April Hobby Guide (Brooklyn Edition)
The best workshops, clinics, classes, and multi-week courses happening in Brooklyn next month.
This month’s hobby report is brought you to by Mom’s Who Hobby.
If you’re a mom who wants to kickstart or deepen a hobby, and are based in Central Brooklyn, join their free WhatsApp community for hobby-related happenings, invitations, community and support.
This guide is still being updated. Want to feature a hobby class, organization, or hobbyist in this month’s guide (or the next one)? Email ooonyc@substack.com and tell us about it!
Hobbies covered in this issue:
🍄Foraging
🎸Music
🔭Astronomy
🌱Herbalism
✍️Writing
🎨Painting
🧶Knitting
💍Metalsmithing
🔬Citizen Science
🏺Pottery
🧵Sewing
💃Dance
🛼Roller Skating
🏓Pickleball
✨Glassblowing
What’s Kicking Off This April
Take advantage of that spring equinox energy to do something fun *offline*!
🍄 Foraging Walk: Prospect Park
Sat Apr 11 & Sat Apr 25 · 11am–3pm · Grand Army Plaza, Prospect Park · $25 (suggested donation)
Since 1982, Steve Brill has been leading 4-hour foraging walks through a number of city parks identifying edible and medicinal plants. Equal parts botany lesson, folklore, and quietly profound nature walk.
🎸 Guitar, Violin, or Ukulele Lessons
Spring Semester Kicks Off Apr 20 · Bantam Studio · 12 Park Place, Park Slope · $380 + instrument rental
Bantam Studios was founded in 2012 to create a music school built specifically for adults, especially those who had always wanted to learn but never felt there was a place for them.Classes meet once a week for eight weeks. Each class is one hour long and is designed to balance technique, repertoire, listening, and musical context.
Thu Apr 9 7:00-10:00 & Sun Apr 12 1:00-4:00 · Pioneer Works · 159 Pioneer St, Red Hook · Free
100% volunteer-run nonprofit whose members set up telescopes all over the city and invite the public to look through them. They also sponsor free lectures by leading researchers. If you’ve ever wanted to see Saturn’s rings, or just stand next to someone who gets genuinely excited about what’s in the sky, this is the most accessible entry point there is.
🌱 Herbs 101: Intro to Herbal Medicine
Thu Apr 2 7:00-8:30 · Remedies Herb Shop · 453 Court St, Carroll Gardens · $40
Learn the basics of Traditional Herbal Medicine, according to the Wise Woman Tradition, and how it compares to other natural healing modalities and Modern Western Medicine. Begin to get to know your green allies, and how to prepare your own herbal medicine, including tinctures, infusions, oils and salves.
Topics Vary · Center for Fiction* · 15 Lafayette Ave, Fort Greene · Price Varies
Setting the Table ($345): A four-week writing workshop (Thursdays, April 9th-30th) built around a specific constraint: food as a lens for character, setting, intimacy, and tension. Shared readings and in-class prompts, no manuscript required to begin.
Speculative Fiction ($445): A six-week (Saturdays, April 4-May 16) in-person workshop examining craft choices in speculative fiction — worldbuilding, voice, structure, emotion — through reading and generating new work.
*The Center for Fiction also hosts free author events throughout April: Patrick Cottrell and Jordy Rosenberg on Apr 22, and Tom Perrotta on Apr 30 (7pm, free, first come).
🎨 Painting, Drawing, Printing, Sculpture, or Graffiti
Spring Semester: April 5-May 2 · Creatively Wild Art Studio · 98 Water St, Dumbo · $80/class or $300/semester
Stop doom-scrolling and escape from the daily grind with a mind-clearing art class! Creating art, no matter how “good,” can be a transformative experience, allowing us to get in touch with our inner selves to express our thoughts, help us focus, and problem-solve. Variety of drop-in and semester-long courses to choose from.
Mar 30 6:00-8:00 · Cleo’s Yarn Shop · Bushwick & Ridgewood · $50/2-hour class
A yarn shop with Happy Hour Craft Circles, Queer and BIPOC Clubs, and Learn to Knit classes. We’ve got our eye on the knitting club happy hour hosted by Cool Girls Knit Club on April 26. Private classes with Cleo available for $75/2 hours.Two Locations: Bushwick (222 Varet Street) & Ridgewood (1693 Grove Street).
