A screen free afternoon · Story
A screen free afternoon in East Nashville: an hour, start to finish
The ordinary version of a visit, without the marketing gloss.
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
For a East Nashville 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.
Walking in
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.
If one child is nervous, let them watch for the first ten minutes without being asked to join in. Almost all of them join in.
The middle of the visit
Nobody has to ban anything. Children put the phone down on their own when the alternative is better.
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.
The last ten minutes
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
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 sticks
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.
Nobody has to ban anything. Children put the phone down on their own when the alternative is better.
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.
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 East Nashville
Plenty of the families in the room on a weekday morning have come from somewhere like East Nashville. Nobody is local to a mall attraction; everybody has driven.
Count on the drive home being the conversation. Children tell you what they actually thought about twenty minutes after leaving.
Photograph the machine as well as the child. In two years you will have forgotten what the room looked like.
The nearest of the two centres to East Nashville is the one to aim at - Opry Mills in Nashville - and the drive is the ordinary sort rather than an expedition.
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.