This place is a hidden gem here in Austin- super cool studio with an amazing Art Instructor Amber!…read moreHad my daughter's 11th birthday - choose to do the splatter paint room and kids LOVED every minute of it. Her studio itself is a work of art, so you are inspired as soon as you step onto her property tucked up a hilltop with Lake Travis in the background! Amber does a wide range of art mediums for both children and adults. And we learned she does summer camps too! I would check this place out no matter how old you are- it's worth going to!!!

We just left the Art Barn, splatter paint party with Mrs. Gordon and it was THE ultimate party!! 3…read morehours of structured, chaos, colossal fun!!! Mrs. Gordon communicated everything so well, we knew exactly what to expect and how to prepare for the party. Her structure helped the party run smoothly...well-oiled machine! The girls rain wild. Splatter painted every inch of the room, themselves, and their canvas - followed by the water slide and foam cannon. Honestly, the perfect combo! Even my 12 yr old son jumped in on the fun. I cannot recommend the art barn enough...the moms are talking about the adult retreat next!! Bonus: Mrs. Gordon documents the whole experience by capturing the best pictures and sharing them immediately! Double bonus there is an arcade room my son enjoyed...no one was bored on her watch!

Heart songs has been a gift for my boy, he treasures his time there with the teachersread more

Heartsong is amazing! It is so great for music and language development! The space the owner…read more(Carey) has created is wonderful for playing before/after class and connecting with the other families. My son does several paid activity classes during the week (music, gym, dance, etc.) - this is by far the best value for your money. You'll get music, teachers who have studied the curriculum and Montessori education, movement, language development, and a beautiful space for play and community after class. My son started at 11 months and I wish we started earlier! For weeks he just sat in our laps and listened most of the class. He seemed like he wasn't super excited but he was actually just slowly absorbing everything! It's now been four months and he gets so excited every time he hears music he starts dancing and smiling! We listen to all the songs in the car and someties at home and he's started singing along to several words from different songs. He even remembers which words/sounds are coming next - it's so adorable to hear him in the back of the car singing! Heartsong has been great for language development too - an unexpected plus! My son started saying words with difficult sounds (e.g., "car") that we hadn't heard as a babble sound or really used often and we figured out it's because the "ca"/"ka" sound is used in several songs we're singing this semester. Neat! I love that Heartsong follows the Music Together curriculum which means you do the same set of about 25 songs over the 10-week "semester" and then move to a different set. This allows time for the kids to get used to the sound of a song over the semester. The songs have been developed to help with language development (lots of different sounds), music development, and even self-regulation (slower/faster). I love that the teachers offer insights on why certain things they do help with development. The in-class experience will vary by teacher. Keep that in mind if you decide to do demo classes first.

Our 11-year-old grandchild expressed interest in the arts and we thought this would be a great…read moreclassroom environment to foster her artistic notions. They offer artistic workshops starting at $45 per day and have some summer workshops available. They offer art workshops that focus on foil embossing, sculpture, painting, construction art, dioramas, and more. The classroom itself is relatively small and can only handle so many children, so call ahead for availability. 17 is the cut off age. check out their website on their page for more information.

My child began art lessons here in January. He's taken lessons at another popular spot, but he…read morepreferred this experience so we signed up and are glad we did! He's made paintings, collages, and sculptures that are so creative. The class sizes are small, and the price is really affordable. The studio owner has a lot of experience as a special education teacher. Both she and the other teacher my son has had really care about art education and helping kids tap into their creative side. If you are local to Pflugerville and interested in art lessons I encourage you to give them a try!

The spinning wheel is such a cute spot to be creative with friends! I hosted a spinning class with…read moreall of my girl friends and had an amazing night. The staff was so informative and attentive with helping us hone our craft. They were so accommodating, letting us set up snacks and drinks for our big group and stayed a little late to let everyone finish up. We can't wait to come back!

I attended a Valentine's Day event last month with The ATX Dog Mom Social Club at The Spinning…read moreWheel. There was confusion over pricing and timing. The event post noted one price and when we got to the event, we were told it would cost extra to glaze the bowl which was a necessary step make the clay piece food-safe. We were making dog bowls so of course we wanted them to be food-safe but it was a bummer that we would have to pay an additional fee on top of what we had already paid. I was charged more than others in my group! We were instructed to make our bowls outside on the picnic tables which weren't flat surfaces. The event poster also stated that we could shape our clay by hand or use the spinning wheel. The spinning wheels weren't even offered to us. Overall, I attended this event to make new friends and create something nice for my dog. I accomplished both so that was a win! While I most likely won't come back, this business is a fun concept that is great for groups of young children and I even saw a mother bring in her young daughter with her to glaze pottery together which was so sweet but the pricing and timing to pick up your artwork could be clearer. Also parking is very limited so park next door at the gymnasium.