Multiple Course Options · Brooklyn Metal Works · 640 Dean St, Prospect Heights · intensive workshops & multi-week courses · ~$200–$600+
A fully equipped metalsmithing studio with beginner-to-advanced classes taught by professional artists. The intro Jewelry course covers sawing, filing, forming, and soldering — no prior experience required. Enrolled students get free Friday/Saturday open studio time.
Multiple Time Slots · NYC Jewelry Lab · 1027 Grand St, Williamsburg · $500+
A highly personalized metalsmithing studio in Williamsburg. Students book in consecutive-week blocks (5, 7, or 10 sessions), arriving at the same time each week. Instructors routinely described as patient, genuinely skilled, and warm. Good for someone who wants close attention and a strong intro to the craft.
Every Fri & Sat · 7:30-9:30 · BKLYN CLAY · 535 Carlton Ave, Prospect Heights · $85
Drop-in intro class — the no-commitment way into one of the city’s most serious ceramics studios. You show up, get your hands in clay, and find out whether the semester-long path is for you. Runs both at their Brooklyn and Manhattan locations.
Apr 4 10:00-6:00 · NY Sewing Center 60 Broadway, Williamsburg · $310
Multiple class, course, and bootcamp options NYC’s best-regarded sewing school (e.g. Sip & Sew for Beginners ($150), Embroidery Workshop ($70+), Bralette Workshop ($175), Pattern Making for Beginners ($200–360), and a full Dressmaking course ($375)). Also offering a recurring community session for anyone who wants to sew alongside others, work on a project, and get hands-on guidance without committing to a full course. Also have a location in Garment District.
💃 Six-Week Intro Courses (Ballet, Tap, House, Jazz etc)
Various Dates · Mark Morris Dance Group · 3 Lafayette Ave, Fort Greene · $132/series
One of the most accessible ways into real dance instruction in New York: drop-in classes in multiple styles, a 6-week beginner intro series. The Dance Center in Fort Greene is genuinely non-intimidating, and run by an organization that has been committed to community access since 1980. Styles range from hip-hop to ballet to West African, and new intro series begin periodically.
Every Wednesday 6:00-8:00 · Xanadu Roller Arts 262 Starr St, Bushwick · $24
Skaterobics Xanadu’s (a 7,000 sq ft indoor roller rink) free, recurring instructional class for adultswho want to learn how to dance on wheels. The class introduces basic movements and focuses on developing key skating skills.
Multiple Options · Velto Pickleball Club · 160 Van Brunt St, Red Hook · $20
Brooklyn’s only dedicated indoor pickleball club — four courts, open all day. They offer beginner group lessons with certified coaches alongside open play and league sessions. Pickleball is genuinely easy to pick up in a session or two, and this is the most accessible indoor venue in Brooklyn for it.
Sun Apr 26 11:00-4:00 · Shiny Sparkle Labs · 185 Van Dyke St, Red Hook · $265
Glass studio that offers a variety of workshops and multi-part courses. In the Stained Glass Workshop, design and take home an 8×8” panel. Fuze & Booze (every Friday and Saturday) is a 2-hour session where you design and create a fused glass charcuterie board or coasters while drinking wine — purely social and tactile in the best way. No experience needed for either.
🔬 Mark your calendar
Apr 24-27 · Global bioblitz, where cities compete to find and document as many species as possible in four days. Dozens of free guided walks across all five boroughs. Battery Park BioBlitz kicks it off Friday Apr 24 at 11am; there’s also a Networking with Naturalists evening at Caveat on Apr 25 (7pm, ticketed). Brooklyn events are being announced at the end of March. Join the project and get updates here →
Look Ahead: May Hobby Guide
Among other hobbies, we’ll be curating the best classes in the following categories:
comedy/improv
gardening
photography
woodworking
drawing/illustration
astrology & tarot
Want to feature a hobby class, organization, or hobbyist in our May roundup? Just email ooonyc@substack.com let us know more 🙃