Things to Do in Plano

The staff at Kids-N-Art come from many backgrounds, but all share degrees in arts or education and buckets of enthusiasm. Summer camps introduce projects such as throwing clay on a pottery wheel or rehearsing a musical to be performed at the end of the session. Kids’ classes develop skills in painting, mixed media, and cartooning, and events such as Parents’ Night Out let kids take a break from nagging their moms and dads to clean their rooms and relax with some pizza and games.

We are a place where you can enjoy creativity and freedom.

AquaShop is in the business of defying physics; inside, water flows uphill. The FlowRider wave machine—an attraction usually reserved for theme parks or cruise ships—projects a frothy current blasted up a slanted ramp, emulating a wave for surfers, wakeboarders, and ambitious belly floppers to catch anytime, regardless of tide conditions. Before visiting, guests can check out the fun from the company’s live camera view, which shows off sweet rides and spectacular wipeouts during all business hours.

Water isn’t the only element AquaShop harnesses. The emporium of all things extreme hosts shred sessions on its Big Wave mechanical surfboard and encourages visitors to fire foam balls back and forth in the Cannon Ball Blaster arena. The in-house Thrill Zone features a padded obstacle course with a climbing wall, a slide, and a secret portal that grants one wish from Kelly Slater’s magic bald head.

Armed with a PADI certification from Adventure Scuba, students dive into the depths, floating past forests of coral or ancient shipwrecks alive with schools of phosphorescent fish. Aspiring human submarines ease into the process during beginning training sessions, testing out the waters, familiarizing themselves with the gear, and breathing underwater in the 18-foot indoor heated pool. For more advanced adventurers, instructors break out world-renowned Technical Diving International courses, teaching divers how to descend 180 feet into the water while managing decompression and oxygen use. They can also help clients plan and navigate cave dives for underwater archeological digs for cave-mermen fossils.

Making the world's waterways accessible to everyone, Handicapped Scuba Association directors teach divers with disabilities to swim open waters during weekend dives at Lake Travis. They also organize scuba travel jaunts to Cozumel, Mexico or Dominica, where world travelers swim alongside sperm whales and reverse-scale down sea walls and past bubbling volcanic vents.