Play, Learn, and Excel After the Bell!
Get ready for an afternoon your child will look forward to every single day!
The Hopewell Valley YMCA is thrilled to bring a vibrant line-up of after-school enrichment programs right to your child’s elementary school—no car rides, no rushing, just pure after-school fun and discovery! Choose from a wide variety of academic activities or dive into high-energy fun with the Tom Jackson Sports Enrichment Programs. These sports experiences are made possible thanks to genorous community support, including contributions from our Annual Tom Jackson Golf and Tennis Tournament.
Once the school day ends, enrichment participants will head to a central meeting spot where a YMCA staff member will warmly welcome them. When instructors arrive, students will be guided to their chosen activities, ready to dive into hands-on learning, exciting challenges, teamwork, and tons of fun. At pick-up time, simply meet your child at the designated location and hear all about their latest after-school adventure!
Please note: Any cancellations must be submitted in writing to [email protected] before Week 1. Requests made after Week 1 will still be accepted, though refunds cannot be issued.
Our enrichment experiences are designed to spark curiosity, build confidence, encourage friendships, and let kids explore new passions in a safe, nurturing environment.
Financial Assistance Available! Every child deserves the chance to grow and explore. Exciting Opportunities Await!
Does Your Child Need 1-on-1 Support?
Sidekick Support Services, based in Mercer County, NJ, is dedicated to providing personalized, reliable, and comprehensive 1:1 support for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) and their families.
Sidekicks mission is to ensure that every family receives high-quality, individualized care tailored to their unique needs. Through our purpose-driven approach, we empower individuals to:
✔ Achieve their personal goals
✔ Navigate daily challenges with confidence
✔ Enhance social skills and connections
✔ Foster greater independence
If you’re looking for dedicated support for your child, we’re here to help! Visit https://www.sidekickssupport.com/ to learn more and see if your child qualifies.
SPRING REGISTRATION OPENS
March 16 through April 3 @midnight
SPRING ENRICHMENT SESSION DATES
MONDAYS – APRIL 13, 20 , 27; MAY 4, 11, 18; JUNE 1
TUESDAYS – APRIL 14, 21, 28; MAY 12, 19, 26; JUNE 2
WEDNESDAYS- APRIL 15, 22, 29; MAY 6, 13, 20, 27
THURSDAYS – APRIL 16, 23, 30; MAY 7, 14, 21, 28
FRIDAYS – APRIL 17, 24; MAY 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
Program Descriptions
Youth Volleyball Program (Grades 3–5)
Our Youth Volleyball Program for Grades 3–5 is designed to introduce young athletes to the fundamentals of volleyball in a fun, supportive, and energetic environment. This program focuses on developing basic skills such as passing, setting, serving, movement, and teamwork while helping participants build confidence and a love for the game.
Through engaging drills, skill-building activities, and modified gameplay, players will learn the rules and strategies of volleyball at an age-appropriate pace. Coaches emphasize sportsmanship, teamwork, and positive encouragement so every participant feels included and motivated to improve.
This program is perfect for beginners as well as players with some experience who want to continue developing their skills.
Participants will:
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Learn volleyball fundamentals and basic game rules
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Improve coordination, agility, and athletic confidence
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Practice teamwork and communication
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Participate in fun drills and small-sided games
Our goal is to create a positive first experience with volleyball while helping young athletes stay active, make friends, and develop new skills.
BASKETBALL BASICS (Grades K-2, Grades 3-5)
Bring your child’s love of basketball to the afterschool setting. Students will advance the Jr. NBA curriculum while strengthening their basketball skills, knowledge and game play. Basketball basics works to create a secure foundation for each player’s basketball growth for years to come. The programs will operate in the gymnasium at each elementary school.
DANCE FUSION (Grades 1-5)
Dance your way into fun and a love of dance. Each week, students will learn the fine disciplines of dance, yoga, and some light tumbling. Dance fusion enriches our dancers through music and movement. Disciplines covered throughout the year will be Hip Hop, Ballet, Jazz and Rhythm. Program will operate in the gymnasium at each elementary school.
