The weather is heating up quickly here in the Black Belt and, with school out, children are scrambling to find an activity to cool everyone down.

The Selma Parks and Recreation Department is hoping to give the youth and adults of the area a cool alternative with the opening of the William H. Dinkins pool, located at the corner of Division Street and Dexter Avenue in East Selma on June 6.

“Lots of cities are cutting out their pools from their budgets because of the cost,” Parks and Recreation director Elton Reece said. “We don’t want to do that. The pool provides a good chance to give kids an activity to do outside of school.”

The pool will be open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with an hour break from noon to 1 p.m.

The cost of admission is 50 cents per session.

Swim lessons will be taught as well by certified American Red Cross Water Safety Instructors without cost from June 14 to July 28, with registrations being held at the pool from 8 a.m. to noon on June 8 to 10.

The pool won’t be the only thing open for service, however.

The playgrounds of Bryd Elementary, Payne Elementary, Clark Elementary, Edgewood Elementary, Kingston Elementary, Meadowview Elementary and the Youth Development Center will be open from 8 a.m. until noon, with teachers manning the staff at the playgrounds.

“It gives the children the freedom to have fun and not have to stay at home,” Reece said. “With the teachers there to supervise, we will do things like molding, lacing and coloring. We also like to have things like multiplication tables so the kids can continue to learn for the two months leading up to school.”

Tennis lessons will be offered at the tennis courts behind Memorial Stadium with four different sessions available: session one, June 6,8,11,13,16 and 18, session two June 20,23,25,27,30 and July 2, session three July 7,9,11,14 and 16 annd session four July 18,21,23,25,28 and 30.

The lessons will be split into ages from 6-12, 13-17 and 18 and up.

Basketball lessons for players 12 and under with be held at School of Discovery and Chat Academy’s gyms respectively.

Finally, a tee-ball league for players 4 and under is beginning June 10 at 9 a.m. at the Selma Softball Complex. Registration will be held June 6 through June 10.

“It’s the first time a lot of these little ones get to play competitive sports,” Reece said. “They just have a lot of fun out there.”