Do-It-Yourself
Do-It-Yourself classes, workshops and businesses are all the rage. Whether you want to express your creativity with fine arts or fine foods, there is something for everyone.
One of the most unique DIY opportunities in Kansas City is offered at Local Pig, where you can sign up for culinary classes to learn a variety of skills, including the fine art of butchering. For a more traditional cooking class, the Culinary Center of Kansas City (7920 Santa Fe Dr., Overland Park, KS, 913.341.4455, www.kcculinary.com) offers more than 450 contemporary classes and demonstrations in the culinary arts for all ages, interests and skill levels. Learn ethnic cooking, baking, basic kitchen skills, gourmet recipes and culinary classics. A Thyme for Everything (www.athymeforeverything.com) is a quaint shop in Lee's Summit's Historic Downtown shopping district and offers cooking classes for children and adults.
Create family keepsakes at Paint, Glaze and Fire or Ceramics Cafe and more paint-your-own pottery shops. Patrons select and paint their own ceramic masterpieces—anything from piggy banks to plates, mugs to picture frames and many holiday pieces, as well.
BYOB paint-your-own-canvas shops are very popular across the city, each offering diverse calendars with a variety of masterpieces you can create by following simple step-by-step instructions. One of our favorites, Thirsty Palette in Leawood, offers adult and kid projects. Customers sign up for a class, bring their own beverage and spend an evening creating a personal work of art to take home and display. Read our guide to “Paint Your Own Canvas Shops in KC” for more.
Twice a month on Saturdays, kids can participate in the Lowe’s Build and Grow program, completing a wooden project and earning a red apron and patch, or in the Home Depot Kids Workshops for children ages 5-12, where children build a take-home project and receive an orange apron and an achievement pin. Both free programs provide children with a kit to create their own project. Some projects include toolboxes, fire trucks, jewelry boxes, banks, planters, birdhouses and picture frames. Children learn basic carpentry skills and leave with a sense of achievement and a completed project.