A screen free afternoon · Tips
A screen free afternoon in Franklin: things worth doing differently
None of this is complicated. All of it is the difference between a good hour and a difficult one.
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
From Franklin the practical question is timing rather than distance. Arriving in the first hour after opening is worth more than shaving minutes off the drive.
Before you leave the house
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.
When you arrive
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.
Count on the drive home being the conversation. Children tell you what they actually thought about twenty minutes after leaving.
While you are there
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
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.
On the way home
Nobody has to ban anything. Children put the phone down on their own when the alternative is better.
If two adults are coming, split up rather than shadowing the same child. One at the rail, one free, and everybody has a better hour.
Questions parents ask
Is there screen time involved?
The machines are levers and cables. The ice is ice.
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.
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 Franklin
Coming in from Franklin with more than one child, the useful thing to know is that the room does not need to be rationed - there is more than one thing to do at the same time.
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.
Families searching from Franklin are usually weighing one thing: whether it is worth the trip for an hour of something the children have not done before. The honest answer is that it depends on the child, and the rest of this page is about telling which.
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
Questions about a specific day, a group or a party are best asked directly - info@newlife-entertainment.com, or either of the numbers on the contacts page.