Between Porter and Harvard Squares, a stone’s throw from Massachusetts Avenue, in the backyard of the historic Agassiz Baldwin Community building, wild horses roam. They whinny, prance and neigh with such convincing enthusiasm, that, even though they look an awful lot like Agassiz Baldwin Afterschool students, if you close your eyes you might believe you are on a high desert plateau surrounded by a herd of mustangs. That is, until the sounds of jazz and the nearby group of young dancers sporting matching hair ribbons and executing perfect kick ball changes transported you to an urban dance studio. Or until you wandered into the kitchen and encountered a bevy of budding foodies preparing a six-layer red velvet cake, carefully measuring ingredients and reminding one another not to lick the spoons.

According to Maria Laine, the Director of Children’s Programs at Agassiz Baldwin Community, the strength of the Agassiz Baldwin Afterschool program is that “it is not more school.” This is a place for children to pursue other interests: dance, cooking, drama, filmmaking, sports, board games, and, yes, running around pretending to be horses. Laine never sets the curriculum for the teachers. Instead, she hires teachers who are “interested in everything under the sun,” and the curriculum evolves through a collaboration between teachers and students. Each day, children select from two possible activities; some clubs last for an afternoon while some continue for 8-10 weeks, allowing for projects that take more than a single lesson to master, such as calligraphy or jewelry-making. There is a separate afterschool program for kindergarteners, where teachers “are sensitive to the fact that these are 5-year-olds, and they’ve already been at school all day,” says Laine. The goal is to make kindergarten afterschool a cozy shelter, almost like home, with activities designed for small bodies and young minds.

Agassiz Baldwin Afterschool also organizes long-term project-based learning activities, including the Flying Zucchini Café where children become hosts, chefs, decorators and servers, and the Kid-Curated Art Show that gives children a chance to design an exhibition around a theme, create artwork, and install their masterpieces in a real gallery. These projects give children an opportunity to do some serious preparation for adulthood as they learn skills such as time management, task delegation, and how to work with a team to bring a project to fruition. But sometimes, after a long day at school, there is nothing better than a gallop around the backyard, neighing with all your might.

Agassiz Baldwin Afterschool for 1st-5th graders begins on September 4th and the kindergarten afterschool begins on September 6th. Open house for 1st-5th grade afterschool takes place on September 3rd from 3-5 pm., and the two open houses for the kindergarten afterschool are on September 3rd and 4th from 3-5 pm. All open houses are held in the Community Room at the Maria L. Baldwin School at 28 Sacramento Street in Cambridge.