Spotlighting new after-school courses for kids (at both locations!)
Hi everyone,
Thanks for keeping us busy this week with registrations for our May/June courses! We’re offering several favorites, but read on to learn about brand-new offerings and their teachers! The “semester” begins the week of May 5, and we offer pick-ups for kids attending nearby schools.
We’ve ripped up flooring, replaced ceiling panels, painted walls, and met so many friendly neighbors at the new 1152 College Street space. We welcome our first participants three weeks from today!
Sore and excited,
Julia and Brian
Sports Studio
Wednesdays from 4–6 p.m. at 134 Osler St. For grades 2–7.
Perfect for: kids who compiles stats, organize cards, or show up early and stay late after games!
Kids in this course will design a sports league from the ground up! They’ll create teams and players, then bring the league to life by making logos, jerseys, hats, merch, trading cards, and more! Along the way, students will explore graphic design, branding, and copywriting alongside drawing, painting, and other skills.
They’ll be taught by Steve Bynoe, a retired TDSB teacher, a published comics artist, a storyboard artist for NHL commercials, and a diehard Jays, Raptors, and Montreal Canadiens fan. (Don’t hold that last one against him!)
Outside Studio
Thursdays from 4–6 p.m. at Carlton Park. For grades 2–6.
Perfect for: kids who always bring home pockets full of whatever they come across
Take advantage of the improving weather—and let your kids get out more energy before dinner—in our rain-or-shine studio! We’ll make with what we find: sculptures from found materials, rubbings of what we encounter, plein-air charcoal drawing, making ink from plants, and more!
The course is led by Josh LeClerc a.k.a. ToeFish, a self-taught Métis artist, muralist, and woodworker whose art can be found around Toronto … including in Carlton Park itself!
Dungeons & Dragons Studio
Fridays 4–6 p.m. at 134 Osler St. For Grades 3–8.
Perfect for: kids who love fantasy, monsters, and making things with their hands.
This D&D-inspired art and adventure course sees students designing their own characters, then building the world around them by crafting board games, maps, tokens, and props. Then we’ll play the game we’ve invented, using teamwork, storytelling, and problem-solving to guide the party on quests—with plenty of surprises. No D&D experience required!
Led by Mike Ellis, whose Pieces of Eights comic series is a popular world of its own, running for more than fifteen years and over a thousand pages!
Animalia
Fridays 4–6 p.m. at 1152 College St. For Grades 2–6.
Perfect for: kids who love Where the Wild Things Are or Babe, dressed up the family pet when young, or
In this hands-on, interdisciplinary adventure, students will imagine and create new species! We’ll observe and learn about real creatures, then draw, make puppets, design costumes, create sculptures and stuffed animals, and more!
Led by Victoria Blackwell-Hardie, an artist, mental-health professional, and a neighbor in the Brockton Village community.
Writing Studio
Fridays from 6:30–8 p.m. at 1152 College St. For Grades 4–8.
Perfect for: kids who tell elaborate stories, keep a journal, or ask questions like little investigative reporters
Calling all storytellers and curious writers! In this lively, supportive writing studio, students will explore both fiction and nonfiction through fun prompts, games, and creative challenges. We will build real skills step-by-step, including developing characters, writing stronger scenes, shaping true stories from personal experience, and experimenting with voice, dialogue, and description.
Taught by award-winning writer and filmmaker José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço.
These join recent hits like United Imaginations and longtime favorites like Deep Dish and comics, all offered at both locations. Browse the full list here!