FIRST TEE (Grades 1-5)
Trained coaches not only provide an introduction to junior golf and an opportunity to enhance golf skills, but they also create a safe, supportive, and empowering environment to help your child prepare for life ahead, including friendships, school, college and even their careers.By seamlessly integrating the game of golf with character-building, we create learning experiences that help kids uncover their inner strength, self-confidence, and resilience that they can carry to everything they do. Program will operate with a combination of utilizing the fields and gymnasium at each elementary school.
Soccer Shots (Grades K-5)
focuses on individual skill, fitness and sportsmanship, providing an opportunity for children to be challenged through fun games and team interaction.Children will also be introduced to competition in a developmentally appropriate manner. Program will operate by utilizing the fields and gymnasium at each elementary school.
TGA Youth Pickleball After-School Enrichment Program
TGA brings pickleball—one of the fastest-growing sports in the country—directly to your school through our structured, play-based after-school enrichment program. Designed for all skill levels, our curriculum blends sport, STEAM education, and positive youth development to create a dynamic learning experience that is active, safe, and fun.
What Students Experience
Through age-appropriate instruction and games, students learn:
- Proper grip, serving, volleys, footwork, and shot placement
- Court awareness, scoring, and match play rules
- Sportsmanship, teamwork, and confidence-building skills
Each session uses TGA’s STEAM-powered approach, helping students explore the science and engineering behind pickleball—such as ball trajectory, angles, force, friction, reaction time, and equipment design—through fun demonstrations and hands-on activities.
Program Highlights
- Engaging warm-ups and skill-based drills
- STEAM mini-lessons that connect academic concepts to on-court play
- Team challenges and competitive games
Young Rembrandts (Grades K-5)
Its spring time and that can mean only one thing: SPRINGTIME DRAWING WITH YOUNG REMBRANDTS! If your children are baseball fans, they will love our baseball still life lesson. Learning about warm colors and cool colors will be the focus as our artists draw a detailed exterior of a house. We’ll also learn about and draw the legendary Mars Rover. Finally, we’ll take an imaginary trip to Japan and learn about the artistry of the kimono. Sign up for classes today!
Sticky Fingers Cooking (Grades K-2, Grades 3-5)
MAD SCIENCE (Grades K-5)
Dive into our “Crime Lab” and use forensics to solve a puzzle, learn about simple machines while building your very own drag racer to take home, discover the science behind incredible movie special effects, examine magnificent minerals and glittering gems, explore exactly how toys work, and decipher the difference between robots, automatons, and remote control devices! There’s so much to explore!
CHESS ENRICHMENT (Grades K-5)
Our program provides engaging and interactive chess instruction for students of all skill levels. Through a combination of lessons, games, and activities, participants will develop strategic thinking, problem-solving skills, and sportsmanship in a fun and supportive environment.
WHIZARA ONLINE CODING
Whizara’s Animation course is a creative and engaging project-based course designed to introduce young students to the exciting world of digital art and animation. The students will
explore various functionalities of the 2D animation to convey stories using animation. Students learn to animate images, plan and storyboard characters, manage frame, timelines, layers and more while completing fun and imaginative projects. The course aims to develop students’ creativity, problem-solving abilities, and storytelling skills, as they create their own artwork,
animations, public service announcements and more.
NJSTEM Engineering- (Grades K – 5)
Happy Toy Maker -Mechanical Engineering and Robotics
In this program our youngest engineers will be introduced to fundamental concepts of energy, materials, and movement. Students will explore and construct different toys, including poppers, marble runs, buzzers, spinners and more. This class is a combination of hands-on learning and Robotics/coding where the kids get the best of both worlds.
Calming with Kidsbridge
FrUsTraTeD with your little sibling?
So EXCITED about your birthday coming up that you can’t think about anything else?
M-a-D that your team lost the game?
*sad* that your ice cream fell on the floor?
Learn how to calm your big emotions through games, art, sign language, and music. Join the Kidsbridge facilitators to make your very own Calming Kit and practice using it so you are ready when life’s challenges show up.
Robotics Lab
Our robotics lab class provides hands-on learning environment where students design, build, and program robots to solve real-world problems. Our labs move beyond theoretical instruction, integrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through project-based activities.
Our program teaches students how to draw manga, anime and cartoon style themes and techniques. Students will learn the Japanese culture through fun crafts, activities, and games. We will end our class with an art gallery to showcase what our students created during our program.
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