Things to Do in Castle Rock

Relive elementary school artistic accomplishments with today's Groupon, offering $50 worth of personalized pottery pieces for $25 at Color Me Mine in Aurora. Celebrate V-Day painting pottery with your special friend, or surprise your valentine with pottery that you painted to look like two hearts absorbing each other, forming one monster heart.

• For $15, you get a canvas-painting class for kids (a $30 value). • For $50, you get a four-week pottery-wheel class for kids or adults (a $99 value). • For $10, you get $20 worth of drop-in art projects.

Start by selecting a shapely canvas from more than 250 different varieties of bare bisqueware. Hot Pots' exhaustive catalog of clay creatables includes mugs, plates, frames, and figures. Prices average from $4 to $50, with a studio fee of $8 per person ($6 for kids ages 10 and younger). Use Hot Pots' design center to crib inspiration for mastery, or take the piñata approach by donning a blindfold, grabbing a brush, and hoping for a masterpiece or a pile of Smarties and pennies. Once you're ready to put paint to plaster, select from more than 70 shades of paint (including speckle style), as well as a line of glazes to accomplish an earthy look. Leave your finished creation in the skilled hands of the kiln masters after you're satisfied. Finished and glazed pieces are ready for pick-up in about one week's time.

With more than five years of experience splattered on its palette, South Denver Art Center continues to teach a range of artists how to tap into their creative energies and create artwork through a variety of media. Weekly classes are taught using the Monart Method—developed by art educator Mona Brookes—which uses a step-by-step technique to teach all levels of students how to create art through drawing, painting, clay work, and smashing things with a cricket bat. By employing five basic elements of shape, pupils can enjoy the process of creating without feeling lost or confused and can improve self-confidence while remaining as focused as a cat that’s ready to pounce on a laser-pointer dot.

Also at South Denver Art Center's private studio, friendly instructors lead groups during casual parties. These laid-back sessions offer an evening of fun as patrons sip on beverages and learn how to create each session’s themed art piece using paint, clay, or glass. Past events have included students swirling brush strokes into colorful peacocks, sculptors forming a chips-and-dip tray from raw clay, and artists fusing pieces of glass together to create a candleholder or larger pieces of glass. The center also offers private and kids' parties.

At Lollipop Park, kids ricocheting around the bounce house don't have to set foot on solid ground until they're good and ready. That's because the indoor amusement park doesn't impose a time limit—on rides or the length of birthday parties. Kids ages 10 and younger are free to stay on the miniature Ferris wheel for dozens of ascents or whirl around the carousel until they figure out which horse is the fastest. Of course, these are just two of the rides in the park's collection. Spinning teacups, a tiny train, and suspended swings all thrill their riders, and entry wristbands entitle everyone to unlimited go-rounds.

For more than 30 years, Lollipop Park has served as a beacon of relaxed fun, and its longstanding commitment to young smiles is evident in the thousands of grateful letters on display from children's charities that have received contributions from the park. A snack bar divvies out pizza and drinks for lunch breaks, while a lollipop stand harkens back to the golden age of carnivals.