A screen free afternoon · Local
A screen free afternoon around Old Hickory: worth the drive?
If you are searching from Old Hickory, this is the practical answer.
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
Parents from Old Hickory tend to ask the same first question: how long will this hold their attention. Long enough to be worth the drive, and short enough to leave while they still want more.
Getting there
What replaces a screen has to be more interesting than a screen, which rules out most of the obvious answers. A machine a child actually controls is one of the few that works.
Take the photographs early. The best ones happen in the first fifteen minutes, before anybody is tired.
What you will find
The feedback loop is the same one games use - do a thing, see a result, adjust - except it happens with hands, in a room, with other people watching.
Nobody has to ban anything. Children put the phone down on their own when the alternative is better.
How long to allow
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
Go early if the choice is available. The first hour after opening is quieter than any hour that follows it, and quieter is easier for everybody.
Worth the trip?
What replaces a screen has to be more interesting than a screen, which rules out most of the obvious answers. A machine a child actually controls is one of the few that works.
The feedback loop is the same one games use - do a thing, see a result, adjust - except it happens with hands, in a room, with other people watching.
Questions parents ask
Is there screen time involved?
The machines are levers and cables. The ice is ice.
How do I get in touch?
By phone on +1 (424) 387-6232 or +1 (615) 968-4925, or by e-mail at info@newlife-entertainment.com.
Where is New Life Entertainment?
Two centres: 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214, and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027.
Planning your visit in Old Hickory
If you are coming from Old Hickory, treat it as a cross-town outing rather than a day trip. Go with a return time in mind and the day stays easy.
A birthday group runs better with a rough plan of who goes where first, even if you abandon it in the first five minutes.
A short visit that ends while they still want more beats a long one that ends in a meltdown, every time.
For a Old Hickory family the trip works best folded into something else - the shopping that was happening anyway, a birthday that needed a venue, a Saturday that needed a plan.
The practical details
- XCAV ZONE — 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214: four child-operated machines over a ball pit.
- ICE PARK — 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027: a real rink with bumper cars on the ice.
- Opening hours — 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday, 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.
- Phone — +1 (424) 387-6232 · +1 (615) 968-4925
- E-mail — info@newlife-entertainment.com
If a visit needs planning around a date, a group or a long drive, the centre is easiest to reach by phone: +1 (424) 387-6232 or +1 (615) 968-4925.