Extracurricular activities provide amazing opportunities for kids to learn, explore, and develop hobbies, but traditional sports aren’t for everyone. Here are some great after-school activities for Albuquerque kids that aren’t traditional team sports.
Outdoor Groups
Girl Scouts – Dozens of Girl Scouts troops across the region provide girls in kindergarten through 12th grade with a chance to learn new skills, make friends, better their communities, and gain leadership experience. Find your local troop here.
Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA – Cub Scouts (kindergarten through fifth grade) and Scouts BSA (ages 11-17) are open to boys and girls. Packs are typically organized by neighborhoods, schools, or churches and explore the outdoors, leadership, volunteering, and more. Find your pack here.
SOL Forest School – In addition to its preschool programs, Albuquerque’s all-outdoor school offers a monthly Saturday SOL class in the East Mountains for kids ages 3 to 10. And new for 2025 is SOLCraft, a wilderness skills curriculum offered twice monthly for students ages 7 to 12, exploring topics like woodcraft, shelter building, and fire making.
4-H – Bernalillo County is home to several 4-H clubs, where kids ages 8 and older can learn about caring for pets, growing food, leadership, responsibility, and more.
STEM Programs
Chess clubs – Many schools around town have chess clubs. Contact your school for information.
Explora offers semester-long programs focusing on science and engineering for toddlers to kids in fifth grade. Teenagers can also attend events in Explora’s X Studio.
Robotics – With Enigma Robotics Team, kids in grades 7 to 12 learn STEAM concepts and build cool, creative robots. In Rio Rancho, R4 Creating offers STEAM programs for kids ages 6 to 18.
Arts & Crafts
OffCenter Arts downtown provides free weekly workgroups and monthly drop-in classes on rotating topics, as well as classes and workshops on a tiered pricing schedule. Topics include printmaking, writing, puppet theater, fiber art, drawing, and more!
New Mexico Art League offers art classes for teenagers, covering painting, drawing, and design projects.
Kids ages 3 to 14 can take classes at the Albuquerque Museum exploring everything from clay to portraits to creative cartography.
Wild At Art in the Northeast Heights offers classes and camps for kids and adults, including teen nights and crafty camps during school breaks.
Does your child want to learn to sew? Stitchology offers classes for kids ages 8 and older on topics like sewing a drawstring backpack or a zippered pouch.
Music Lessons
Multiple choirs around the region cater to kids, including the Rio Rancho Youth Chorus, the Albuquerque Boy Choir, Albuquerque Girl Choir, the UNM Children’s Chorus, and the El Faro Youth Chorus.
Do you have a budding rock star? School of Rock Albuquerque and Rock 101 Music Academy offer music camps and classes on topics from performing to songwriting to instrument lessons.
Many amazing studios around town offer music lessons for kids of all ages. Here are some locations to explore:
- Let’s Play Music and Sound Beginnings, with locations around town
- Roots & Wings Community Music School
- Music on the Westside
- Melody Music Studios
- Albuquerque Institute of Music
- Albuquerque Youth Symphony
- New Mexico School of Music
- Well-Balanced Violin Studio on the West Side
- Karlstrom Violin in the Nob Hill area
- UNM Prep Music School
Theater Groups
New Mexico Young Actors offers multiple classes for kids ages 5 and older, including play-based performing arts training and summer camps. The Advanced Drama class with students ages 9 to 19 also puts on six major shows each year.
Cardboard Playhouse Theatre Company offers a weekly non-audition class for kids ages 8 to 18. The Cardboard Show Choir melds choral singing with movement and dance and aims to be accessible to all performers regardless of ability, financial status, or background. Participation is a suggested donation of $20 per month.
Albuquerque Little Theatre offers classes for kids ages 5 and older on topics from creative play to performance skills.
Musical Theatre Southwest offers musical theater workshops and camps for tweens and teens, including youth production and training programs.
Heatstrings Theatre Company is a nonprofit children’s theatre where students of all ages can learn, perform, and audition for youth productions.
Active Extracurriculars That Aren’t Traditional Team Sports
Ninja – Do you have a budding American Ninja Warrior in your house? Two gyms in the area offer ninja obstacle classes to kids: Ninja Force and Ultimate Ninja Gym.
Mountain biking – The Goatheads offers a mountain biking team for kids in grades 6 to 12. The team typically practices three days per week and competes in cross-country racing.
Rock climbing – Stone Age Climbing Gym’s two Albuquerque locations offer classes and camps for kids ages 4 and older.
Horseback riding – Have a horse lover? Sign up your child for riding lessons or therapeutic horse riding. Two local options include Enchanted Equine Adventures in the South Valley and Red Horse Riding Company in Tijeras.
Dance – Multiple wonderful studios across town offer dance classes for toddlers to adults.
