A screen free afternoon · Local
A screen free afternoon for families in Mint Hill
The local version of the question: how far, how long, and is it worth it.
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
If you are coming from Mint Hill, treat it as a cross-town outing rather than a day trip. Go with a return time in mind and the day stays easy.
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.
A birthday group runs better with a rough plan of who goes where first, even if you abandon it in the first five minutes.
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.
If it is the first time, do not also make it a birthday. Learning a place and celebrating in it are two different visits.
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.
Where is New Life Entertainment?
Two centres: 433 Opry Mills Drive, Nashville TN 37214, and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd, Concord NC 28027.
What are the opening hours?
10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday, and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.
Planning your visit in Mint Hill
A Mint Hill school holiday runs out of ideas by about day three. This is a day-three answer rather than a day-one one.
Warn a nervous child about the noise before you walk in. Knowing what to expect is most of the difference between anxious and curious.
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.
Families around Mint Hill who have done it once tend to plan the second visit differently: shorter, earlier in the day, and with the machine the child liked in mind.
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
Anything time critical is worth a phone call first: hours are 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM Monday to Saturday and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.