Newly opened, our 6 year old was their first client for the Monday weekly rainbows course. The…read moreinstructor was great with her, and she had a blast doing 3-4 activities over 90 minutes! Seems affordable in line with other after school options in the area too

We had a private event on our property near Lago vista and Valerie was our instructor. We had a…read morewonderful time trying to paint the panoramic views that overlook the Colorado river. The instruction was excellent, and we had such a great time learning how to visualize and then implement that vision with the paintbrush. I only wish we would've booked two hours instead of 90 minutes to spend a little more time on the details. I highly recommend Valerie and her team for your private event, or for just plain fun. What a blast we had!

My son goes to the after school program and we couldn't be happier! He absolutely loves his teacher…read moreSadie, who is so positive and talented. His art has gotten so much better and he looks forward to his class every week. The owners Cynthia and Aaron are fantastic and have done a great job with this school all around. I can't recommend Darling enough.

UPDATE: Got a call from the manager of the camp at Twin Lakes and he was very nice and apologetic…read moreand promised to give me a refund for the concession money we put in my kid's account. Apparently the sky trail concession stand was closed (but yet they still had it included in the email to send money for your campers!?) He also promised to send me an email with his direct contact info so if I decided to give the camp another try, I could get ahold of him since the camp director never bothered to respond to me. Well, I never heard back from him and I didn't get that promised refund! I called a week later and he processed the refund and offered to send me that email. I told him this was very bad business and now my daughter definitely wouldn't be coming back. He didn't really care and gave the excuse that they have 600 kids coming through the camp each week and he was so busy. It would have taken him no more than 5 minutes to make this right and refund my money. When a place can't handle the lowest level of customer care and business, I'm definitely not going to trust my child to be in their care. We were so excited to try out YMCA Twin Lakes this year because we have only heard amazing things. Unfortunately, our experience was NOT amazing. It would have been salvageable if my concerns were answered and addressed but it's been over two weeks now and the director has yet to call or email me back. I called twice, texted once, and emailed twice. If I can't get ahold of a camp director with issues, it does not make me feel comfortable having my child in their care. We did a "cake decorating" camp and the first day they used markers to color a worksheet with a cupcake on it. Pretty lame but thought maybe they didn't have much time the first day. Second day, they used mashed potatoes to practice piping icing. Third day, air clay sculpting. They didn't end up actually touching real cake and icing until Thursday and Friday. The camp just didn't deliver on the magical cake decorating experice we were expecting. All could have also been forgiven if they could have been doing some of the amazing activities provided on campus. My camper struggled with the heat, long lines and ultimately, running out of time for activities and not getting a turn. They also only got into the water twice the whole 5 HOT days. Very disappointed with the camp but even more disappointed that I reached out with concerns and they never bothered to answer. There are too many amazing camps in Austin to bother with one that doesn't seem to care or acknowledge that they dropped the ball on this camp. To make matters even more frustrating, we recieved an email with a link to put money on our kid's account to buy popsicles, gatorade and snacks throughout the day. I put $10 on my kid's account and she was never afforded the opportunity to even visit the snack shop while at camp! It's non-refundable and I reached out to also request a refund and have yet to hear back on that as well. Couldn't recommend it to anyone.

so fun I loved hanging out with friends the counselers were really kind and food was goodread more

We had my 10 year old daughter's birthday here and they loved it. They had so much fun dressing up…read morethe bunnies and taking them around to the various play areas. Then we moved to the house where they met a variety of animals to pet and hold. They allowed us to bring all our own food and drinks and had plenty of space for the kids to play. If your kids love animals, this is a great place to have their birthday party.

This place is awesome! She keeps a limit on guests which is great so it's not over crowded.. there…read moreis so much to see and do here we will be back! There is a cute play area along with pens that hold little animals such as mini horses, donkeys and goats.. there is a rabbit home fully decorated with all kinds of things ... houses, apartments, foods, clothes and stations for the rabbits such as bath and diner... then there is more pens with ducks and geese with rabbits and mini pigs.. a small home with fish and reptiles and a tumble room with music and bounce areas for the kids... my daughter and I absolutely loved this place. Very nice. And "Mrs Nature Lady" was extremely sweet, very welcoming. We will be back!!