Over the past few months, I’ve received several messages asking for recommendations for places to take toddlers and preschoolers (besides the museum, library, and park) in the city, so I thought I’d share more about our favorite spots around town here on the blog. I love supporting other small businesses, and we are very fortunate to have so many locally owned, kid-friendly businesses in Dallas/Fort Worth!

Jon is an artist at heart, and Lo definitely gets her appreciation for art from him because she loves to paint and draw more than anything else in the world. As a result, Lo and I paint and craft at home pretty regularly, but sometimes, it’s nice to not worry about cleaning up our mess when we’re done. To cultivate her passion (and to keep the mess to a minimum), we enjoy visiting kid-friendly art studios where she can pick from a variety of ceramics and paint them. They make great gifts for grandparents, too.

•Purple Glaze, in Dallas, is possibly our favorite because it’s located next door to Unrefined Bakery, and we typically reward ourselves with a vegan cupcake afterward. Ha! They have drop-in hours throughout the week, camps, and you can commission art pieces. They also host parties and collaborate with schools for fundraisers!

•Quiggly’s Clayhouse, in Richardson, has been around for many years. I used to meet my best friend for some painting therapy at Quiggly’s when I was in high school! Jon and I also took a spinning wheel pottery class there years ago. Quiggly’s offers a variety of options from clay impressions to mosaic art, but keep in mind, they add a “studio fee” to your bill. They also offer the most evening classes throughout the month, so you could also hire a sitter and go on a creative date night!

•Van Grow, in Fort Worth, has such a great class schedule for children and parents. They offer camps and workshops throughout the year for children of all ages, and they have drop-in times if you don’t want to commit to anything. One thing to note, they stopped hosting parties.

•Creative Hands, in Pantego/Arlington, is a small gem in the middle of the city. Out of all the studios on this list, they are the least expensive for parties and have the lowest cost on their pottery pieces. A unique feature I truly appreciate is that they have a small play area for young children after they’re done painting, so they remain occupied while you wait on the glaze. Genius! We’ll occasionally drive across the street to Mad Mike’s for a scoop of homemade ice cream or grab a bag of popcorn next door. It’s one of our favorite ice cream shops in DFW.

•Walls of Clay, in McKinney, is located in the historic square in downtown McKinney. They welcome drop-ins during regular studio hours for pottery and glass painting, host parties, and offer after-hours events for children and adults as well. If you have a baby or toddler, I love their ideas for hand and foot print art! Great keepsake gift ideas for moms, dads, and grandparents!

•Oil + Cotton, in Dallas, only offers one hour drop-in times on Saturday morning. Similar to Van Grow, they primarily offer camps and workshops throughout the year for children of all ages, but they differ in that they also offer a variety of adult workshops and classes as well. I love the variety of mediums they cover- leather, yarn, embroidery, calligraphy, etc.- besides painting.

Have you visited an art studio lately? What kind of activities do you like to do with young children?

**These are listed in no particular order, and I was not paid or sponsored by any of these studios.