Things to Do in Lakewood

From its beginnings as an online store, Rockin’ Bead has taken its products back into the physical world with the opening of its Aurora store constructed from brick, mortar, calk, and two heaping fistfuls of beads. Seeing a wide selection of beads and stones and settings online is an experience only as wide as your computer screen, but seeing a 20-foot wall lined with over a thousand decorative pieces has caused numerous awe-induced fainting spells.

Diving for more than 30 years, Ron Busch—PADI master instructor and owner of Coral Key Scuba & Travel Center—first decided to share his passion for underwater exploration in 1995 by building a facility that catered to all facets of scuba and snorkeling. Since its construction, the center has been recognized as a PADI five-star training center that offers scuba and snorkeling classes, professional gear, and diving trips to far-off locales such as Isla Mujeres. An avid traveler, Busch entrusts day-to-day duties to the center's manager, a PADI master scuba diver and trainer, Randy Partch, who teaches 22 different diving specialties and boasts certification to repair and service many different brands of scuba equipment and one kind of Xerox machine. Factory-trained technicians populate the center's repair shop, mending, maintaining, and returning equipment back to owners with an average one-week turnaround.

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.

Owner Jennifer Schroeder began crafting her own all-natural products in high school and, one career later, now heads a team of skincare mavens who give kitchen chemists the tools to create their own spa experiences. Demonstration lectures form a compact introduction to a single process and leave students with a product sample to take home and touch up aging portraits of great-great-grandparents, and workshops plunge all hands into the fundamentals of gel-based anti-aging serums, exfoliating sugar scrubs, or herbal soaps. The small-group classes focus on practicable skills and include recipes for home use, enabling perpetual plant-based pampering.

Children and teens engage their imaginations during dynamic adventures set in a fantastical time filled with dashing knights questing in the name of good. Groups of four to seven young heroes must overcome challenging puzzles and duel with foam swords as they work together to complete tasks such as saving their village, solving a mystery, or developing the technique of crop rotation. While swinging a Swasher sword, children learn how to compete and act fairly according to the rules of swordplay. The interactive play teaches kids creative problem solving and conflict-resolution skills that incorporate negotiation and compromises to solve complex disputes.

Sprawling across 12,000 square feet of high-flying play areas, Mid-Air Adventures gets adrenaline pumping with a multitude of altitudinous activities. Ziplines span platforms reaching up to 11-feet high, their riders’ eventual descents cushioned by padded landing slopes covered in marshmallow-stuffed comforters. The safety-conscious staff members belay climbers at the 20-foot climbing wall, and a giant swing dangles from the highest ceiling to challenge the most daring of daredevils. Kids navigate a network of rope bridges that snake across the facility, and a toddler play area entertains young ones while keeping them close to Earth.