Things to Do in Harrisonville

Named Best Place for a Kid’s Birthday Party by the Pitch, and recently moved into a new and larger location in Tiffany Springs, Bounce House Moonwalks turns kids loose upon giant inflatables, interactive video games, a toddler area with a tiny roller coaster, and concessions. Parents can spend time using the free WiFi or hop around with their kids in the 24-foot-diameter spaceship that boasts air-filled aliens and a cockpit where kids can pretend they’re in space outrunning other inflatables. After zipping around the imagined universe, sock-clad tots clamber over, under, and through the plush tubes and barriers of the 72-foot obstacle course before cascading down its slide. Over at the Xbox 360 Kinect system, kids play interactive video games in which they use their bodies as controllers. Bounce House Moonwalks also allows families to leave the facility at any point and return within the same day for no additional charge.

Mother-daughter team Juli and Breanna, who just graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in metal smithing, share their love of artistic expression at Bee Creative Studio, where they invite guests to join them in painting pottery and fusing glass. Visitors browse the ranks of piggy banks, plates, and figurines of frogs and dragons before picking up paintbrushes or the end of their braids to dip in paint. Finished pieces stay at Bee Creative while the experts glaze and fire them, and their creators can pick them up in five to seven days.

Those who want to wear their art can paint designs that Bee Creative transfers onto T-shirts, baby’s onesies, or aprons for keeping clothes clean while cooking or performing mad, mad science. Or, guests can delve into the world of fused glass, layering colors for jewelry, plates, and sun catchers that the studio experts fire and ready for pickup in a week. In addition to its open studio hours, Bee Creative hosts parties for birthday celebrants and brides-to-be.

There is plenty to see, hear, and smell inside Ceramics & Coffee House @ Paint, Glaze & Fire. Here you’ll see rows of clay-colored mugs, vases, plates, pictures frames, and figurines next to bits of colored glass for fusion projects. Overhead a mosaic of tiles painted by customers creates a colorful ceiling, and up front an espresso bar grinds PT's coffee beans and steams milk for lattes.

Debbie, a Paint, Glaze & Fire co-owner, especially likes seeing dads painting pottery with their kids. Debbie says that while a father and his children might not talk too much while painting, they're still communicating and sharing a lot more than if they were silently sitting in a movie theatre. Plus, after painting, glass fusing, or canvas painting this family will have a something to show for it.

While fun for the whole family, Ceramics & Coffee House @ Paint, Glaze & Fire focuses on cultivating the creativity and curiosity of children. Kids' parties and summer camps actively engage youngsters, as do the bimonthly Paint Me a Story sessions, where a favorite children's book is paired with a pottery painting activity. With space to house 30 to 40 adult-size imaginations, the studio can also host corporate team-building events, girls' nights out, and other celebrations.

When Ruthann Zentner began studying yoga, she soon realized that its focused breathing, emphasis on enhancing flexibility, and core-strengthening poses could help people of any age achieve mental and physical wellness. Throughout her yoga journey, she spent time working with Shakta Khalsa, a renowned children's yoga instructor, which inspired her to educate children through engaging stories and kid-friendly yoga classes as a certified yoga storyteller. Within the teal-green walls and dark wood floors of the studio, kids limber up while having fun during yoga-centered games, working off the stresses of filing lemonade-stand taxes. Adult students learn the basics in beginner-level yoga classes, or strengthen their cores and improve their balance in PiYo, which merges elements of Pilates and yoga into high-intensity routines. For her older students and those unable to do floor work, she partners poses with four-legged props in chair yoga.

As parents work on their downward dogs, kids caper about in the lime-green childcare center, keeping busy with sundry toys and games. Further demonstrating dedication to the wee ones, The Zen Zone also hosts badge-earning programs for Girl Scouts that focus on teaching little ladies to lead healthy lifestyles and channel their inner yoga warriors' strength.

Open late seven days a week—until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and until midnight the rest of the week—Z Strike Bowling plies its patrons with bowling, comfortable couches, and a full sit-down restaurant. Bowlers can scatter pins on lanes reserved in advance, a practice that prevents long waits and frustrated customers rolling balls at piles of street shoes. Between games, visitors can nosh at the onsite eatery, with a menu filled with cheeseburgers, pork sandwiches, pizzas, pastas, and a full bar.