Become a nature explorer as you ignite your creativity. Get outside, play, and discover local habitats through visual arts, music, and performance. Record your discoveries in your nature journal and walk away as a confident naturalist, ready to observe, interact with your surroundings, and notice the wonders in your own backyard.

Sharpen your observation skills and uncover the mysteries of the winter season. Analyze animal specimens, search the schoolyard to see how nature survives the cold, and conduct hands-on experiments. Who’s active in the chill, and what clues do they leave behind? Which animals snooze, or skip town, until spring? Record your discoveries in your own nature journal as you investigate weekly themes like wildlife tracking, winter insects, tree identification, hibernation, and more. Be ready to head outdoors; snowshoes will be provided when the snow is deep.

Find your calm through soul-soothing stitching as you explore the geometric circular patterns and rich colors of mandalas. Create your own simple or more complex mandala using needle and thread, starting with some basic guidance. Patterns will be available, but you will be encouraged to develop your own design. You should be familiar with some of the basic stitches and the mechanics of embroidery. All materials are provided, including a base fabric, a variety of threads, a needle, and a hoop.

This high-energy class is for soccer fans who can’t get enough of the legendary Lionel Messi. Create Messi-inspired crafts—everything from custom jerseys to mini soccer balls—to showcase your passion for the game. Then, it’s time to hit the field, where we’ll break down some of Messi’s best moves and try to master them ourselves through fun drills and mini games. Whether you’re already a soccer pro or just getting started, don’t miss out on this exciting blend of fandom, fun, and fitness as we celebrate the greatest soccer star of all time.

Explore your creative vision in this dynamic, open studio-style class for intermediate and advanced students. With one-on-one personalized guidance, you’ll navigate from an idea to project completion, advancing your skills along the way. The instructor will help you determine which metals and stones to purchase before the first class. Prerequisites: Students enrolled in this class should have completed three beginner-level classes in metalsmithing technique and/or possess basic skills such as soldering, sawing, flex shaft use, sanding/polishing, and be able to work safely with basic shop tools and equipment. You must also be able to work independently between instructor consultations. Please contact the instructor at laurieasavage@gmail.com prior to the class to discuss project ideas and purchasing materials.

Incorporate personal design touches as you learn or refine fundamental metalsmithing skills in this all-level jewelry-making workshop. Beginning makers will fabricate a textured sterling silver band ring, a sterling silver pendant with a bezel-set stone, and a set of silver bangle bracelets. Students with prior experience in metalsmithing/jewelry can further develop their skills with sterling silver while fabricating earrings and making a chain link bracelet. Multiple soldering and finishing techniques will be covered, and individual design is encouraged.

Crack codes, solve riddles, and think outside the box during this mind-bending week. Challenge your mind and test your wits with cooperative, pattern recognition, and strategy games. Teamwork and communication will be key as our week culminates with a field trip to an escape room right here in Arlington.

DO NOT ENROLL HERE. Visit MindEdge to select your classes. Arlington Community Education partners with MindEdge to offer hundreds of online courses that meet the varied needs of our students. MindEdge has self-paced, comprehensive professional development classes for those who want to get ahead in business MindEdge.

Craft your way through the world of Minecraft in this hands-on class—no computer screen required. Learn how to draw your favorite mobs (characters) by sketching basic shapes and adding the distinctive pixelated details of Minecraft’s signature style. Make a colorful, Minecraft-inspired mask you can wear—whether it’s a Creeper’s face, Steve, or your favorite Minecraft animal. Transform cardboard into cool tools, like swords and pickaxes, that can be used for pretend play or displayed as part of your Minecraft collection.

Build a solid foundation in personalized game design as you develop unique Minecraft worlds. Embark on an exciting adventure in animation and storytelling, programming in Python and Javascript, and architecture and design. Learn the fundamentals of electrical circuitry, logic gates, multi-system mechanisms, modding, and more.

Unlock your creativity and become a Minecraft mastermind by engineering your own interactive escape room. Discover the secrets of redstone, Minecraft’s powerful circuit system, to build traps, locks, and hidden mechanisms. Design devious challenges and clever contraptions that will keep players guessing at every turn. Along the way, you’ll test your creations, collaborate with teammates, and fine-tune your designs—just like a professional engineer.

Your mission: establish a colony on a Minecraft planet. To get your colony up and running, you’ll need help from the ship’s automated systems. Activate them by solving exciting puzzles that involve pattern recognition, ratios, measurement, and more. Join the adventure and plant your flag on a brand-new planet to claim it as your own. Errata: The grades for this class are supposed to be 3-5 (as shown in the at-a-glance), not 2-3 (as originally listed in the catalog)