Things to Do in Brampton

Every year, more than 20,000 players arrive at Paintball Nation's three locations to playfully trade paint across outdoor battlefields or among towering indoor obstacles. Sniper towers overlook Mississauga's urban scenario field, where misfired paintballs splatter against trucks, tires, and wooden boxes. At Burlington, players hide behind plastic barrel towers as they compete in three zones encompassing a total of 20,000 square feet. During summer months, Brampton's outdoor facility hosts paintball squadrons as they launch technicolor salvos amid fresh air and sunlight.

Whether games take place indoors or out, Paintball Nation's referees make sure simulated battles remain safe and good-natured. To that end, they brief every visitor on field rules and etiquette, such as never using nonfield paint or unlicensed Blackhawk helicopters.

For more than 40 years, DiveAqua has taught novice divers across Canada the subaquatic ropes. The staff's specialty is a comprehensive curriculum of skills and certification instruction that commences in the classroom, where students learn about diving safety and how to use equipment. Afterward, they gear up and head to the indoor pool to learn proper snorkeling and scuba-diving skills while becoming comfortable with the equipment in the gravity-defying environment. Divers opting for the certification participate in open-water dive sessions before receiving their certification card, which allows them to dive anywhere in the world. In addition to conducting instructional classes, DiveAqua offers a variety of professional diving gear, available to rent or own. At each store location, staff members stand by to outfit divers in wetsuits, tanks, and regulators.

At Kidnetix Edu-Play Centre, toddlers and children clamber up eight towering play structures and slide back down to the carpeted floor in plastic tube slides, and wee adventurers scale a child-sized rock-climbing wall, explore a tree house, and dive into a ball pit. Others test their agility on padded obstacle courses, crawl through tunnel mazes, and bounce in a large jumping castle.

Kids engage in safe exploration at both Brampton and North York playgrounds, and children can also challenge friends and settle sandbox territory disputes in games of skee-ball, table hockey, and virtual racing at each location's arcade. Kidnetix Edu-Play Centre's engaging staff wields their certifications in ECE and first-aid CPR as they guide kids through educational programs for all ages, as well as themed day camps during the summer and March break, which let campers work out youthful energy through arts and crafts, games, and field trips.

Vintage One Wines puts the power of winemaking into the hands of Toronto's toasters. With this offer, clients have the opportunity to guide a malbec or chardonnay into flavourful fruition from grapes sourced from the vineyards of Chile and Argentina. The process begins with a tour of Vintage One Wines' 10,000-square-foot facility, followed by a one-on-one consultation with a professional winemaker. From there, clients can use a monthly production calendar to be as hands on as they like throughout the entire two-month winemaking process, including fermentation, filtration, and stabilization, or they can just let the wine take its own course while they spend the interim traversing the globe on a falcon-guided vision quest.

The inflatable bunkers that dot Eastie Boyz Paintball’s indoor field are pocked with the runny splatters of past skirmishes. As players step onto the AstroTurf battlefield, bright lights and defensive bunkers simulate the conditions of an outdoor playing field without threats of rain, snow, or squirrel commandos. Players outfitted with rental markers or their own equipment prepare for competition in the staging area or cheer on other teams from the viewing area. An onsite pro shop also lets players purchase additional paintballs or upgrade their markers and air systems.

Ducking around abandoned cars and hollowed-out buildings, paintballers sneak through the postarmageddon-like streetscapes at Sgt. Splatter's, on the hunt to take down opposing team members. Brought to life in 1994 by a Hollywood set designer, Sgt. Splatter's 35,000-square-foot arena gives players the sense that they're immersed in a first-person-shooter video game. Teams go toe-to-toe in one of 20 games—armed with gear from paintball pistols to semiautomatic markers—stepping into the shoes of DEA agents trying to dismantle a drug-dealing operative or mailmen working to prevent a nuclear crisis.