A screen free afternoon · Ages
A screen free afternoon in Kannapolis for tweens
What works brilliantly at one age is a shrug at another. Here is how it lands at this one.
Nobody has to ban anything. Children put the phone down on their own when the alternative is better.
Weekends bring more of Kannapolis out at once. If the schedule allows a weekday, take it; the same visit is quieter and the machines wait for nobody in particular.
How it lands at this age
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.
Photograph the machine as well as the child. In two years you will have forgotten what the room looked like.
What to plan for
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.
Screen free is easy to say on a Saturday morning and hard to do by two in the afternoon.
What parents notice
Nobody has to ban anything. Children put the phone down on their own when the alternative is better.
Check the day of the week against the closing time before you leave. Sunday finishes earlier than the rest of the week and catches people out.
Worth knowing
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.
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.
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 Kannapolis
A Kannapolis school holiday runs out of ideas by about day three. This is a day-three answer rather than a day-one one.
A short visit that ends while they still want more beats a long one that ends in a meltdown, every time.
Let the child choose what to do first even when it is the thing you would have chosen last. The order matters less than the choosing.
For a Kannapolis 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
The two centres are at 433 Opry Mills Drive in Nashville and 8111 Concord Mills Blvd in Concord, open 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM most days and 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Sunday.