All ages will enjoy sitting down to paint at The Pottery Place in Champaign
Whether it’s a simple quick visit or an hours-long trip, you can take your kids to The Pottery Place
Looking for somewhere to take your kids for a creative outlet? A perfect activity for school-age kids (and up), The Pottery Place is ready for your crew!
Visit The Pottery Place website
The Pottery Place is a paint-your-own pottery and art studio, suitable for creatives of all ages. With lots of different options and varying price points, you can make this outing anything you want it to be.
Looking for art you can create at home?
The Pottery Place is offering take and make kits! Order online and pick two large pieces and five colors of paint, transport your supplies home, have fun creating and bring them back to the studio to be fired in their kiln. You can pick them up a few days later.
What to expect when you paint in the studio
If you’re planning to paint there, here’s what to expect. When you walk in, you’ll see many racks of ready-to-paint creations for your selection along one side and paints, sponges, pencils and other tools along the other side. There are a number of tables in the shop and a room off to the side with more tables in it, too.
When you paint at The Pottery Place, you pay a studio fee per person (or parent/child pair) to cover the paints and supplies you’ll be using. In addition, you pay for whatever items you select. So if you were to choose two $5 ornaments and a $15 plate to paint together with your child, your total would be $35 for your outing. You decide what you paint, and it may be wise to set a budget with your child before walking into the store.
Once you’ve found a table and spoken with a staff member to get the run-down, you will pick your piece and get some paint. The Pottery Place staff may be the ones to assist you with getting paint. If they are not, you’ll definitely want to assist your younger children in getting an appropriate amount of paint when they choose a new color so as not to waste paint.
Painting can take a while, especially if it is a larger item. They say to expect a piece to take about 45 minutes. On our visit, we painted a few things and stayed about two hours.
Have we mentioned how amazing it is to be able to make a mess somewhere outside of our home? The Pottery Place is literally set up to a make a mess, and while messes are not encouraged, they’re kind of part of the process. It’s pretty great to be able to just show up and have a table completely protected from paint ready for you, along with an endless supply of paper towels, should they be needed.
After you’re done, you’ll make sure you’ve filled out the slip of paper with your name on it and the description of your item. Simply leave your item at your workspace with the slip of paper (this is what gets taken to be fired in the kiln and how they keep track of what belongs to whom). Check out at the register for your creations and you’ll be given a day to return to pick it all up.