Things to Do in Graham

buoyancy through its array of services, specializing in instructing those aged 6 months–12 years in small groups. Instructors boast having at least two years of teaching experience, completing 32 hours in the company’s Lessons for Life training program and successfully completing the Water Safety Instructor exam.

Children are placed in one of eight class levels, from tadpoles (6 months–18 months), which acquaints infants with the pool, to stingrays, which is for children who have more experience and want to refine their strokes and one day sting a jellyfish. Each individual class contains no more than four students training under the watchful eye of the instructor in a 90-degree indoor pool. In addition to the children’s program, Aqua-Tots Swim Schools also leads adult swim classes and provides training for both swim competition and first aid.

Hot Shots Family Fun Center enchants guests of all ages with four outdoor attractions that offer both terrestrial and aquatic recreation. Three streams, six ponds, and a waterfall line the par-40 miniature golf course, cultivating peace of mind as players grapple with creative hazards. Friends can douse one another with water cannons built into the cockpits of electric-powered bumper boats or attack one another with a barrage of cushy Nerf balls in the Cannonball Air Blasters bounce house. Atop the glassy surface of Hot Shots' outdoor pool, guests propel themselves inside buoyant, 8-foot hamster wheels, which enable them to traverse the waters immediately after eating at the Nineteenth Hole Cafe.

As a child, Ruth Warren learned to value creativity over consumption. Her parents—who grew up during the Great Depression—taught their children to make ornaments from magazines, matchbooks, and bottle caps, paper dolls from catalogs, and even their house from salvaged wood and nails. As an adult, Ruth still celebrates these values as an artist and the marketing coordinator for The Scrap Exchange. The nonprofit company collects materials from more than 250 industries within a 100-mile radius, looking to repurpose everything from foam, paper, zippers, test tubes, fabric, and vintage goods into art and craft supplies.

Staffers have aims beyond just reducing waste and promoting environmental awareness: they hope to create a vibrant community. Alongside merchandise, their shop makes room for craft classes, an art gallery, and an artists’ marketplace of items created with discarded materials. Everyone is welcome to work inside a 400-square-foot design center, outfitted with sewing machines, a serger, a die-cut machine, a button-making machine, T-shirt hot press, and more than 300 reference books. The inspirational space earned a feature on Apartment Therapy, as well as Santa's nice list.

Tiger Paintball's airball field was born from a custom design that its owners toiled to perfect. Unwilling to settle on offering a standard airball experience, Tiger’s team came together to sew the turf’s bonded surfaces together, carefully construct a rain-drainage system, and map out obstacles in a ways that eliminates visibility issues. With all that planning in place, now players are free to race across the inflatable-barricade-littered blue, red, yellow, and purple surfaces to blast at their opponents. The airball field hosts refereed bouts both by appointment and during weekend open play, and a separate shooting range accommodates guests looking to improve their aim before games. The pro shop sells gear, including markers, goggles, and high-pressure air systems, from trusted manufacturers such as Tippmann, Planet Eclipse, and Ninja Paintball, which makes all its equipment from recycled nunchucks.

Captain Josh Laferty channels more than two decades of experience fishing the local waters to help people find and reel in striped bass from Smith Mountain Lake. During his chartered trips, up to three fishermen hang out on an Angler center-console boat equipped with refreshments, safety gear, and fishing equipment such as Orvis fly tackle and Outcast planer boards. Since the boat comes stocked with everything needed for a day—or half-day—of fishing, participants only need to bring their Virginia freshwater-fishing license and arrive dressed in season-appropriate apparel and mermaid tails.