BAND CAMP AND A/V club are still fine padding for the college app, but extracurricular activities have gotten a lot cooler, and more grown-up, over the years. From infancy to voting age, children can expand their horizons through several non-required courses designed to guide them toward self-discovery. Along the way, they could even achieve rock star status and win an "Iron Chef" contest, all before the first double-digit birthday.

Louie Favorite / AJC (ENLARGE)

Music director Greg Lee, Ganesh Giri Jaya, Chandler Boyd, GM Justin Nihiser and Liam Roman rehearse at the Paul Green School of Rock Music in Buckhead.

Joni and Harry Ankeny (ENLARGE)

Art students at Atomic Tangerine show off their creations.

MUSIC

Inside a brick studio on Pharr Road, a mother drops off a middle school-age boy clutching drumsticks. "Bye, honey. Daddy'll be here at 6 to pick you up," she says on her way out. These may not sound like the words that launch a rock 'n' roll misadventure, but at the Paul Green School of Rock Music, which opened its Atlanta location Feb. 4, this is how power chords, drumstick spins and a real gig become reality.

From a low-rent after-school pilot program fictionalized in the Jack Black comedy "School of Rock" to a nationwide company focused on brand-building, the School of Rock itself is growing out of its basement roots, but the basic song remains the same: Children ages 8 to 18 train with the school's staff of 12 instructors, all of whom play in local rock bands. Students attend 45-minute-long, one-on-one lessons during the week, then rehearse in groups of five for three hours on Saturday afternoons.

The staff chooses a theme for the 16-week session, such as '90s grunge, '60s surf, punk, or straight Sabbath, Beatles or Zappa. Kids learn more than chord progressions and how to keep time with a group. Everything is kid-sized — that includes the mirrors in the rehearsal rooms — which helps students learn the finer points of stage presence, such as the Pete Townshend arm-swirl or a Jagger-esque swagger.

"We try to teach kids not to be shoe-gazers," says Justin Nihiser, the school's general manager. "So even if they're playing a song you've heard hundreds of times, we want to teach them to own it, and to own the stage."

• THE 411: Paul Green School of Rock, 321 Pharr Road N.E., Atlanta. Sessions are $250 for 16 weeks, but students can join for a pro-rated amount any time. All experience levels welcome. 404-218-3105, www.schoolofrock.com/atlanta.

• THE 411: Music Together: Younger children from babies to kindergartners can develop tonality, beat-keeping skills and basic music competence through play, exposure and modeling in classes held in Dunwoody, Buckhead, Decatur, south Atlanta and other locations. Spring sessions begin in March. For information, visit www.musictogether.com. Prices vary.

ART

Joni and Harry Ankeny got tired of holding their tongues every time their friends' children came home wielding art projects made from paper-towel rolls and Scotch tape. So when they had a child, they decided it was time to open a studio where budding artists as young as 4 can study and practice slightly higher-brow art forms.

Each monthlong session at Atomic Tangerine tackles an art movement, such as pop art or surrealism, and children complete up to four projects while learning composition and expressionism via questions such as, how does red make you feel or what colors remind you of bedtime?

Final projects are frame-worthy mementos, like an Andy Warhol-style photo of the student or an interpretative painting of van Gogh's "Sunflowers." The maximum class load is 10, and two teachers are assigned to each class.

"You will not find Magic Markers, crayons or tempera paint here," Joni said. "We only use acrylic paint, watercolors, pastels and high-quality paintbrushes."

The same motivation prompted Brett Gardy to open Sketchy's Art Pad in Smyrna.

"We're a creative studio as opposed to an art studio," he says. "We opened as a response to community art centers and school programs that did not teach creative thinking skills." All classes operate under a Synectics curriculum, which Gardy says is a method of targeting creative thinking through found objects and transforming them into works of art.

• THE 411: Atomic Tangerine. New monthlong Saturday sessions for students ages 4 to 14 begin March 1. Theme for March is impressionism. Four classes for $100 include supplies. 1340 McConnell Drive, Decatur. 404-964-5622, www.atomic-tangerine-art.com.

• THE 411: Sketchy's Art Pad. Four new classes for toddlers; 4- to 5-year-olds; and 6- to 12-year-olds begin in March. Call for dates and times. Private technique lessons, drawing and painting, and portfolio development for high school-age children are also available. Open studio for most ages open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday, $10 per hour. 4691 Atlanta Road S.E., Smyrna. 404-792-9442, sketchysartpad.com.

COOKING

"You'd think children's food is all chicken fingers and mac and cheese," says Wendy Allen, cooking school director of the Cook's Warehouse. "But our teacher tries to bring it up a level or two."

From teaching children as young as 3 proper techniques on using real chef's knives to coaching 9-year-olds through making their own pasta from scratch, this is cooking instruction geared to foodie offspring. The Cook's Warehouse offers a cooking class for children one Saturday per month on very grown-up themes, such as springtime brunch or vegetarian feasts. The schedule alternates among three age groups: 3 to 5, 6 to 9, and 10 to 17. Classes last three hours, two hours for the little ones.

