Things to Do in Texas

Merlot 2 Masterpiece's encouraging art instructors guide fledgling van Goghs in reproducing images on canvas with a flurry of colorful brushstrokes. Each of their painting classes escorts up to 30 students though the creation of a preselected composition, which ranges from landscapes and holiday themes to still lifes and blurry moving lifes. The studio provides all attendees with canvases, brushes, and paints, and welcomes students to bring their snacks and bottles of wine. Artistic expression chugs along to the beat of up-tempo music, easily muted to accommodate student solos. Merlot 2 Masterpiece regularly updates its locations' schedules with listings of dates, times, and featured paintings for each class.

For Margie Garcia, owner of The Drunk Artist, the word drunk doesn't just refer to being inebriated: it also means being overcome by a strong feeling or emotion. During one of The Drunk Artist's painting classes, students can embrace this double meaning by creating an impassioned piece of art while sipping on BYO beverages. A local artist assists painters of all skill levels in re-creating a chosen masterpiece by demonstrating helpful techniques and doling out the necessary materials. After an evening or afternoon of eating complimentary snacks, pupils leave with a finished painting that can be mounted on the wall or sneaked into a museum in the middle of the night.

Painting with Patience hosts relaxing do-it-yourself evenings of colorful exploration for painters with or without previous experience. Guests need only bring a lust for life along with their favorite wine and snacks, as they uncork and follow a progression of easy-to-follow instructions. Each class focuses on one specific design, allowing students to follow along with others while adding their own flair to images such as gnomes or Italian waterways. Students can create their own simulacra of famous works including Van Gogh’s Starry Night, Munch’s The Scream, and Monet’s Bridge Over a Pond of Water Moccasins. Multiple classes are scheduled each week and include all painting supplies as well as ice buckets and corkscrews. The artistic educators at Painting with Patience can also wrangle groups of 10–25 artisans for adult or children’s private painting parties.

Offering a range of family-friendly events and activities, Ceramics-N-More tickles your crafty fancy with paint-your-own ceramics projects, fused glass creations, and paint-and-take T-shirts. Display your painting prowess with a Picasso-inspired piggy bank ($8–$25), or spatter a bashfully bare platter with the drips of a thousand Pollocks ($12–$30). If the confounding simplicity of a plain white coffee mug ($10–$20) stymies your design-glands, dig your paws into the studio's ample supply of stamps and stencils. Ceramics will be ready for pick-up five to seven days after completion.

At K2 Academy of Kids Sports, kids scurry around a 6,500-square-foot space filled with trampolines, balance beams, and rope swings spread beneath an overhead zipline. Accompanied by parents or legal-guardian holograms, children can roam free across the indoor terrain during open-play hours or join gymnastics, cheerleading, and tumbling classes, in which instructors tailor lesson plans to each age group with an emphasis on fun, collaborative learning. Gymnastics sessions encompass everything from basic rolls to intricate dance routines, whereas cheerleading skills progress from simple tumbles to the ultimate inspirational challenge—making Eeyore indifferent. Tumbling pupils master cartwheels before tackling cardio training and jumps, further honing their skills in workshops and clinics designed as intensive studies of each activity.

During the off-season, day camps, summer camps, and Playsmart—a childcare program molded around school hours—keep teensy feet distracted from toppling store-window displays of fragile "Kick Me" signs. Year-round, the S.O.A.R. program tweaks the traditional gamut of classes for athletes with special needs.