARTS
The class: Manhattan Movement and Arts Center, 248 W 60th St (212-787-1178, manhattanmovement.com). 13-week session is $585. Ages 5 to 16.
The goal: Clowning around is only part of it. Kids build trust in one another, fortify their bodies and pick up the fundamentals of circus gymnastics.
Typical day: Big-top experts lead students in warm-up stretches and cardio before launching into plate spinning and human “juggling.”
Ideal student: A kid who wants a serious challenge (there’s no prerequisite gymnastic training)
Standout quality: It’s tough to imagine a bigger peewee adventure than climbing over friends to form a human pyramid or tottering on stilts.

DJ’ING FOR YOUTH
The class: Dubspot, 348 W 14th St (877-382-7768, dubspot.com). Six-week session is $395. Ages 7 to 11.
The goal: To create music, learn how it’s structured, and develop mad mixing and scratching skills
Typical day: Students get their hands on the turntables right away, then move on to using computer programs for digital deejaying.
Ideal student: “Anyone,” says founder Dan Giove. “They don’t have to be musically inclined or have taken music lessons.”
Standout quality: Grads gain a solid skill that could earn them bucks later on. Some particularly confident students even deejay their own bar mitzvahs.

FAIRIES & FANTASY
The class: In Grandma’s Attic; various venues (212-726-2362, ingrandmasattic.com). 14-week session is $365–$405. Ages 3 to 6.
The goal: Director Deborah Bailey hopes to nudge young hoofers into a lifelong love affair with dance.
Typical day: After they dance the galop, walk on tiptoes and pretend to be butterflies, small fry listen to a story, then dress up to enact part of the tale.
Ideal student: The tyke who aspires to be Sleeping Beauty and/or a ballerina, which means pretty much every girl in the world—and a couple of boys, too
Standout quality: Parents appreciate the class’s literary bent, which favors Hans Christian Andersen’s Little Mermaid over the Disneyfied version.

JOURNEY AROUND THE WORLD
The class: Wild Blue, 401 E 76th St (212-628-3582, wildbluekids.com). 13-week session is $455. Ages 3 to 7.
The goal: Adventurers and artists expand children’s minds with as close to a firsthand experience of other countries as they can get without traveling.
Typical day: An imaginary hot-air balloon lands in Scotland for scone baking, or in Indonesia for puppet making.
Ideal studentOffspring of globally conscious parents, and kids who live to try new things
Standout quality: Founder Kourosh Mahboubian (who’s also an arctic explorer) sees to it that each participant learns how to read a map and find a locale on it.

KIDS’ KNITTING CLUB
The class: Knitty City, 208 W 79th St (212-787-5896, knittycity.com). Four-week session is $100. Ages 7 to 11.
The goal: The class is an exercise in patience, eye-hand coordination, reading and math—all rolled into one cable-knit scarf.
Typical day: After picking up the basics of knitting and purling, kids might start on a simple project like a wristband or an iPod holder.
Ideal student: All of ’em—even the Board of Ed recognizes the craft’s myriad benefits and has begun to include it in many after-school programs.
Standout quality: The lessons are held in a well-stocked indie yarn store that receives high praise from seasoned knitters.

Kids Make Movies at Videovampires Inc.

Andrei Koltchanov

KIDS MAKE MOVIES
The class: Videovampires Inc., 42 W 29th St (212-213-5722, videovampires.com). Ten-week session is $1,100. Ages 8 to 15.
The goal: Young filmmakers develop skills in planning, storytelling, project management, performance, and camera and computer programs.
Typical day: After a production meeting and technical instruction, kids pick up where they left off in the movie-making process and write, act, shoot, direct or edit.
Ideal student: Children with computer savvy, and parents willing to spend a grand
Standout quality: Four to eight kids per two instructors means everyone gets a lot of attention.

KIDS ’N COMEDY
The class: Gotham Comedy Club, 208 W 23rd St (212-877-6115, kidsncomedy.com). Nine-week session is $550. Ages 10 to 18.
The goal: To turn youngsters into comedy royalty, or at least boost their self-esteem by giving them a heckler-free forum to tell jokes
Typical day: As the kids develop their material, pros advise them on stand-up stage presence, zingers and bombs.
Ideal student: Hambones who do a little shtick every time the family gets together. But quieter types can also be surprisingly funny.
Standout quality: It’s a place where adults actually want to hear what that wisecracking kid in the back of the classroom has to say—and will critique her, too.

LOOP OF THE LOOM
The class: 227 E 87th St (212-722-2686, loopoftheloom.com). Eight-week session is $300. Ages 5 to 14.
The goal: Saori, an improv-based form of weaving invented in 1968, allows kids to make accessories and clothing from yarn without fear of messing up.
Typical day: First-timers can sit down at one of the classroom’s seven looms and start weaving after only 30 seconds of guidance from a teacher.
Ideal student: Anyone, regardless of physical or mental ability. The loom was actually built with special needs in mind; a few tweaks make it wheelchair-friendly.
Standout quality: Unlike items produced from patterns, the end result of this process is always a big surprise, and no two weavings are ever alike.

PREMUSKETEERS
The class: Manhattan Fencing Center, 225 W 39th St (212-382-2255,manhattanfencing.com). Five-week session is $175. Ages 4 to 6.
The goal: Short term, the training improves kids’ fitness, discipline and decision making. Long term, it ups their chance of getting into an Ivy League college.
Typical day: Little ones engage in drills to promote attention span and balance, as well as some fancy footwork with plastic sabres and foils.
Ideal student: High academic achievers with great focus—and low academic achievers who lack it, since fencing helps develop that quality
Standout quality: Founder Yury Gelman (a three-time Olympic coach) and his staff all have master’s degrees in teaching the sport.

ROBOTICS
The class: RoboFun, 38 E 23rd St (212-245-0444, vemny.org). 14-week session is $490. Ages 6 to 8.
The goal: Using leading-edge technology to invent something cool, fledgling engineers exercise both their art and science muscles.
Typical day: In the first session, inventors will craft a “simple bot,” such as a little car with a touch sensor. More ambitious projects follow.
Ideal student: Creative, self-directed techies who lack an outlet for their smarts
Standout quality: This program tosses aside textbooks in favor of hands-on training. Kids learn about simple machines, design and structure.

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