A weeklong hands-on camp is offered three times during the summer. Each day students prepare signature recipes from Rick Bayless, Giada De Laurentis and other celebrity chefs. The camps conclude with an "Iron Chef" cook- off and a "chef's choice" lunch for two guests.

• THE 411: The Cook's Warehouse. Saturday children's classes are $35; five-day summer camps for ages 9 to 17 start in June for $360 held at Midtown store. Locations in Midtown, 404-815-4993; Brookhaven, 404-949-9945; and Decatur 404-377-4005, www.cookswarehouse.com.

• THE 411: Young Chef's Academy. Cooking classes and birthday parties for ages 3 and up. Several Atlanta locations, www.young.youngchefsacademy.com.

• THE 411: Mud Pie Cooking School. Cooking instruction for ages 3 to 7. 1818 S. Ponce de Leon Ave. 404-892-2244, www.mudpiecooking.com.

STAGE

Improv instruction for children has been part of the Basement Theatre's program since it opened four years ago. Founder and instructor J. Star says shy kids who are influenced by shows like "Whose Line Is It Anyway" and "Thank God You're Here," come out of their shells during the six-week program. With no props to work with, it's all about teamwork and relying on their partners. Students learn storytelling, character development and scene structure.

"I think there is something to the kids creating their material themselves as opposed to learning someone else's lines or being told by a director how to act," Star says. "Our rule is that everyone onstage is treated like actors, artists and poets."

• THE 411: The Basement Theatre. Monday Tween Improv classes for ages 9 to 13 begin March 3, 3:30-6 p.m. Wednesday Improv 1 for teens begins March 5 from 7-10 p.m. $125. The Basement Theatre, 175 W. Wieuca Road N.E., Suite B-3, Atlanta. 404-277-3071, www.thebasementtheatre.com.

• THE 411: Dad's Garage offers two improv summer sessions for ages 7-12 from 9 a.m.-noon, Monday-Friday, June 23-27 and July 7-11. $225 per session. 280 Elizabeth St., Suite C-101, Atlanta. Call Amber Nash at 404-523-3141, Ext. 205, www.dadsgarage.com.

FITNESS

Inspiring children to get fit may require a more modern approach than demanding 20 laps or throwing them in a tap or ballet class. At Dance411 Studios, children learn hip-hop and break dancing to positive lyrics from instructors who've danced with Snoop and Diddy.

The program at Salsambo, which features a coffee bar for waiting adults, was inspired by a partnership with Boys and Girls Clubs that revealed children were more successful in a dance program if the final performance is optional.

The dances are primarily based on Latino styles like the cha-cha, but also incorporate hip-hop and ballroom. "If we approach dance from the child's interest, then this will become something they want to do," says owner Jen Piceno. "A little girl may say she wants to do ballet, but maybe that's because she's never tried flamenco."

For strength building and de-stressing, kids, like adults, are turning to yoga and Pilates. YogaKids is a national program that teaches traditional yoga in a kid-friendly way, and YogaKids trainer Cheryl Crawford, who leads classes in Decatur and through local schools, says the benefits go far beyond the silliness of Laughter Yoga, which is part of the program. "If you tell a kid to calm down, they don't know how to do that unless you teach them with breath and body," she says. "It also shows them how to wake up, how to focus, and how to concentrate."

At Studio Lotus, owner Danielle Reid says the Joe Jr. Pilates mat program strikes an even balance between boys and girls and, unlike yoga, there are no poses to hold. No prior experience with Pilates is necessary.

• THE 411: Dance411. Drop-in hip-hop dance classes for ages 5 to 8 every Saturday for $15 or a 15-class card for $180. Teens can try hip-hop from 6 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays. Registration for fall classes for 4- to 17-year-olds held in April. $49.95 per month. 749 Moreland Ave., Building C-201, Atlanta. 404-622-4110, www.dance411studios.com.

• THE 411: Salsambo Kids dance classes for children 8 and older, Saturdays beginning in March. Call for dates and times. $15 per class or $120 for 10 classes. 1427 Mayson St. N.E., Atlanta. 404-541-9808, www.salsambo.com.

• THE 411: YogaKids classes Monday 4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. for 7- to 11-year-olds; 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays for 4- to 7-year-olds; 4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. Wednesdays for 11- to 14-year-olds. Family yoga class March 15. Decatur Yoga and Pilates, 431 W. Ponce de Leon Ave., Decatur. 404-377-4899, www.decaturhotyoga.com.

• THE 411: Joe Jr. Pilates for ages 7 to 13 4 p.m. Tuesdays. Drop-ins welcome and new 10-week session begins in April. $16 per class or $125 for 10 weeks. Studio Lotus, 1145 Zonolite Road, Atlanta. 404-817-0900, www.studiolotus.com.